FV603 Saracen 1/35th

[HL-10]

The Saracen APC has always been an interesting looking vehicle.

My son, Sam got me Accurate Armour's exquisite kit of this vehicle as a Christmas present.

You get a box full of beautifully cast, finely detailed resin that builds into a model with full interior.

I decided to build my Saracen and display it as a vehicle used in Northern Ireland.

The two figures are white metal British Infantry from Chota Sahib painted to look like Members of the Parachute Regiment.

The base is completely scratch built.

The Saracen was painted with Tamiya acrylics, and the figures with Humbrol enamels.

 

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A couple of photos edited to give a period feel to them:

 

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Thanks for looking

Angelo.

[longshanks]

Looking good !

 

Kev

[Bullbasket]

Turned out really well. I have fond memories of these as our radio squadron was equipped with them in Bunde, Germany in the 60's.

 

John.

[PlaStix]

That is really great! Your presentation sets it off well too! Well done! 

Kind regards,

Stix

[ivan-o]

Nice one! Brings back memories of VCP's etc.

The SLR's look a tad over scale though,where did you get them?

[HL-10]

15 minutes ago, ivan-o said:

Nice one! Brings back memories of VCP's etc.

The SLR's look a tad over scale though,where did you get them?

The SLRs do look too big, but they are the ones that were provided with the figures, which are 54mm so technically slightly bigger than the 1/35th Saracen. 

 

 

[frankie]

   

[Ozzy]

Nice build, the cammo on the combat jackets looks really good.

[phildagreek]

Very nice! Good paintwork all round. Chota Sahib, that's a blast from the past, I didn't realise they were still going, I built a lot of their 1/35 figures over the years.

[RobertF]

Very nice indeed!

 

I also like the pictures with that faded 70's colour negative look.  Very authentic and brings back memories of trying to determine the "right" colour from that sort of pictures.

 

Robert

[Kingsman]

At the risk of nit-picking, that's an FV603C with reverse-flow cooling intended for tropical climes. No heaters.  Were they used in NI?  I believe the Army inherited 50 open-top 603C's embargoed from a Libyan contract and stored for some years at Coventry airport by Alvis.  These were subsequently fitted with roofs and turrets and put to some use, but I don't believe they had the rear roof hatch.  When I joined 234 Fd Sqn RE at RAF Leeming in 1992 they still had a pair of 603C's used for post-attack recce and as Troop CVs.  No heaters in N Yorks in winter was no joke!  As I recall, they didn't have the rear roof hatch and I always assumed they were ex-Libyan wagons.

[HL-10]

Thank you for all the comments and compliments people

 

I'm by no stretch of the imagination an expert on the Saracen.

While "researching" the diorama I came across this picture of a Saracen titled " Belfast April 1981 " an I believe it shows one with the reverse flow stuff fitted.

I can't see anything relating to the top hatch in the shot though.

 

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[rayprit]

10 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

At the risk of nit-picking, that's an FV603C with reverse-flow cooling intended for tropical climes. No heaters.  Were they used in NI?  I believe the Army inherited 50 open-top 603C's embargoed from a Libyan contract and stored for some years at Coventry airport by Alvis.  These were subsequently fitted with roofs and turrets and put to some use, but I don't believe they had the rear roof hatch.  When I joined 234 Fd Sqn RE at RAF Leeming in 1992 they still had a pair of 603C's used for post-attack recce and as Troop CVs.  No heaters in N Yorks in winter was no joke!  As I recall, they didn't have the rear roof hatch and I always assumed they were ex-Libyan wagons.

 

I love all Accurate Armour models..............still have 7 to build, 2x being Ferrets.  I like the diarama, brings back memories when I was out there in 1971......they didnt keep the saracen out there very long as the loud engine noise and the traction whine could be heard ages before it got to an incident.  the model is very well done I like it a lot, just a small critism, the registration belongs to a Mark 1 Saracen................No Mk1 was fitted with RFC at the factory as the modification was introduced after the MK1 ceased production, RFC was fitted in the Alvis factory to Mk2 vehicles and these were renumbered FV603C by the FVRDE

 

Your model is 31BA98 a Mark 1..............it needs to be as per your photo 05FF20  ......most the Mark 2s carried the "FF" letters

[ivan-o]

5 hours ago, rayprit said:

 

I love all Accurate Armour models..............still have 7 to build, 2x being Ferrets.  I like the diarama, brings back memories when I was out there in 1971......they didnt keep the saracen out there very long as the loud engine noise and the traction whine could be heard ages before it got to an incident.  the model is very well done I like it a lot, just a small critism, the registration belongs to a Mark 1 Saracen................No Mk1 was fitted with RFC at the factory as the modification was introduced after the MK1 ceased production, RFC was fitted in the Alvis factory to Mk2 vehicles and these were renumbered FV603C by the FVRDE

 

Your model is 31BA98 a Mark 1..............it needs to be as per your photo 05FF20  ......most the Mark 2s carried the "FF" letters

Well we still had them in '76' and as far as i can remember they had been uparmoured and  were just painted  green.

[rayprit]

2 hours ago, ivan-o said:

Well we still had them in '76' and as far as i can remember they had been uparmoured and  were just painted  green.

 

 The uparmoured Saracen were called "Kremlin 1 or Kremlin 2" (meaning Fortress).  They were conversions of existing models, either Mk2 or Mk3(normal or RFC, respectively) but fitted with appliqu'e armour and vision blocks. (Vision Blocks, which replaced the No17  periscopes were fitted in the drivers hatch to prevent a bullet being fired directly into the drivers face.  Full appliqu'e armour and included covering the firing ports). 

 

In December 1972, an AFV was severley damaged by an RPG-7, the first time this weapon had been used against vehicles and a further modification program, designated 'Operation Kremlin 2' was devised to provide protection for all Marks of Saracen against anti-tank rockets, in May 1973 the first 2 kits arrived in Ireland and by June 1974 107 kits had been fabricated, Mesh included. The Kremlin 2 was, to quote official documents for, "additional security requirements".

 

[Kingsman]

Oh dear.  I seem to have stirred something up!  I had imagined the ex-LIbyan 603C's did go to NI, I just didn't know for certain.  There would have been little other reason for them to have been requisitioned, which was at about the same sort of time that Pigs were being hoovered up from surplus yards all over Europe to put back into service in NI.  That perhaps fits with the later registration number series, as they would have been registered out of sequence compared to build date.  In your photo there is no gun ring visible on the rear roof, which might imply no rear hatch.  Or it might just imply that the gun ring was removed for getting in the way of the Top Cover Man.  The secondary L4 LMG intended to be mounted there was not carried in NI. Purpose-built 603C's for us did have had the hatch and ring, and as we withdrew from hotter places East of Aden and elsewhere I assume these were withdrawn to the UK too.

 

Some Regular RE ADR squadrons in Germany had Saracens with perspex domes fitted over the rear hatches for the observer, leaving the commander free to command.  I definitely had to play both observer and commander roles from the turret of the 603C's at 234 Sqn, jobs that would have been simplified if we'd had a rear hatch.  So this lends weight to the idea that at least some 603C's had no rear hatch, possibly the ex-Libyan ones.

 

Agreed that Sarry-cans made a glorious noise with that petrol straight eight working hard and the transmission whining.  Hardly stealthy.  Leeming's main runway and main taxiway are 2.2km long, dead straight and smooth.  Need I say more ......... Nowhere near as much fun when they were replaced with Sultans.  Strangely, the RAF were worried about tracked vehicles up and down their tarmac at 50 mph ..........

 

And since the demise of the much-loved and related Stalwart, we've haven't had a High Mobility logistic vehicle and scant few Improved Medium Mobility.  Such is progress ......

[ivan-o]

I don't think you have stirred anything up,l reckon it it great that by just displaying a model it can cause a discussion of the subject!

Thanks to Rayplt who obviously knows his vehicles I have learnt a bit more. 

[rayprit]

How did you make the frontage of the houses?  Is it from a photo?  Not sure whether bin bags had been invented then, dustbins had!!!  They were common and to be seen on many streets as used as a means of early warning radar for the IRA.  Many times went in on a snatch squad in the middle of the night to pick up suspects known to be at reported locations, usually in the Ardoyne and usually Martin McGuiness or Gerry Adams.  Once the residents knew the snatch squad was lurking about most came out to bang the lids of the dustbins as loud as they could, they also bought tins of paint, flour, disinfectant, anything that could fly through the air to pelt the brits with, many times I returned to Barracks with a PIG 50 shades of Grey and looking like a mobile rubbish tip.

I imagine that the Chota sahib figures together, took as long to make as making the saracen, very authentic, I was attached to 3 Para whilst out there and they look very authentic, love the flesh tones, any difficulty painting the camouflage jackets with the disruptive pattern?  Chota sahib seem to be coming very collectable now and seem to be fetching fair prices.......I do believe, periodically short runs are released of some of the figures range.  Chota sahib sold off there businness some time ago, possibly to sarum, but dont quote me on that.

 

Your building brings back a lot of memories, you have done well considering you dont know the period

 

Raymond

[Wagtail]

Great to see some post war British armour of that vintage on here! They were on the way out as I was on the way in (1985) but I do remember being carried around in one in Hong Kong in 1988. Anyway lovely job and again brings back memories I did a total of five and a half years in NI. Thanks for posting it!

[HL-10]

Glad I've sparked so many memories!

 

Raymond,

The bin bags maybe a bit of artistic license , but I do remember us having them about the late seventies, early eighties along with the tin dustbins.(I've heard about the bin banging as a warning. A good friend of mine who was out there with the Royal Regiment of Wales told me that on their last night out there they chained a stack of bins to the back of their Land Rovers and drove around all night dragging them crashing and clanging behind them!).

 

I built the house fronts using foam board, onto which I stuck some self adhesive brick paper I got from a company called "Custom Dioramics".

The design of the houses were based on online photos, actual properties near where I live, but ultimately I found some downloadable railway modelling card houses, and scaled them up.

For the doors and window frames, I made them using wooden drink stirrers.

 

The figures have been in my stash for ages! I got them from my old local, now long closed model shop, many, many years ago.

I have a few other figure from them covering the "troubles", including Squadie in riot gear with baton & shield, a female RMP, and an EOD operative in the full kit.

For the DPM, I started with the sand, and worked my way up the colours, green, red brown, and finally the black.

I had my old DPM jacket with me as reference as I was painting.

 

Thanks for all the comments, compliments, memories and advice, all very greatly appreciated

 

 

[rayprit]

4 hours ago, HL-10 said:

Glad I've sparked so many memories!

 

Raymond,

The bin bags maybe a bit of artistic license , but I do remember us having them about the late seventies, early eighties along with the tin dustbins.(I've heard about the bin banging as a warning. A good friend of mine who was out there with the Royal Regiment of Wales told me that on their last night out there they chained a stack of bins to the back of their Land Rovers and drove around all night dragging them crashing and clanging behind them!).

 

I built the house fronts using foam board, onto which I stuck some self adhesive brick paper I got from a company called "Custom Dioramics".

The design of the houses were based on online photos, actual properties near where I live, but ultimately I found some downloadable railway modelling card houses, and scaled them up.

For the doors and window frames, I made them using wooden drink stirrers.

 

The figures have been in my stash for ages! I got them from my old local, now long closed model shop, many, many years ago.

I have a few other figure from them covering the "troubles", including Squadie in riot gear with baton & shield, a female RMP, and an EOD operative in the full kit.

For the DPM, I started with the sand, and worked my way up the colours, green, red brown, and finally the black.

I had my old DPM jacket with me as reference as I was painting.

 

Thanks for all the comments, compliments, memories and advice, all very greatly appreciated

 

 

 

I think we have all the same Chota  Sahib in the stash...............the squadie with the riot gear and shield I bought as a pack of 3 and I think has alternative heads(with berets or tin hats), one of the figures has a a little terrier dog running along side him

 

For some unknown reason, patrols were done in open topped Landrovers and the soldiers stood on the back armed to the teeth.  IRA saw an opertunaty to kill a few brits by stringing piano wire  on pedestrian crossings hoping to take a few heads off.  Thats when a new fangled contraption was fitted to Land Rovers, they fitted 5-6 foot lengths of extra strong angle iron to the front bumper(no expense spared), the angle iron was designed to cut the piano wire.

 

Whats your next build to be?

[stevej60]

That's a great build in a very well thought out setting,I had a good few friends when in the TA who had done their bit in Ulster one of the

lad's who was ex RM told me the less welcoming locals used to let the dog's out when they were on patrol to get under their feet and 

distract them,a lot the guy's had a few near misses during their tour's.

[celt]

Well tidy  build of an iconic British AFV, I like it a lot.

Edited February 4, 2017 by celt

[tonyot]

That is a fantastic dio and the modelling is superb,......well done indeed...the 2 Para DZ patch and wings are excellent too....but one thing, the berets should be maroon and not red...... they look like RMP`s with Para Regt cap badges!

Cheers

           Tony

PS- The DPM Smocks look great,....... but would they have been the older style Denison Smocks when Saracen`s were in use? 

Edited February 7, 2017 by tonyot

[HL-10]

2 hours ago, tonyot said:

That is a fantastic dio and the modelling is superb,......well done indeed...the 2 Para DZ patch and wings are excellent too....but one thing, the berets should be maroon and not red...... they look like RMP`s with Para Regt cap badges!

Cheers

           Tony

PS- The DPM Smocks look great,....... but would they have been the older style Denison Smocks when Saracen`s were in use? 

Hi Tony, thanks for the feed back.

If only you knew the fun and games I had mixing the beret colour! in some reference photos they looked almost purple!

I don't think my photos show the colour too well. they are, I assure you maroon, and not RMP scarlet, they just don't show up well in the photos, honest!

As for the jackets, yes I saw pictures of Paratroopers wearing Denison Smocks with the Saracens, but I also came across pictures of them in DPM as the Saracens were still in Ireland when DPM was standard issue across all regiments.

Again, thank you kindly for all your comments, I appreciate them!