Saddam’s Brolly

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
A clever idea that has worked well. I think I would have tried drilling the holes, made a mess of it and given up :rolling: I have that punch set so a tip remembered.
Jim

[Allen Dewire]

Wow Bones, sorry I missed this, but I'm on it now Sir!!! Lots of scratchin' and wigglin' to whip it into shape I see. You're up to your old tricks and she's looking real good. Keep it coming!!!

Prost
Allen

[Road of Bones]

Jim, Jakko, Allen- thanks guys! Good to know I still can still offer up the occasional useful tip now & again :nerd:

The light guards on the Iraqi vehicles are very different to the original boxy type, so I bent some brass wire around the handle of a brush, and then used some core wire from a phone cable to make the bars. Finally I used a couple of bits of PE fret to make the support bars:



Enough on the hull for now- time to move on to the shooty-bits! The Meng russki AA gun set is really nice, the ZU-23 is the towed version, with wheels and a tow bar, but since I wouldn’t be needing them, I modified the gun base by removing the towing spar:

(
(before & after) I’ll not to step-by-step on building the gun, as it was pretty OOB. A very nice build though, with a little PE here & there:


Next instalment- making the gun shield...
Alistair☠️

[Fernando N]

Neat work on the headlight guards Alistair:thumb2:.
Good luck with the gun shield.

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
That gun has built up really nicely. The scratched headlight guards are excellent.
Jim

[Guest]

Hi Alistair,
Just dropped in to peruse the work and I was not disappointed, amazed but not disappointed, well done sir.
Mike.

[Road of Bones]

Fernando, Jim, Mike- thanks chaps! It’s great to have your feedback and support- I appreciate it a great deal :thumb2:

The gun shield then...

After adding some legs to the gun cradle, I started by making the front shields by eye, getting the bend to match my refs as best I could:


Once these were set, I cut out a matched pair of side panels, again working by eye from my refs:


here I have added the first angle pieces for the back plate, with a little fillet each side to brace them. I then measured the width of the front shields (46mm) and set these side panels the same distance apart using blu-tack. I was then able to fill in the rest of the back panel and get the angles just so:

This needed a little trimming to accommodate the gunners’ seats, but I was then able to fit this around the gun, and with a little fettling, I was able to get it to clear the cradle and rotate cleanly:



Next step- back to hull detailing! Thanks for looking chaps,
Alistair☠️

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
That shield looks very good. The making doesn't look to be too difficult but the planning and drawing out the sections would have driven me demented.
Jim

[Road of Bones]

Hi Alistair
That shield looks very good. The making doesn't look to be too difficult but the planning and drawing out the sections would have driven me demented.
Jim

To be fair Jim, it took a little bit more swearing and trimming to get it to look right. Glueing it together was not easy either! The build took several months originally, and I’m really just giving you edited highlights here. :nerd:

[Guest]

Great fun, working out the sizes and angles of pieces like those. Looking good, though

[Steve Jones]

Wow! I have missed a lot. It's been an absolute joy catching up. You are certainly a Lord of the dark arts. Wonderful to see.

[Road of Bones]

Jakko, Steve- glad you’re enjoying it so far chaps!

Once I was happy with the gun, I returned to the hull to finish off some details. First off, I had to make a pair of platforms that sit either side of the upper hull. These were made from PE fret frames that I soldered together for strength:

I bought a couple of sheets of diamond-tread PE from Accurate Armour, and made the tread plates for these frames:

Once folded and secured to their frames, they can then be added to the hull:

Finally I added the 2 spotlights to the front of the thing, and a bit of fettling later (and yet another cheeky dry-fit of the running gear) I had this:



Next up...paint!
Alistair☠️

[BattleshipBob]

Good god you are on a mission, cracking jog sir

[Road of Bones]

Good god you are on a mission, cracking jog sir

Ta Bob- I’m actually re-blogging this build from a year or so back, so it looks like I’m working harder than I really am! My current bench project is in the “Chariot of Fire” thread.

[Si Benson]

Flippin awesome Al :thumb2: