GMK

The last pieces of the running gear before the track are the sprocket ring & sprocket wheel. “My” vehicle ran German Diehl 513 dual pin track. 513’s track pitch is different from the single pin T130 & T130E1 normally seen on M113A1s & A2s, necessitating a different sprocket ring. Here’s the sprocket rings for the Diehl track. Ignore the floating! I’m not 100% on the distance between the rings, but good on everything else. A wider view: And a lower one that makes the lack of a sprocket wheel less obvious. This is a pic of a 1:1 sprocket wheel that I’ve been describing. Thanks for looking in.

Had some time to draw up the roadwheels this week. The brain’s trust came up with a cross section of the roadwheel, which was very helpful. Even low resolution drawings are great to use to sketch out cross sections. That sketch helped improve the design to the point that it’s now usable. First attempt by eye on the left, with the drawing on the right. Thanks to my work on the AS4 last year, I had an idler I could steal. Work begins on the sprocket next. Thanks for looking in.

Having used the pandemic lockdowns to learn CAD, I’ve turned my attention back to my 1:16 M113A1. The ikea-style flat pack kit I used initially appears to have been based on the old Italeri kit & tweaked for RC. The Italeri kit has a few flaws which I’d overlooked out of sheer joy to have a 1:16 staring point that wasn’t a clean sheet of paper. Time to scratch print a more accurate static kit! Using the excellent AFV Club kit as a reference, I started the design. Still need to populate the glacis plate, hull roof, & running gear, but the lower & rear hull are complete. The lower hull was turned into a mesh. Then sliced to produce gcode, ready for printing. Thanks for looking in.

Agreed. So, more countries in NATO use Leopard 2 variants, but there are fewer overall. Makes Abrams look like the smart bet, imo.

The US - part of NATO - has 4,400 M1A1/A2 Abrams. I reckon there more Abrams in NATO than Leopard 2s.

Leopard 2 has the same problem - 27 unprotected rounds open to the entire fighting compartment.

The AJAX turret is too heavy to be fitted to Boxer, apparently.

Heaviest armament for British Boxers atm is the 50 calibre machine gun, same as a WMIK.

They look very nice, imo. Glad they went perpendicular to the fuselage with the stripes & not diagonal!!

None currently scoped or under contract, but never say never. If I was to take a guess, I’d say the Kongsburg RT60 is the most likely option.

Thanks, Whitewolf! The biggest differentiator between the Boxer reconnaissance vehicle and other variants is the Lance turret. Lance is a two-crew, medium calibre turret that has a ‘hunter/killer’ capability thanks to its gunner’s & commander’s SEOSS sights, a 30mm cannon that can fire airbursting ammunition, coaxial machine gun, plus a whole heap of sensors, detectors, & smoke launchers in fairings various around the turret roof. Here’s the turret before the fairings: Then, with the SPS fairings. Shapes themselves are tricky, this is the first hack at them. Thanks for stopping by.

Well, the turret test prints continue. Happy with the general shapes, but there’s a lot more to do, then texturing can commence. Compared to my 1:35 scratch built “RMA” turret. Test fit - but not pressed home - on the hull: It’s a big truck! No doubt that as soon as I finish it, a kit of the turreted Bundeswehr Boxer will be released!

With the core of the turret printed, time to do a test print of the turret appliqué & stowage. These aren’t complete atm. The finished designs will require printing in resin due to the fine details. Dumped in the slicing software. 64 hours, 11 minutes later, the raw print looks like this: Test fit with the turret & gunner’s SEOSS sight: ‘tother side: Looks about right from first impressions. cheers.

Nice work, Erk. I’ve used Tamiya Field Grey (CF-65/TS-78) for modern US vehicles in overall green. There’s some new colours being rolled out on the SEP v3 which may be of interest. Two tone OD & Field greens.

Thanks Steve. It’s been a journey. Now, on to the turret. This is the crew protection module that’s at the centre of the Lance turret. The projection at the front left is for the gunner’s SEOSS sight. The turret race & plug will locate the turret. With the .stl file dumped into Luban, a slicing software, to generate gcode. Thanks for looking in.

Great work, Phil. If it’s not too late, you may want to swap out the M1A2 cupola for a M1A1, that’d more closely align the tank to the USMC’s M1A1 configuration. Regardless, looking good.

Now with automotive high-build primer. Now the real work begins!

Had some issues producing a useful front end of the Boxer, due to bad design on my part, and some quality issues with some batches of filament. Each of the big parts take 10-12 days or so to print, with the hull comprising two parts. The evolving design/bad filament meant that two back ends & four front ends were printed in the end. Here’s the collection of front hulls that show the different designs. Front view: So, here we are. Each square on the cutting mat is 1” x 1”. Getting the basic hull done has taken a lot longer than anticipated, but has been a great learning activity.

Now confirmed, though. Talking about the *real* Lightning here, not that Cold War relic 😉

Well, things have changed quite dramatically. The German government has given in-principle approval to buying 35 F-35A Lightnings. German F-35 decision

And it’s been recovered. “The wreckage was recovered from a depth of approximately 12,400-feet by a team from CTF 75 and the NAVSEA’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) embarked on the diving support construction vessel (DSCV) Picasso,” Impressive.

Been working on surface detailing of the appliqué armour recently. This was made easier by indenting where the bosses for the armour were located. Then, a detailed boss was drawn up, followed by copying them into the previous locations. Simple, if a little tedious. The bosses are highlighted here in blue: Once completed, these parts will be printed using a resin printer so they’re clean enough to use. Thanks for looking in.

Seen in Syria this week: Some inspiration for the Dragon 1/72 scale kit!

The front end has finished is 256 hour epic print. After a little cleanup, I plugged it into the back end. Other side, 1:87 baby next to it. Markings on the mat are 1” square. In 2016 I bought a CNC-milled styrene flat pack Boxer from Germany. It depicted a flat top (i.e. not turreted) Bundeswehr vehicle & was intended for R/C, using off-the-shelf suspension units etc. As such, some of the hull dimensions weren’t quite right. Here is my print alongside the CNC milled iteration. The design work continues, with an emphasis on surface detailing. Thanks for looking.

This jet + paint scheme has emerged. Something different.