Armoured Transport part 5

 Progress on my APCs has slowed to a halt while I try (and fail) to find the stencils I was going to try and use for their camo scheme.  In the meantime here are a few pictures of them in their Vallejo reflective green base coat.  They look rather scuffed at the moment, probably need another coat - and they've been gathering dust and bits of fluff for a couple of months now!  Treadplates, tyres and lower hull areas had a splash of brown paint before I roughly applied the green, this has left dirty patches in the nooks and crannies where ingrained dirt will have collected.

APCs on parade.  What a scruffy bunch.

A little bit of stowage added to the back.

Modified Scimitar turret.

Missile pod from Mechwarrior clicky tank.

But wait!  What's that rumbling noise...

Reinforcements arrive.

Yes, it's another 4 APCs plus a load more vehicles, courtesy of e-bay and the local model railway shop. 

Oh dear - another land mine victim?

Time to get the plasticard out for some more conversions!

Armoured Transport part 4

 My vehicles are undercoated, I've used flat grey car primer.

Undercoated and ready for camouflage.

I added a small rectangle of plasticard next to the jerry can before I painted them,this will be a first aid kit when they're painted.  The grey paint shows up the detail much better than my previous photographs.

Roof detail.

Since taking these photographs they've received a coat of Vallejo reflective green.  Now I just need to decide on what extra colours will be used for their camouflage pattern and how I'm going to apply it.

Armoured Transport part 3

With 5 personnel carrier bodies to play with, I decided to upgrade one with a weapons turret.  I bought a small plastic Gepard SPAA tank a while ago, the Leopard tank body was rubbish but the turret had possibilities.  Sadly I couldn't find it, but luckily I had a couple of old Airfix CVR(T) Scorpion tank kits handy, so I decided to go with one of them.

Fire support vehicle.

The turret has been built in the Scimitar configuration with a 30mm RARDEN cannon. I've added a few extras in the form of corrugated plasticard, a bit more treadplate, a map pin sensor sphere, the end of an MG34 mounted coaxially with the main gun, a couple of Italeri jerry cans and the missile pod from a Mechwarrior clicky tank.

Rear detail.

 The APC body has a fire extinguisher added next to the forward stowage area and a small hatch nearby.  I imagine this hatch is for munitions loading.  The turret is slightly offset to one side to prevent the missile pod protruding over the side of the vehicle.  With a hole drilled through two layers of 1.5mm plasticard, the turret fits snugly in place and doesn't wobble as you turn it.  After completing the turret, I discovered that the slight overhang of the jerry cans on the back of the turret bustle/stowage bin was going to leave them too close to the top of the hull, they'd end up rubbing a line in the paint.  An extra circle of 1mm plasticard has lifted the turret enough to avoid this problem.

APC top plate mounting.

 I've found that Mechwarrior clicky vehicles are an excellent source of missile pods and the like and are still fairly easy to get hold of on e-bay.  You can see the missile pod donor on the right here.  As well as the tanks seen here, I have a the Jes II missile carrier which comes with loads of missile pods - some will be finding their way into my forces very soon.

Weapon donors.

Armoured Transport part 2

With the rivets drilled out, the body shells are all ready for the next stage of their treatment...

Body shells separated and ready for cleaning.

A steel file takes care of any obtrusive mould lines and a quick once-over with fine grit wet & dry paper finished them off.  I took particular care to ensure the top edges of the troop compartment were free of paint and had a good key for gluing.  After this they get a good rub-down all over using a brillo pad (ie. steel wool), then a scrub with an old toothbrush and some washing up liquid to give a good surface onto which I can glue/paint.

After filing, sanding and steel wool

 I've used 1.5mm thick plasticard for the roof of the troop compartments.  I held this in place, flipped each one over and ran a bead of superglue along the inside.  The glue gets drawn into the join by capillary action and I don't end up with any unsightly blobs on the outside.

Basic plastic rectangles trimmed to size

I'm using all sorts of bits for this project.  Behold my construction table - A2 cutting mat, a couple of craft knives, razor blade, heavy duty 60cm aluminium ruler, an assortment of 1mm and 0.5mm brass rod plus several different sizes of brass tube, plasticard, square section plastic rod (in various sizes), polycement, wet and dry paper, toothbrush, assorted plastic angle sections (H-beams, I-beams, T-section and L-section), a couple of plastic boxes containing jerry cans and general stowage.

An assortment of the stuff I use.

 My APCs will need some sort of top hatch, I've fashioned these out of 0.5mm plasticard apart from the one at the back which has 1.5mm - but more on that later...

The APCs take shape...

Now is the time to experiment.  I thought that some of my various vents and grilles from The Scene's building accessory range might be useful.

Trying a couple of The Scene's vents.

He also makes nice hatches and chunky air conditioning / extractor fan units.

More from The Scene - vent, hatch and A/C unit

Hmm... let's see just how much stuff we can add...

OTT stowage and bits.

This now has the following: The Scene hatch, vent and A/C unit, Continental Model Supply Company stowage bundles and modern UK ammunition boxes (7.62mm and 120mm), Italeri jerry cans, Airfix M2 Browning (in CMSC gun mount).

OTT stowage and bits rear view.

I know it looked good but I haven't got enough spare parts to do all my APCs!  So it's on to something simpler.  I've used some treadplate in what seems like a logical place where someone will be clambering out of the top hatch.

Some more details added.

 T-section girders form the edges of a stowage area in the middle, L-section girder hides the join between the plasticard and the back of the cab.  Brass rod will be the hinges for the top hatch.

The hatches now have hinges.

 I found a couple of old metal backpacks in my bits box.  I don't know where they came from but they'll make some nice extras for a couple of the vehicles.

Some backpacks as extra stowage.

Finished!  Jerry can added in the stowage area (actually, I think I might need to add a rectangle of thick plasticard too, to serve as a first aid kit).  I've engraved a line to separate the doors of the top hatch and added handles.  There are vision blocks made from 1mm square plastic rod added around the edge of the roof.

Finished (until I think of something else to add...)

Here they are in formation. More on the turreted one at the far end next time!

Ready for painting.