Beaverette Mk.III Bren MG turret series - 1/72 - (Fylde Armouries) - in British & Irish Service

[vizenz]

Hello,
I just realized that I haven't shown you my other two Beaverette Mk.IIIs yet.
These are also 3d printed. The files come from "Fylde Armories" and were modified and scaled to 1/72 by me.



A few years ago I became interested in the Beaverette series and discovered that information about it was unfortunately very scarce. As far as I know, there is no literature about it and various internet sites are only very superficial (or wrong) when it comes to details. That's why I started saving all the available photos and reconstructing the details of the individual variants as best I could after them. And at the beginning of this year I finally dared to build a few models of it.



I have already presented the prototype of the Mk.III series (in the middle in khaki/black camouflage).
Today I'm showing what is probably the first series of the Mk.III with the Bren machine gun turrets. These vehicles only differ from the prototype in that they have different weld seams. As far as I can reconstruct, these Beaverettes went entirely to the British Army, but were very quickly handed over to the Home Guard. Some vehicles were also handed over to the Irish Army from 1943. This painted and used the Beaverettes in “Navy Gray”.


M4473344 was probably one of the first vehicles in this series produced, because the WD Census number overlaps with the Mk.II series.
The most likely camouflage colors are Khaki Green No.3 and Dark Green No.4. It's not entirely clear from the photo whether the top sides have a camouflage pattern or were painted dark green - I chose the latter.


ZD 3317 was one of the vehicles used by the Irish Army from 1943. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything about what the "YQ" badge means. (A tactical badge for a staff? Or a general formation badge?). Maybe some of you are familiar with Irish markings?




I like this little “colorful herd” and will continue to build more of them.
Of the Mk.III alone, there were at least two other series with a total of three different turrets, plus the variants of the Mk.I, II and IV.
So I won't get bored soon.
Best regards,
Andi

 

[Tim Marlow]

Great little trio.

 

[Lee Drennen]

All three look amazing these little guys are starting to grow on me thanks for sharing

 

[Jakko]

It's not entirely clear from the photo whether the top sides have a camouflage pattern or were painted dark green - I chose the latter.

That is the colour it should have according to the camouflage instructions, yes. The way this scheme is supposed to work, is that the parts of the vehicle that catch the most light are painted dark, and those out of the light are painted a medium shade; undercuts like wheel wells are also painted the medium shade, but random blotches around them are in dark, to remove the hard lines from the undercuts.

I don’t know if you have Mike Starmer’s self-published books on British vehicle camouflage, but they are very much worth buying if you see yourself building more models of British vehicles.

 

[vizenz]

Great little trio.

Thank you very much Tim.

All three look amazing these little guys are starting to grow on me thanks for sharing

Thanks for looking and the kind words Lee.

That is the colour it should have according to the camouflage instructions, yes. The way this scheme is supposed to work, is that the parts of the vehicle that catch the most light are painted dark, and those out of the light are painted a medium shade; undercuts like wheel wells are also painted the medium shade, but random blotches around them are in dark, to remove the hard lines from the undercuts.

I don’t know if you have Mike Starmer’s self-published books on British vehicle camouflage, but they are very much worth buying if you see yourself building more models of British vehicles.

Hello Jakko, I know the British regulations, thank you. I don't have the Starmer books, but I do have for example this series:

But thanks for the tip, I'll do some research about the Starmer books (of course I know some of his online posts and the endless discussions about the right color mix). But I can always use good literature.

 

[Jakko]

I wasn’t aware of those books by Dick Taylor, but now I am, I think I’ll have to look into buying them

 

[Ian M]

Not a thing you normally say about a fighting vehicle but they are soooo cuuuuute. (To be read in a childishly squeaky Jeremy Clarkson squeal)

I Cant get my head around the ability to build things so tiny. And so well!

 

[papa 695]

Great work.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

I wasn’t aware of those books by Dick Taylor, but now I am, I think I’ll have to look into buying them

Jakko, those books are an absolute must for anyone interested in British armour right ghrough the twentieth century. Vol.1 alone has a piece on photo interpretation that is informative AND enlightening

Oh yes, and completely with you on the Starmer books.

So VERY pleased to see these. Looking forward to the Mk.Is and IIs, even if they're ugly open boxes by comparison. In all the books I've got, I think there's one double page spread of Beaverettes showing the first three marks, and that the I and II are slightly larger. The photo of the Mk.III with the open turret, actually not much more than a shield, shows just how tiny it is

 

[Jim R]

Very nice trio of models. Well done Andreas. Interesting background to these quirky little vehicles.

 

[yak face]

Fantastic looking trio Andreas , theres something about 1/72 armour that I really love . These are beautifully finished and certainly not something you see every day , in fact I’d never heard of it until now! Cheers tony

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Looking through Fylde's files lists, I wish I had a printer. Well, we DID inherit a printer but then had nowhere to put it. There's at least three they do I'd have. Well, the wheelbase of one three times to start with...

 

[Waspie]

That is brilliant work, I can't even start to imagine what working in such a small scale would be like. My eyes aren't up to it these days!!

 

[A_J_Rimmer]

Those are really superb