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1-35 Accurate Armour/Tamiya CrARRV conversion


Kallisti

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At IPMS Farnborough Modelfest at the weekend I picked up a cheap Tamiya Challenger I Mk 3 kit so since my Avro Anson build has ground to a halt, I'd do something with the CrARRV conversion I've had in the stash for about 3 years! it makes a change from bloody Thunderbirds!

So this is the starting point:

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and after all the resin has been washed in soapy water

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The Tamiya kit only contributes the lower hull, road wheels and tracks, the rest is discarded - which is why I've been reluctant to build this conversion up until now as I don't like the idea of throwing away most of a £30 kit! However having sourced a cheap one, I'm less concerned...

So the first steps in the conversion and of course building the lower hull as Tamiya instructs, Here are all the road wheels

[img[http://www.mardona.org/gallery/d/19614-2/DSC_3864.JPG[/img]

I'm not going to distress them as frankly I can't be bothered ;)

Next is to attach the upper and lower hulls together... and I've just realised that means I can no longer fit the driver figure in using the neat technique they've used:

DSC_3870.JPG

which would locate the figure in the right place at the right height... bugger! I'll have to sort something out about that late - doh! Anyway the two halves came together with a bit of fiddling and filling

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The rear joint needed a bit of filling and it was rather gappy

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and the front joint also needed some work

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Speaking of the front, the next task it to look at the dozer blade and its mechanism...

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I'm going to do this as a Gulf War 1 vehicle, probably Big Geordie as I found some great photos online at Prime Portal.

Edited by Kallisti
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More progress...

Attention returns to the dozer blade. The supports ahve been fixed to the front of the vehicle and the various structures dry fitted to check for alignments

DSC_3871.JPG

You can see a glaring gap where the left support meets the hull - this will need to be filled later. I had to cut off the piston arms from the jackets on the two hydraulic arms as they were too long, then I drilled out the jacket to allow the arms to slide in and out a little which gives me options on how I may wish to pose the blade. It hasn't been glued yet - I'll leave that until later. There still needs more detail added, eg the pipes connecting the hydralics to the hull. Another photo from the side

DSC_3872.JPG

Next is lots of small detail on the main hull, including the hatches. I've decided to close the hatches up as I'm thinking of this as a display with the vheicle stationary and doing something. This allows me not to have to worry about the driver stickign his head out of the hatch as I had forgotten to put that in before closing up the hull.

I've also constructed the crane jib and here it is dry fitted in place

DSC_3873.JPG

Finally, here you can see the front with the dozer blade removed and the support for th ewinch now in place

DSC_3874.JPG The driver and commander's hatches have been fitted with some thin steel wire used for the handles. More to come...

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Interesting build, Kallisti I've fancied having a go at the Cheiftain ARV, again it only uses the lower hull and wheels, so you still bin a fair amount of stuff, but at least the donor kit is cheaper.

And in case you were missing the Thunderbirds theme, it does have a 'Gerry Anderson' look about it

Al

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No this is going to be a Gulf War 1 era vehicle. Today a package arrived with 2 new figures from Accurate Armour:

F21p_300.jpg

from here http://www.accurate-armour.com/ShowProduct.cfm?manufacturer=0&category=9&subcategory=54&product=2123and

F55c.JPG

which is supposed to be the UBRE pump operator figure http://www.accurate-armour.com/ShowProduct.cfm?manufacturer=0&category=9&subcategory=54&product=2493which I reckon I can adapt to look like he's operating the crane.

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  • 5 years later...

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