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BAe Warrior - 1:48


Mike

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BAe Warrior
1:48 Airfix


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Designed as a replacement for the ageing FV430 series, the most well known of which being the 432, which bears a passing resemblance to the American M113, the FV510 series Warrior has seen major use in the Middle East in both Gulf Wars and subsequently in Iraq and Afghanistan. It mounts a 360o rotating turret fitted with a 30mm Rarden cannon that is fed by 3-round clips, and is unstabilised, requiring the vehicle to fire from a standstill in order to be effective. Curiously, and somewhat annoyingly, the Desert Warrior made for the Kuwaiti army have stabilisation, making them much more effective platforms. The Warrior is well armoured with applique armour that can stand armour piercing rounds up to 14.6mm, and the addition of slat armour gives added protection from shoulder fired RPG unguided rockets, pre-detonating the round to reduce its effectiveness.

The Warrior is nimble, being able to keep up with the Challenger 2 over any terrain, and is driven by a V-8 Condor engine with a 4-speed gearbox, although moves are afoot to improve the power pack as part of the Mid-Life-Upgrade programme that is designed to keep the Warrior in service beyond 2025. It is crewed by three men, consisting of the Commander, gunner and driver, with facilities in the rear compartment for up to seven fully-equipped soldiers, and is capable of staying in a Nuclear/Biological/Chemical theatre for up to 48 hours, although it must be terribly cramped to be cooped up for that length of time.

The Kit
This is part of Airfix's recent foray into 1:48 armour under their Operation Herrick banner, which dovetails well with their recent Lynx and Merlin releases, as well as the soldiers and accessories. This is the first of the larger vehicles, and we're a little late to the fray due to our original review sample getting lost in the Christmas rush. It depicts the Warrior as it can be seen on the battlefield today, replete with slat armour, aerials, wire-cutters and so forth that have been added in response to the conditions in the Middle East. The kit arrives in a larger top opening box, and inside are seven sprues of pale grey styrene, a tiny decal sheet and an A4 instruction booklet with colour painting guide on the inside back cover.

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There is a lot of plastic in the box, although the sprues are of a similar shape to the Jackals and Quad Bikes, suggesting that the part-count mushroomed and forced a re-think on the packaging. Who knows? There is a full interior of the fighting compartment, but only a basic seat for the driver's compartment, although little can be seen through his small hatch. The quality of the moulding is good, the detail is very nicely done, but the slat-armour has been designed with the slats seemingly rotated 90o to show their widest face to the world. This is of course incorrect, but perhaps a limitation of the moulding process, which may lead many folks to invest in some aftermarket Photo-Etch (PE) slats that will no doubt be forthcoming in due course. The rest of the vehicle looks good, with separate suspension arms, link-and-length tracks, detailed outer hull, separate pioneer tools and all manner of separate small parts that you could expect to be moulded in at this scale.

Construction begins with the lower hull, which has a floor panel added to the front, and a "hump" between the driver and rear compartment before the sides are installed, with nicely detailed final drive and suspension mounts along the lower edge. The driver and crew's seats are built up from frames and cushions, then installed in the lower hull, with back cushions, stowage racks and radio equipment added to busy up the area. The rear bulkhead is added, and the single door installed later in the open or closed position, complete with the gas-operated ram that mounts to the floor inside the vehicle. The underside of the hull is covered with an additional armour panel that wraps around the suspension mounts. The upper hull is prepared with curved panels to prevent the passengers from getting in the way of the rotating turret basket, and then added to the lower hull. There is no roof detail inside the hull, so if you're minded, you'll need your references and some scratch-building skills if you feel up to the task.

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The suspension is next, and the individual arms are all keyed to avoid confusion, while a jig is included to set the correct angle for the rear road-wheel station. Three return rollers fit onto moulded in mounts, and the process is repeated again on the opposite side. Installation of the track is interesting, requiring you to install the inner road-wheels first onto the axles moulded into the suspension swing-arms, then build up the idler wheels and driver sprockets, glue the short curved lengths of track around them, and then glue the straight sections of track to the top run. The outer road-wheels are then added, and the three remaining sections of track are glued to the run, which is again repeated on the opposite side. This strikes me as a little fiddly, but it is still infinitely better than rubber-band style tracks, and the detail is good all around. If you're airbrushing your model or brush painting it, there will be a few painting sessions unless you can think of a better procedure.

The basic Warrior hull is encrusted with additional storage and equipment, which is reflected in the many scabbed on boxes that are added in the following stages, plus the glacis plate's applique armour, the engine's radiator panels, final drive housing and a hatch to the side of the driver's compartment. The side-skirts are next, fitting into recesses on the side of the hull, with a scrap diagram showing the correct position from the front. Mudguards, engine cover, driver's hatch, pioneer tools and headlamps are added, with front and rear sensor/antennae mounts and hoses snaking across the rear deck next, and a clamshell door on the roof being able to be posed open or closed.

The slat armour is next, which will need adding after main painting, and have convenient location points in the side of the hull. The corner sections interlock with the sides and rear sections, with a curved front corner section and a small upstand at the front of the vehicle. The rear door is capable of being modelled open or closed, and separate diagrams show how the slat armour fits in both instances, with the ram locating on the door's hinge edge and into a slot in the floor of the vehicle. A number of antennae are added to the pedestals at the rear corners of the vehicle, and attention then turns to the turret, which is a small model in its own right. The turret basket is detailed first with ammo stowage, seats and a foot-plate for the crew, before the turret is dropped on top and the mantlet added with the short coax machine gun as separate part. The rear of the turret is covered with seven vision blocks, and at the front two box-like periscopes are built up and glued to their mounts on the roof, with armoured covers protecting them from the sides and above. The crew hatches are separate, and can be posed open or closed, with a pair of upstanding "windows" rising from the sides of the turret to provide the crew with extra protection. These parts are moulded with holes suitable for glazing, although none is provided, so in the interest of realism, you may wish to consider adding some glass in the shape of some clear packaging from the inside. The periscopes would have been better moulded in clear styrene here, in which case the windows could have been included on the clear sprue, but it seems the decision not to bother with clear parts was taken, so you're on your own there! A bracing strut links the two windows together, and in front of them paired wire-cutters are added, plus smoke dischargers on the front corners of the turret, and small antennae on the rear corners. The turret sides are then encased in more slat-armour before the Rarden barrel and two long antennae are installed, after which the turret can be dropped into place on the hull and twisted to lock in place, completing the build.

Markings
The included decals are about the size of a large stamp, and cover number plates, fire extinguisher data stickers, two small shield emblems for the turret and four black stripes on a white background at the bottom of the rear door, which I recall being something to do with the convoy light.

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There is only one choice of vehicle, which is predictably in Afghanistan in 2013, being all over Desert Sand. The decals are in register, with good sharpness and density, and if they behave like any other Airfix decal, should go down just fine.

Conclusion
A cool addition to the burgeoning Helmland range, with one major flaw, which is the over-scale slat-armour. I'm sure this is somewhat to do with moulding limitations, but even so I feel the slats could still have been made narrower for a more realistic look. Otherwise, it's a well detailed model with plenty to offer, and if you're prepared to wait for the aftermarket providers to come up with some more suitable slat armour, it'll look great.

Recommended.

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Review sample courtesy of
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Looks another good kit from Airfix... My only issue was when i seen picture`s of build up kit and now spruces of the kit was that the slat armour looks rather on the thick side. Im not normally a rivet counter but i could not fail to notice this twice now... Im sure a replacment with be out there are some point maybe.

Looking at it again i agree 100% with Mike "one major flaw, which is the over-scale slat-armour."

It`s hideous!!

Edited by TerryUK
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I'm not 100% certain, but I can see Airfix producing a PE set themselves, like they did with the Coyote & Jackal kits. Your only other option is to nip each slat off and replace it with ultra-thin styrene strip. You could even replace the vertical bars with brass too, if you didn't fancy cleaning the styrene parts up. The only tricky part would be the curved section. Doable, but time-consuming :shrug:

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I have a feeling the slat armour is the way it is so that younger and less experienced modellers can build it without ruining the delicate slats, whereas in the meantime they form templates for the more experienced builder to fashion their own set. And, in fairness, if it makes a younger modeller not throw it in the bin and march off in disgust back to their PSP, then I'm fine with that. It's not like the kit will be massively expensive.

Eduard's already producing the PE for the Airfix Helmand kits, so I've got a feeling it is what it is for now. However, I can see the likes of Wolfpack making nifty sets for it.. It's merely a matter of time.

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The bar armour is limited by the mould technology - you just can't produce injection mounded stuff thinner than this. Even PE will be a very fiddly experience to put together in 1:48 and the pieces will be tiny. I built bar armour in 1:35 scale from evergreen strip and it took many tries to get it to align, stay together an stay in shape! I saw the spries and a test shot at Telford and was hugely impressed with the efforts they'd made with the bar armour.

I will be getting one of these for the stash and I hope they'll continue the Herrick vehicle theme and do a Scimitar 2 and Mastiff!

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Edited by Kallisti
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  • 2 years later...

The armour is not good.

But there are some ways out. Do not fit it as the Warrior di not have that armour to begin with, Also the Warrior repair vehicle does not have it.

Alternative which was my way. Netting drooped along the sides of the armour carrying luguage. Plus one or two other things hanging on it to distract from the stuff.

Also found it helped to paint the on top bit darker than the front bit.

Laurie

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  • 2 years later...

sorry no pics to offer but i have to agree with @Mike about the slat armour.  pain in the rear end to paint well with a hairy stick.  otherwise the rest of the kit is very nice

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