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Bronco Buffalo with slat


SeanM

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And the next build begins. This is the 1/35 Buffalo by Bronco with Slat or Bar armour, the 2nd of 3 versions of this vehicle they have done.

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From WikipediaThe Buffalo vehicle was designed based on the successful South African Casspir mine-protected vehicle.[2] While the Casspir is a four wheeled vehicle, the Buffalo has six wheels. Buffalo is also fitted with a large articulated arm, used for ordnance disposal. Both vehicles incorporate a "V" shaped monohull chassis that directs the force of the blast away from the occupants.[3]

Buffalo is also now equipped with BAE Systems' LROD cage armor for additional protection against RPG-7 anti-tank rounds.[4] Glass armor is sufficient at 6 inches thickness. Run-flat tires are present in all tires. The Buffalo combines ballistic and blast protection with infrared technology to detect the presence of dangerous ordnance and a robotic arm to disable the explosive ordnance. Personnel operate the Buffalos 30-foot robotic arm and claw from within the armoured hull via a mounted camera and sensory equipment, to safely dispose of mines and IEDs.

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Inside the box are 13 tan sprues, 4 clear sprues, a large PE fret, 8 wheels, 2 halves of the hull and decals and twine for cables etc.

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It's also a very big vehicle. A lot longer than the RG-31 and that's not counting the arm!

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Started on the suspension. This will be a very slow build as there are a lot of tiny parts and while fit is good I think they have over-complicated the construction. The parts are all nicely molded with no flash and minimal seam lines but there are hundreds of parts....even just cleaning off the sprue joins is going to be a slow, delicate and laborious process.

So if you're interested in following this build be prepared for a long haul!

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Welcome on board Dawkuk. I've seen some build logs where incredible detail has been added mostly arount the brake lines and "missing" details. Hard to believe as this looks so detailed as it is.

This will mainly be an Out-of-the-box build with some spares and stowage added. The one area I might attempt to enhance is the hydrolic lines on the arm....

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Well it's taken a good few evenings just to get the suspension done. It's not perfect but some heavy weathering will hide all the flaws. The front suspension is very complex but should leave the wheels steerable. I fixed it in a turned position...it was easier than trying to leave movable parts moving. The rear suspension was even more complex but managed to get it tilting up & down. I'm not adding break lines as I have seen in some builds.

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Tomorrow I start on the interior....

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There's no engine Prowler, but interior is nice. Detailed radio rack, control stations for RWS and the arm, very nice dash board....of course always scope for adding extra stowage. Comes with about a dozen clear water bottles and 2 M4s but not much else in terms of personal equipment. Will have interior photos in a day or two

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All ready to close her up and then I can start on the outside. No real issues with the interior. Went together very well, just added cooler box from the spares box. The M4s, water bottles and GPS all came with the kit.

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Top on and dry fitted the wheels to make sure she's sitting level.

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Then two days of effort on the bits on the outside:

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Still lots to do....and will need a new bottle of Tamia Extra Thin soon! So far my only complaint would be the big empty area under the grill on top of the bonnet. Its quite see through. If I do another I'll put a mesh or something behind it.

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I'd be very interested in pics of the Buffalo, as I have one in the stash, as well as a general interest in that sort of thing. If you have any personal ones you'd like to share with the membership, I'm sure our Walkaround Coordinator Julien would be pleased to hear from you :)

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I'm pretty impressed. Everything that can move does move. It won't after painting but at least this will allow me to place it on the vehicle and decide what way I want it posed

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Probably in the stowed position just to avoid breaking it off....need to do some clean-up and filling (not a lot) and try adding the hydraulic lines based on MagMans pics above.

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never thought to build one of these but after seeing your WIP i am convinced i have to try one of these...

Great work!!

Alastair

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Thanks MagMan, although the inside is closed up now. Haven't got much done recently. Need to decide how best to tint the windows and do the piping/lines on the arm before I can proceed. Trying different types/sizes of wire to see which looks best....none so far. Need to get some 0.4mm solder wire. And playing with 7Up bottles to get the windows tinted. Painting clear green by brush on some spare flat transparent bits was too streaky....

Alastair, go for it! I'm loving all these modern MRAPs. Have done the Kinetic Maxx-Pro & RG-31 and have Panda M-ATV waiting it's turn on the bench. And then I'll gave to do a Cougar or 3 also. By then there should be more available to keep me going.

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After a bit of a hiatus finally got around to adding the hydrolic cables. Looks very messy so far but I'm happy with getting it on. 5 hydrolic rams needing 10 cables. Just need to straighten them up and attach to each end of the sleeves.

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I used 0.3mm plastic coated wire. I know I'm being lazy but not trying to add any joins to the wire. In the real thing they are not all a single length of pipe....

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Hydraulic lines added. Not the neatest job I've seen but I guess they do become a bit messy after a few IEDs have gone off in close proximity. I'm blaming thick fingers and poor eyesight :)

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Now to base coat with a rattle can and then start the detail painting

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  • 2 weeks later...

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