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1:35 CRV(T) Scimitar 2 scratch/kitbash build


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While waiting for the Thunderbird 4 filler and paint to dry, I've started looking at what next to build and fso the time has finally come...

Ever since doing the Bar-armoured Scimitar back in 2012, I've been planning to have a go at doing one of the new Scimitar 2s. On the face of it this should be relatively easy, after all its "only" a Scimitar turret on top of a Spartan hull isn't it? Bar armour? pah no problem! (hahahaha!)

This is what I mean:

DSC01182.jpg
(Image sourced from http://plain-military.proboards.com/thread/4962/qrl-sqn-cvr-mk-2 with thanks)

So let us begin by working out what we will need to build it. So:

Scimitar Turret - not a problem, got several AFV Club Scimitar kits in the stash.
Spartan Hull - okay bit trickier, but Accurate Armour do a Spartan resin kit. Problem here is its an old-style hull which will need updating.
Bar armour - well I scratch built the bar armour 2 years ago, I could do it again. However Accurate Srmour also have a PE bar armour set of the Warrior, so it might be worth seeing what can be done with it.

Tracks? No problem got several sets of early and late Fruilmodel tracks in the stash which are great fun to put together (ahem!)

Right to this is the stuff to begin with:

DSC_0723.JPG

Now the reason you see a Spartan AND Samson Accurate Armour kits is that I also intend at some point to build one of the new build bar-armoured Samson recovery vehicles. Now with these, the commander's cupola has migrated from the middle on the old hulls to the left side as on the Spartan, so I'm performing some drastic surgery on the hulls by cutting them both in half and using the Samson front with the Scimitar rear for the Scimitar 2 and the Scimitar front and Samson back on the Samson 2 at some point in the future. Yes I know how mad that sounds, but it seemed like a good idea at the time! Oh and just because there appears to be a lot of expensive Accurate Armour kits, they've all been acquired over the last 2 years so I'm not made of money :)

Opening the boxes and we end up with this lot of components:

DSC_0724.JPG

Left and top, AFV Club Scimitar bits,
Middle top, Accurate ARmour Spartan kit
Right Top, bar armour plan from my own fair hand!
Middle, Scimitar/Scorpion Photoetch leftovers from previous Scorpion and Scimitar builds and some resin pieces from Castoff Armour left over from the LEP Scimitar build, to provide the extra armour panels.
Bottom right, Accurate Armour Warrior PE bar armour set.

In addition, there will be a plethora of plastic card, stowage accessories from Castoff, Accurate Armour and other sources.

Finally in this introductory post is the bar armour schematic I've created, having studied a lot of the photos in the Plain Military board thread linked to above. This has benefited from my previous research efforts while building the bar armoured Scimitar and research into the Samson build.

front-and-side.jpg

So thats the intro, now to go and actually DO something about it!

Watch this space...

Edited by Kallisti
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I like the rear spoiler on this one. Seriously, showing my ignorance, does the shopping-trolley look serve a practical function?

How good are the Accurate Armour vehicles? I ask because the CVRT crew set I bought has a driver figure modelled on the Elephant Man.

Cheers,

Paul

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The "spoiler" is a platform for the ECM gear :)

Bar armour is supposed to protect against RPG as the explosive will detonate at a distance from the vehicle hull.

I've used that CVRT crew set from AA and didn't have any Elephant Man figures, sounds like you had a bad mould. As for the AA kits, they are reasonably accurate for mid 90s vehicles, but since then the vehicles have been updated a couple of times, eg replacing the Jaguar petrol engine with diesel engine and various other armour additions such as the appliqué armour panels.

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I've updated the bar armour schematic, including the turret armour which I'd missed off plus made sure that its noted on the plan that the left and right sides are different! The left side has an upper row of bar armour panels that are hinged to give access to the stowage bins whereas the ones on the right don't hinge.

Its also been enlarged by 6% as on measuring the PE bar armour for the Warrior, my plan came up a tiny bit small.

I spent yesterday evening putting together the Fruilmodel track and my fingertips are STILL tender :)

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Bar armour is supposed to protect against RPG as the explosive will detonate at a distance from the vehicle hull.

That makes sense, thanks for that. Is it available for MX-5s? It might stop women with child seats opening their doors into my paintwork in carparks.

Best of luck!

Paul

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Is it available for MX-5s? It might stop women with child seats opening their doors into my paintwork in carparks.

Scratch build it with some mild steel and a welding torch :D

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So first progress to report - the Samson front hull and Spartan rear hull have been matched up and sanded...

DSC_0770.JPG

DSC_0772.JPG

As you can see there is still a lot of sanding to do. The holes in the upper surface for the Samson cupola and Spartan rear hatch have been filled with plastic and filler and left to dry for a couple of days to let it cure before any more sanding takes place.

Its a shame there is so much moulded detail on the hull as most of it is wrong for the Scimitar so so will end up coming off, eg:

DSC00693.jpg

(Image sourced from http://plain-military.proboards.com/thread/4925/scimitar-2-complete-walkaround-over used with permission)

I've been in touch with Terry @ Castoff models for some of the pieces of Plasan armour he made for the LEP set I used in the earlier Scimitar and for several turret pieces that will allow me to upgrade the sights and so on. There will be quite a lot of changes made to the turret as well, lots of extra pieces of appliqué armour.

I'm much happier with the updated armour schematic now and will try to have a go at that soon. When Thunderbird 4 is finally finished I'll be 100% on this build :)

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Bit more work today on the front hull decking. First off had to cut off the lovely but out of date moulded detail and then add the different louvres of the diesel engine version as shown in the photo in my previous post and this one:

DSC01021.jpg

(Source: http://plain-military.proboards.com/thread/4925/scimitar-2-complete-walkaround-over used with permission)

So here we are:

DSC_0793.JPG

The lower left louvre is salvaged from a scrap AFV Club scimitar hull left over from the previous build as you can see here:

DSC_0799.JPG

The central tall louvre panels have been scratch built from plastic card and currently just resting in place. Its a complex shape and will have a mesh grille over the top so although it looks a bit ragged in the photo it should work out okay. I'll see what it looks like once its all dry. If worst comes to worst, I'll just have to try again tomorrow.

As you can see lots of detail had to be removed, including the winching hooks which were mounted vertically whereas you can see from the above photo that nowadays they are mounded horizontally and used as attachment points for the bar armour supports. These will be recreated later and put back. The various PE sets I've got from previous builds has plenty of engine grilles available, so that won't be an issue later.

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Indeed it is - sigh ;) However, it doesn't get done by itself so I've redone the louvre vent on the front hull as I wasn't happy with the previous effort and its turned out much better:

DSC_0800.JPG
Next, I've been paying attention to the back door. The resin hull uses the Spartan large back door but the Scimitar 2 uses the small door like the rear of the Samson (more on that later).
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So the first order of the day was to blank out the big door frame. I've not got a photo of that as I've forgotten - I'll add one next time.
Then it was on to building the new back door. This was measured up and shaped and hinges and other details added with plastic rod, PE pieces and some resin chopped from the doors on the Spartan which won't be used:
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It was at this point that I checked what the back of the Samson resin kit looked like and was bowled over to realise it was essentially what I was scratch building!
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I'm going to carry on with what I'm doing and save that for when (***WHEN***) I eventually build the Samson version.
In the meantime, also been doing some work on the turret:
DSC_0805.JPG
This is using the AFV kit turret plus the mantlet from Castoff models from the "Updated CVR(T) Bins" set. This will also need a selection of applique armour plates added along with the updated rangefinders and sights etc, and of course the big box at the back with barracuda netting over it and the "spoiler"! Patience is a virtue dear reader...
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More updates: First Upper and lower hulls joined together with some considerable wrestling with ill-fitting resin and lots of gaps and filler required.


DSC_0823.JPG


Lots of road wheels assembled ready to added later


DSC_0824.JPG


Next, the back door has been added and the various bits and bobs placed nearby. I still need to wire up the sensors and so on


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and finally in this update, the driver makes his first appearance. This is based on a resin figure I had in the spares box - proabably from Accurate Armour. It originally had one of the older helmets on - not the bone-dome style but the ones that didn't cover the ears, so to convert it into the newer helments like this:


DSC00987.jpg


I've used tome green stuff


DSC_0826.JPG


and will add camo later when its dried out. Since you can only see the head in the hatch, I haven't bothered much about preserving clothing detail. More to come...
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Fingers crossed - there are lots of VERY small details and its a matter of deciding which ones to incorporate and which to leave off!

Edited by Kallisti
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