SoftScience Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) My latest project is Takom's beautiful kit of the Bundeswehr's 8*8 amphibious scout and fire support vehicle. They were in service from the late 1970s until shortly after the turn of the century, when they were replaced by the smaller fenec cars. The Takom kit is highly detailed, and features a reasonable amount of parts for a 1/35 kit. All lights and periscopes are clear. the kit also includes metal suspension springs, some vinyl flaps, and there is a small fret of PE. Markings include two overall dark olive A1 vehicles from the late 70s/early 80s, and two A-2 KFOR vehicles in NATO 3-tone finish. Right now I'm edging towards building one of the earlier machines. Construction began with gluing on various boxy structures to the lower hull. I then painted it a generic dark green primer. Typically I don't paint afv kits until most assembly is complete, but there chassis here will be so complex that it might become difficult to get paint on the hull later. I also put on the rear struts. The front four will go on later. Next I'll assemble the complex rear axles. Each of the four had independent steering, and all are posable on the kit. Edited October 5, 2016 by SoftScience Blasted autocorrect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celt Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Looking forward to this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Well then I hope I don't disappoint. Tonight I finished the first of four axles. Its all pretty complex and real looking (I think), but everything sort of floats on the metal springs, and the various arms are held on by tiny PE washers. The parts are designed to be movable, but since it's all rather flimsy I glued it in place. Since it does float on springs, and is attachrd to the struts at two tiny points, the axle was difficult to line up, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to get all four of them square. I may end up having to pose the model on uneven terrain simply because I doubt all 8 tyres will make contact with the ground. 😓 That is all for now. The other axles will probably be done one evening at a time. Then there's a bunch more little struts and drive shaft bits. A house of cards, man. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celt Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Yes it does look very complex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 It is complex, and the use of metal springs means there is waaayyyy too much tension in the whole assembly. As a matter of fact. the tension from the springs, combined with the pull from the struts means that the axles are all torqued forward a bit. I tied them down with thin wire that I passed through small holes I drilled in the floor to twist them back into position a bit. Still not quite right, but better. I MUST BE DOING SOMETHING WRONG the wires were twisted tight on the other side. And looking at the photo above, I notice they're not so visible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celt Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Looks good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted October 11, 2016 Author Share Posted October 11, 2016 At last! All the struts, drive shafts, axles, and other assorted BS has been attached to the underside (except for the boat propellers). It all looks a little rough in the photo below, but with some paint and weathering it should be pretty neat! I test-fitted some tires to see how out of whack the suspension is, and much to my delight, all eight wheels touch the ground. Albeit, one just barely so. Still, much better than what I thought would happen. Well, now on to the interesting bits. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celt Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Still interested. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostrich Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 That's a very iconic vehicle. Saw it many times in my service at the end of the 90's. Well done so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Looking good for a what appears to be a fussy kit. How does the Revell version compare for accuracy? I have one in the stash that keeps tempting me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted October 19, 2016 Author Share Posted October 19, 2016 On 10/9/2016 at 6:08 PM, celt said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted October 19, 2016 Author Share Posted October 19, 2016 Thanks for the comments, guys. Rob, I don't know how this kit compares to Revell's, but Revell Bundeswehr kits are generally alright, so I imagine it's also a nice kit. I did just a bit more work, but it is really starting to take shape. Big seem to fill between the hull halves. Haven't seen one this bad since early DML/Dragon armor in the early 90s. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 Yikes, it's been many months since I updated this page. I hit a snag with the kit after combining the hull halves (which fit kind of poorly) and loosing some of the hull profile to filling and sanding. At the end of last week I pulled the kit back out and fixed the hull shape as best I could. All the small bits since then have been going on with no problem at all. I test fit the tyres for this picture, and I'm impressed with how huge this "scout car" is. It's bigger than the M1 Abrams! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Nice! Huge it is, indeed! Came across some in Bosnia a while ago, and was really impressed by their size. To the point I did wonder about how they performed in their mission, recce, being so big, so heavy, so visible, with such a small gun. I remember they couldn't drive some small hillside tracks we took with our VBLs then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 8 hours ago, Antoine said: Nice! Huge it is, indeed! Came across some in Bosnia a while ago, and was really impressed by their size. To the point I did wonder about how they performed in their mission, recce, being so big, so heavy, so visible, with such a small gun. I remember they couldn't drive some small hillside tracks we took with our VBLs then. This may be one reason they were retired relatively quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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