Pete's BAE Warrior

[stillp]

I like the effect on that floor. Like you say, shame it can hardly be seen

Even more of a shame that Airfix didn't put that texture on the rear floor, where it could've been seen! Of course they might not have sold so many of their PE set then. If I'd thought more before rushing in, I bet I could have found some embossed foil I could've used - fag packet paper, or the foil from a pack of butter perhaps. Too late now the seats are in though.
Pete

[boatman]

HI Pete nice work so far im following the build an im just askin here but will this lovely model just get put in a box when finished ? if so seems a shame that it wont be seen chris

[stillp]

Thanks Chris - it'll go in a box in the attic, or possibly on ebay. I'm not really interested in displaying finished models, and don't have the space anyway.
Pete

[stillp]

Sorry folks, I haven't been keeping up with the posting, and haven't done much to the kit either. I've got the wheels looking pretty much as I wanted:

I was going to airbrush some sand colour on the inside of those return rollers, but decided to brush them instead, as it was too difficult to line the little devils up with the circle template.
I've now glued the upper and lower hulls together:

Not a perfect fit, but acceptable.
I'm thinking of leaving the turret hatches open, but Airfix have put a great big ejector mark right in the centre of each.

A couple of blobs of PPP in there, smoothed off with a wet cotton bus as they're in the middle of the padding.
Also added some more of the sticky-out bits to the turret.

Next up is the bar armour, which is horribly overscale, but there's not much I can do about that. You can see a couple of sections of it in the photo of the hull - those have been thinned quite a lot. There once was a time when I'd have remade them from brass strip and rod, but I haven't the eyesight or dexterity these days...

If anyone's still watching, thanks for your patience!
Pete

[scottie3158]

Hi Pete,
Looking good mate I wondered where this had gone

[stillp]

I'm struggling to work out the best assembly sequence, so have put the turret aside for a while and returned to the instructions, which suggest adding the tracks and wheels. That means the lower hull needs painting, which I've decided to do with a brush, to save masking. Here it is after two thinned coats:

I think that'll do for the area behind the wheels. The rest can have another coat next time I'm using that colour.
Started painting the tracks:

The metallic brownish colour is a mixture of Revell's steel, rust, and ochre. Next job is to paint all those rubber track pads - wondering if it's worthwhile making a template and airbrushing them, or just plod on with a hairy stick.
Pete

[Jim R]

Hi Pete
You are certainly getting your £10 worth out of this. You can't see much inside but you know its there. Rather too many wheels for my liking :tongue-out3: Good luck with the armour - it looks fiddly.
Jim

[stillp]

Thanks Jim. The armour isn't so much fiddly, as just wrong! The bars scale to about 60 mm square at full size, whereas they should be flat bars that look to be about 50 mm wide but only 10 mm or less thick - see here https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-wa...-72020949.html
The box art is similar to the link above, but the kit parts are overscale in thickness as well as having too few bars.
Pete

[JR]

Hi Pete .
Sorry if I haven't commented recently.
Very annoying to find that some of the armour us wrong, easp as the model is looking good.
Makes me wonder where some of these designers find their information.
As to PE, much is made of it and some people work wonders, but if half of it is never to be seen why the struggle.
I like it for grill mesh, large items, but as to small turn buckles, that's a step to far

[stillp]

Thanks John, no need to apologise - I haven't done much for anyone to comment on! You have to remember that Airfix had a PE set to go with this kit, which included the bar armour. It might have looked better if I could have found it for sale, but would probably have been too flat. What it needs to be realistic would be brass strip laying horizontal, with thin wire verticals. Do-able by someone with the dexterity, but I'll stick with the kit parts, which will give a suggestion of the real thing. They'd look better if filed down thinner, but then there would be too few bars leaving big gaps in between. Another alternative would be to leave it off altogether, as most Warriors don't seem to have had the bar armour. I can make a decision on that later in the build though, as it'll need painting and decalling before the bar armour is fitted, so I'll see how it looks without but clean up and paint the armour anyway.
Pete

[Steve Jones]

Sorry to hear about all the issues you have been encountering. Its a shame as your doing such a great job. I hope it all comes good in the end

[stillp]

Thanks Steve. At least I'll be able to cover it all with dust.
Pete

[stillp]

Haven't done much recently because of the temperatures and various domestic duties, but I've about finished painting the tracks:

I still can't make up my mind what to do about the bar armour. Looking at the same kind of armour on some Scorpions at the Tanks Trucks & Firepower show, the slats are about 40mm wide, 6mm thick, spaced apart by about 50mm. That is, they're 40 x 6 mm bars laid flat, but spaced by 50mm. The Airfix version scales to about 60 x 60mm, spaced about 60 mm. I could spend half a lifetime scraping the slats down to a more appropriate thickness, but then they'd be too far apart. Or I could just fit it to give an 'impression' of the proper armour... or I could leave it off. Any thoughts folks?
Another issue is that the bar armour sections on top of the turret obstruct the hatches, and I'm sure the crew would want to be able to open them, so I've carved some of it away to allow the hatches to be open:

Hopefully you can see that the right-hand side has been carved away. I've noticed though that some reviews show the turret hatches open without having carved away that armour, but I can't see how unless I've glued it in the wrong place, which doesn't look possible.
Decisions, decisions...

Thanks for looking.
Pete

[scottie3158]

Hi Pete,
Nice work so far. As to the bar armour if it is to over scale I think it will ruin the overall look. But it is your build and you know if you will be happy with it. Can you get some correct thickness evergreen strip and make it yourself?

[stillp]

Thanks Scottie. I don't think it would be doable with Evergreen - scale thickness would be 0.125 mm, 0.005". Might be possible in brass, but there are 23 horizontal bars on each side of the hull, in 5 sections, each of which has 3 vertical round bars and a vertical slat each side of the section. Then there's the front, rear, and turret. Possible, but far from simple.

Hmm... I see Evergreen go down to 0.010" thickness... only twice the size I'd need. The verticals would need to be wire, but how I'd drill holes that size in 23 strips, 5 times, 345 holes, just for the hull sides.

Unless I can find something like a grater or strainer that's about the right size of course.

Cheers
Pete