Kiwidave4 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 (edited) Been wanting to do a BARV for some time but had to find a donor Cent. Scored a built one of our local online auction site for $NZ12 (about a fiver in real money) recently so the BARV could proceed. First job was to dismantle the Cent and select the bits I wanted. Then it was paint strip and re-assemble. Before re-assembling I modified the suspension units by removing the shock absorbers, then replaced the idler mount with something a bit nearer to scale, added some semi scale flanges to the return roller brackets and repositioned the rear return roller. Because the hull sides were warped I added a .040" sheet deck to square up the hull. Next stage was the extending the hull sides to the waistline and add the rear fuel tank. I then had the basic platform to build the superstructure on. Although I have three BARV plans in various scales it soon became obvious that none of them was particularly accurate so it was back to scaling from photos. Theres a fair way to go on this project but at least I now have the hard part out of the way and can start working on the more interesting bits. Dave Edited October 17, 2014 by Kiwidave4 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Amazing work so far, Dave. Good luck with the rest of the build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foghorn Leghorn Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 That's looking damned good. I'd like to take the same route with a sherman BARV but I think it's beyond my talents so I'll be watching this with interest. £5 for a Centurion? Bargain! It seemed to strip down pretty easily as well. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I went to the REME reserve collection yesterday with a MAFVA party and got free access to anything. We got lots of BARV pictures that will be loaded onto the Leicester Modellers site soon. Once I get them sorted BM can have them as well. A great way to use a less than stellar kit and good clean work so far. BTW most BARVs still show the holes in the hull sides for the trackguards and lower bazooka plate mounts.... @neil The Sherman BARV is a bit more involved but not as frightening as you may fear. IIRC the tamiya hull front has M4A2 pulpits and most of the new superstructure can be built up before you need to modify the kit parts. I used thin card for the tricky parts then copied onto plastic sheet when I was happy with the fit. I used heavy foil from a take away tray to make the wave breaker and brackets for the rear section fasteners. When I figure out how I'll post a still from a colour film clip showing the actual colours of Sherman BARVs. Light grey and dark blue! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 This is a great project, looking forward to seeing more of this Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz! Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 looking forward to this. regards oz!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Interesting build. Looking forward to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwidave4 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Thanks chaps. Having a break from this project at present while I try to get my RASC DUKW finished. Its at the paint & decal stage which is always a struggle for me! Will post some more BARV progress pics when I get back to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shermaniac Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I went to the REME reserve collection yesterday with a MAFVA party and got free access to anything. We got lots of BARV pictures that will be loaded onto the Leicester Modellers site soon. Once I get them sorted BM can have them as well. A great way to use a less than stellar kit and good clean work so far. BTW most BARVs still show the holes in the hull sides for the trackguards and lower bazooka plate mounts.... @neil The Sherman BARV is a bit more involved but not as frightening as you may fear. IIRC the tamiya hull front has M4A2 pulpits and most of the new superstructure can be built up before you need to modify the kit parts. I used thin card for the tricky parts then copied onto plastic sheet when I was happy with the fit. I used heavy foil from a take away tray to make the wave breaker and brackets for the rear section fasteners. When I figure out how I'll post a still from a colour film clip showing the actual colours of Sherman BARVs. Light grey and dark blue! The Centurion BARV pics will be loaded up tomorrow - Monday, as I have the day off to get over the REME visit & Staffs Moorlands Show today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shermaniac Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Website updated and BARV pictures added here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwidave4 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 Thanks for posting those Shermaniac...some useful stuff there! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shermaniac Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Thanks for posting those Shermaniac...some useful stuff there! Dave Happy to be of assistance, sorry there wasn't more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 This looks like it will be an interesting build to follow Beefy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwidave4 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Made a bit of progress since my last post. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Great work, I do like to see a scratchbuilder at work. Nice touch with the spring hatch holders. Thanks for sharing your pics. Colin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 How do you do your welds. It's one thing I always find difficult. I usually use stretched sprue or rod as I've had no luck getting milliput and the like to stick to plastic card, but would like to try something that can be "adjusted" easier. Regards, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwidave4 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Thanks Andy. Nothing special about the welds, just stretched sprue. There is a bit of technique involved. I have been doing it for years and I am still improving! I find different brands of sprue give different results....my preference is for Tamiya. I soak the sprue in Tamiya cement until it is almost melted and then apply it to the model while it is just still holding together. I give it a poke with the tips of my pointed tweezers to accentuate the weld bead effect, leave it to dry a bit, then give it a coat of Humbrol cement. Regards Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foghorn Leghorn Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 There's some fine detailing there, looking the mutts nuts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Absolutely stunning so far, this is a great project Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 How do you do your welds. It's one thing I always find difficult. I usually use stretched sprue or rod as I've had no luck getting milliput and the like to stick to plastic card, but would like to try something that can be "adjusted" easier. Regards, Andy Hi Andy, Archers Fine Decals produce weld decals. If they are as good as their rivets, they're worth investigating. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddball Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 This is a really nice bit of scratching you're doing here. It's always nice to see something different on here, I'll look forward to seeing this one finished. Odd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Believe it or not, I pulled over into the entrance to a farm (or something) this week near earls clone in Essex to be confronted by one of these monsters, god knows what it was doing there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Thanks Andy. Nothing special about the welds, just stretched sprue. There is a bit of technique involved. I have been doing it for years and I am still improving! I find different brands of sprue give different results....my preference is for Tamiya. I soak the sprue in Tamiya cement until it is almost melted and then apply it to the model while it is just still holding together. I give it a poke with the tips of my pointed tweezers to accentuate the weld bead effect, leave it to dry a bit, then give it a coat of Humbrol cement. Regards Dave Hi Dave, Thanks for that, I'll give it a go. I usually glue the sprue in place first and then flood it with cement to soften it but I'll give your method a try. Regards, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Hi Andy, Archers Fine Decals produce weld decals. If they are as good as their rivets, they're worth investigating. Colin Hi Colin, I have some of them, haven't used them yet, going to try them on a Trumpeter 2S3. Regards, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwidave4 Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 Hi Dave, Thanks for that, I'll give it a go. I usually glue the sprue in place first and then flood it with cement to soften it but I'll give your method a try. Regards, Andy There is an element of 'suck it and see'. As I mentioned different sprue (and different cement) do influence the outcome. I hold the stretched sprue in my tweezers and apply cement to the length I will need for the weld. Usually a couple of applications of cement with maybe 15-20 seconds betwwen and then a further 20 seconds or so to soak, then apply it to the model and give it a poke with the tweezers to ensure it is in the right place which also leaves some weld like depressions in the sprue. I then leave it for maybe a minute or two before giving it a liberal coat of thin cement. If the desired result is not achieved first time then a further application of cement and more poking with the tweezers will often do the trick. Poking with the tweezers can create some ragged bits and thats where the final coat of thin cement is effective an smoothing things out a bit. Practice makes perfect...or at least less imperfect! Good luck! Regards Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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