1:35 LEP Scimitar with Bar Armour! Op Herrick style...

Castoff Models conversion of CRV(T) Scimitar

Andrew Prentis	21/07/2012 17:41:45
208 forum posts 46 photos	I have taken the plunge and descided to start on a build I've been longing to do for some time, basically this: © Andrew Chittock (http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-a-fv107-scimitar-armoured-andrew-chittock.html Used here only for reference. To do this I will be using these components: AFV Club Scimitar Castoff Models LEP resin upgrade Eduard Etch for Scimitar Fruijmodels tracks Black Dog AFV Crew in Afghanistan Accurate Armour AFC Crew (Modern) and for the Bar Armour I will be using: Photo etch bar armour from Accurate Armour Challenger 2 Iraq upgrade My own scale plans for bar armour layout Accurate Armour beer cans and water bottles and extra stowage Echelon CRV(T) mirrors Some of you may be holding your hands up in horror at what I plan to do with what is normally a very expensive accessory set - the AA Challenger 2 armour upgrade usually goes for £65, but I was very lucky to get this set off eBay for about £25 earlier this year since it has some of the resin armour for the chally missing. I didn't care about that all I wanted was the PE! I haven't yet seen anyone build with the Castoff Models Resin set (apart from the photos on their site), but I doubt if I will be the first, but it looks good and should be interesting! Edited By Andrew Prentis on 21/07/2012 17:46:31
Andrew Prentis	21/07/2012 17:43:48
208 forum posts 46 photos	First was to get a plan for the bar armour. For this I used a variety of photos and had to do some clever photoshopping to adjust for perspective on some to be able to get measurements. I guess I could take a trip down to Bovington and actually measure the one they have on display there! Anyway, its possible to get a reasonably accurate layout from the photos I have found so here is the scale size for the various pieces: Well thats a great start, so how about making it? As shown in the sprue shots, I've got the PE from the Accurate Armour Chally set. Now the first problem that appears is it looks like the vertical bars on the Chally are spaced further apart than on the Scimitar: So I have a choice: 1) Fill existing holes and drill new ones for the closer spaced bars 2) Use the Challenger spacing and have a slightly less accurate representation of the bar armour. I still haven't decided which to go for, however knowing my history I won't necessarily go for the easiest option... sigh Anyway, that aside, lets start building some of the sections: This is letting the CY dry while I give my eyes a rest. I've had to trim pieces to fit and add extra bends. The PE set comes with weak spots already set for bends, which I am using wherever its possible, but the Scimitar sections are of course different sizes so other bends and trims are required. In the photo you see the two spacer jigs the PE set supplies to help get the bar spacing correct. This is the progress so far, going to take a break now. May sit down in front of the telly this evening and start on the Fruijmodel tracks as well. I've still got a few episodes of Mad Men to watch and of course there is always Leverage as well Edited By Andrew Prentis on 21/07/2012 17:44:46
Tim White 1	21/07/2012 17:53:07
14066 forum posts 2975 photos	Andrew Impressive looking build, best of luck, I'll keep an eye on your progress. Cheers Tim
Andrew Prentis	22/07/2012 01:39:00
208 forum posts 46 photos	Well made some progress this evening and came to some uncomfortable conclusions... First however, I did manage to complete the Fuilmodel tracks and had a very pleasant evening watching Mad Men and Leverage while doing so Here is a photo: So the uncomfortable conclusion... trying to make the Scimitar bar armour from the Challenger PE is not going to work for several reasons: 1) the spacing of the vertical bars - fixing that is going to require filling in the existing holes and redrilling the correct holes. I tried fitting the bars in the existing holes and it just doesn't look right - see the photo above. 2) there isn't enough bar armour in the PE to do all the armour on the Scimitar. The Chally only has the bar armour on the rear of the hull, whereas the Scimitar has it all the way around the hull and 2/3 round the turret. There is a lot more bar armour on a Scimitar. So what do I do? Well I've been out onto the web and found that Evergreen do plastic strips 1.5mm wide and 0.25mm thick. This should work for the bars and some 0.5mm brass rod should be suitable for the vertical bars. Looks like I'm going to scratch build the whole lot... omfg I must be INSANE!!!!!!!!!!1111!!! In the meantime, I will proceed with the rest of the build while the bar armour materials arrive. There is plenty of resin to play with for the main part of the build! Onwards and sideways...
VI	22/07/2012 09:09:18
2663 forum posts 992 photos	Hi Andrew, Nice start, this will be a big undertaking looking forward to seeing this develop. Cheers VI
Andrew Prentis	22/07/2012 21:01:00
208 forum posts 46 photos	So today I had the choice of cutting the grass and general gardening chores or working on the Scimitar. What? You think I had any decison to make! So earlier this morning I put some work into the hull and roadwheels. The resin requires you to cut away the existing skirt from the lower hull I added a couple of strips of plasticard to give the joint with the resin upper hull a more positive location. The roadwheels were assembled but I didn't bother taking a photo. After that I made a quick trip into Modelzone, to pick up some 1.5mm x 0.25mm, 1.5mm x 0.5mm Evergreen strip and 0.5mm diam brass rod to start on the bar armour. I started cutting the strip to the right length and found that it is very difficult to handle since its so small. I realised that with the strips so narrow, getting the holes drilled in the right place on each piece might be a bit tricky. I also realised from experimentation that getting all the strips to be EXACTLY the same length was tricky and if they aren't all the same length, aligning and fixing the two side bars is very hard! So I build myself a jig to hold all the strips for a particular piece of bar armour together and then build drilling templates for each piece as the spacing seems to vary! So here it is: What you see here is 16 strips which comprise all the horizontal bars for the sides of the turret, the same pieces I tried to make using the brass earlier. They are all stacked and I was able to use a sharp knife to trim the ends to make sure they are all the same length. Above it is the template for the drilling, made from two more strips that have been glues together to be a bit more robust. This then gets laid down above the stack and the drill applied. I've found that its not a good idea to try to do more than 8 at a time because the drill can go a bit astray the further down the stack it travels. I'm going to have to get more packs of evergreen strips - this one came with 10 strips, each about 14" long, but in my experiments I've already used up 4 of them! It takes one complete strip to furnish the 8 horizontal bars in this piece for the side of the turret and some of the other segments are longer and have more bars! Edited By Andrew Prentis on 22/07/2012 21:01:40
Peter C	23/07/2012 05:39:46
4201 forum posts 1386 photos	Nicely detailed blog Andrew. Will follow along for the ride. Pete
Tim White 1	24/07/2012 21:37:47
14066 forum posts 2975 photos	Andrew Great progress, sir, looks like a bit of a trial, keep it up. Cheers Tim
Tim Ivatts	24/07/2012 22:04:56
761 forum posts 318 photos	Hi Andrew So you was the lucky one to win that chally kit. I was very close to bidding on it my self as i have a chally kit but the missing turet armour stopped me. Im glad to see some one won it and put it to very good use. You have given your self quiet a task building the rest of the bar armour from scratch but you look to have it well under control with your jig. Will keep tuned in on your process. Tim
Hakan Guney	24/07/2012 23:12:46
349 forum posts	Will be watching....Good luck Andrew... http://battletankpower.blogspot.com/ Edited By Hakan Guney on 24/07/2012 23:15:22

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