Tamiya Bren Gun Carrier II - Force Reconnaissance 1:35

[Mike]

I got this little lump from Trickyrich on the forum, who had got it from someone else as a part-started kit, which came with a set of resin tracks - it was those that attracted me to it, as I hate the old rubberband style tracks that Tamiya still seem to put in the majority of their armour kits.  Anyway, I had a few things to contend with, and as the original builder seems to have begun removing details to accommodate the Eduard set but not got round to buying it, I picked it up off eBay for a song to save me the hassle of scratchbuilding the missing parts.  I also had to remove a few pieces of styrene sheet that had been glued in place for no apparent reason, one of which has caused a slight issue in the front end that I'll have to deal with later, plus a coat of "something" on some of the model that refuses to come off, and has gone chalky and white after a dip in IPA.  Some of the ejector pin marks had been filled with a mixture of Green Stuff ( ) and CA, but it all needed more work (Can you see now where Enzo got the GB idea from?).  I prepped the parts further while I waited for the Eduard set to arrive, and set to adding it on yesterday and part of today, with this being the current state of affairs as of close of play.  I'm going to squirt some primer inside the hull before I glue the engine bay in, and then I'll just work through the rest of the two brass frets adding the last few bits & bobs that aren't yet attached.

 

I've moaned a lot about the construction, but secretly I've enjoyed doing it.  Just to prove no-one's perfect, I slagged the gear-shift gate piece whilst annealing it, cut too much off the rear fenders, and a few other little goofs that confirms that I am actually human, as if there was any doubt

 

 

I must remember to cover those little film instruments on the driver's panel before I get the airbrush out, or I'll be cursing myself later

[Mike]

That little slip of styrene that got in the way of the starboard hull side has come back to haunt me.  When I put the sloped glacis plate on, there was a small gap under that side where the plate wouldn't join the lower glacis.  It was exactly the thickness of the piece of card, and the hull sides were one of those sections that had the proper sticky glue applied, so even if I hadn't covered it with PE, I wouldn't have been able to remove the side and begin again.  Rather than break out the putty, I opted to put a piece of 0.25mm styrene sheet over it, and reproduce the now hidden (actually, cut off) rivets with some from my Archer sheets.  Job done

 

 

Piece by piece are going into the paint booth to get a coat of black primer, which should show up any flaws that need clearing up.  I also need to decide whether to put on the tracks before I get into the painting, or leave them til later

[wyverns4]

Looking tasty!

 

Christian, exiled further south inafrica

[Mike]

Further in time, or distance though?

[wyverns4]

That sounds a little Rocky Horror! Fancy a Time Warp?

 

Errrr, both. Now in Dar-es-Salaam, so about 1 1/2 hours further South by air, (600 miles-ish) and about 34-50 years back in time. So far, so good; it is a lot more laid back than Kenya and lacking the underlying aggression prevalent there also. 

 

Nice to see your renovation. I fancy doing one of these, but as a conversion to the captured beutpanzer panzerfaust carriers used in Italy. Some day...

 

This will look nice next to the little Renault. Hmmm, do I detect a pattern here???

 

Christian, exiled further down the continent.

Edited October 27, 2016 by wyverns4
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[richellis]

I've brought a couple of part build models now, and they can be 'Interesting' to work with!

[Mike]

3 hours ago, wyverns4 said:

do I detect a pattern here???

 

A little on that's going to be very short-lived

 

3 hours ago, richellis said:

I've brought a couple of part build models now, and they can be 'Interesting' to work with!

 

That's about the size of it Rich

[richellis]

you do get a bit more pride from the finished model though knowing you saved it.

[Bullbasket]

Looking good so far. How does the Tamiya kit compare with the newer offers from China. Obviously it won't be as good, but is it still worth getting hold of one, especially if it's cheap?

 

John.

[Mike]

Apart from there being no engine inside the central hump, and the obvious aspects of the older tooling, it comes out well when you apply a bit of Eduard goodies to it, and until that set runs out of stock, it's available pretty cheaply too   I think I saw a Riich one for £42 on eBay t'other day.  That's a BIG price difference.  I guess that if I'd paid extra for the tracks, add the Eduard set and paid new price for the kit, you'd still be under £40.