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Takom FV432 converted to a FV436 Command Post


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It's been a while chaps, life suddenly smacks you in the head and you have to 

put down the plastic and be all grown up again … :o

 

So a micro update really, not much done but a bit, I noticed that Takom forgot the firewire warning 

Horn in the drivers compartment so I scratched one,  just a few disks of plastic so nothing special.

I'll add the wiring later.

 

P1050721

 

Next up is black boxes in the drivers compartment to his right knee, these are a mass of wires so I've thought it best to represent 

the birds nest of cables and such like. They control all the main electrics for the pack, battery charging and firewire warning systems.

The box on the side with three connectors on the top is the firewire management box, this will get wired later. Next to that is the drivers Crew Box 2 , he plugs 

in his IC to this.

 

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P1050723

 

P1050724

 

Another item missing is the BCF fire extinguisher from the drivers compartment, I used a spare Accurate Armour item for this.

 

P1050726

 

P1050725

 

The Pack fire extinguisher handles now added to the top of the piano boards, these fire off the two big extinguishers in the rear compartment which are plumbed into

the engine bay. Lead wire bowden cables added.

 

 

P1050727

 

P1050728

 

 

 

More later chaps. 

 

 

Dan 

 

 

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Nice to see this back Dan. That wiring by the drivers right knee looks a bit to tidy from memory that area was always a mess(could be wrong on that memory plays tricks sometimes)

As always stunning attention to detail!

 

  Roger

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On 11/05/2018 at 15:31, Dads203 said:

 

P1050713

 

Did you know that you can get these from RB Productions?  I've got tons knocking about my workshop, as I went through a stage of buying them and accidentally got too many, then didn't build any British armour for a while :doh: I'm sure I could spare you one ;)

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Cheers everyone for the great feedback and the likes, I’m currently finishing off another long stalled project over on the Maritme section. One that’s been on the go for a good few years, a GTM Vosper MTB. It’s almost done now :)

 

I needed a break from this one just for a while just to figure out how I’m going to get it right, it’s not apparent at the moment to you guys on how much scratch building is required and the 436 will be my most ambitious build to date so I’m just taking my time.

 

Mike, cheers for the offer on the antenna base but the RB productions are based on the US Army kit , I also have a few and did consider using them but changed my mind as they didn’t look quite right.

 

Stay tuned folks because I’ll be back with this one soon :thumbsup:

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  • 2 months later...
14 minutes ago, DAG058 said:

Any update on this one Dan? 

 

 

Hi Dag,

 

Not at the moment mate, we have had a bit of a rough few months here which has gone from stressful to super stressful in the last week or so 

with more stress incoming.  Once the dust settles a little then you guys will be the first to know with an update :thumbsup: I'm hoping for some normality 

soon put it that way B)

 

 

Dan 

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  • 9 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Hi dads203,

 

I know it is a bit late for me to give comments about this build but thought you might like some info on the small snags you faced.

 

Just to give a bit of insight to my background before I remark on this build: Ex REME Electrician with 25 years service. Old enough to remember when an FV 436 was called Green Archer and was used as a Mortar locating radar, then when it was finally removed from service the FV436 designation passed to a converted FV432 with a Cymbeline Radar (Mortar locator) mounted on it. Finally came across an R Sigs FV436 when I served with 20 Armd Bde HQ & Sigs Sqn (200 Sigs Sqn) in Detmold West Germany.

 

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FV 436 Green Archer (not the best illustration but you get the idea of what it looked like).

 

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FV436 Cymbeline

 

As far as this build is concerned I am well impressed with what has been done, but do have a couple of comments:

 

The radio batteries (the ones without the battery box cover were mounted under the drivers seat and were originally used to power one or two C42/C45 sets). Starting to realise how old this makes me feel lol.

 

The extra battery box on the left hand rear of the power pack compartment and under the seats powered the ventilation fan as well as being used to power a C11-R210 set configuration (the mounting meant that the HF ATU No7 (Antenna Tuning Unit) was directly under the HF radio antenna mount on the roof just to the rear of the power pack louvres.

 

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FV432 C set installation circa 1973

 

Over the years radio sets changed and prior to demob we ended up with clansman VHF 353's  and HF 321's

 

At this point in time a normal FV432 was often used as a command post and the likes of Sig Ops had the ventilation batteries plus another set to their rear fitted to power a BID 150 or 250 (the BID being installed in position where the HF radios were fitted). [BID 150 and 250 had to work off a set of batteries not being charged - so one set was discharging while the other set was being charged -  often done using a 500w petrol driven genny which could be carried on the roof when moving]

 

spacer.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FV432#/media/File:FV432_interior.JPG

 

FV432 interior - the primary radio battery box can be seen under the drivers seat to the front of the commanders seat (shown in the raised/stow position in the pic).

The aluminium plate bolted between the hull and power pack compartment is the drivers seat runner support plate. The drivers seat is mounted on this plate.

 

Looks as if Tacom has managed to muck up this part of the instructions? - I'm afraid to put it right would mean a major remount for you.

 

Battery Locations:

Vehicle Batteries mounted in a fibre glass box with lid on the RH sill next to the drivers position.

Primary Radio Batteries mounted in an uncovered fibre glass box under the drivers seat.         

Ventilation batteries (also designated as the Secondary radio batteries) mounted in a uncovered fibre glass box under the seats to the rear of the Power Pack Compartment.

 

Looks as if Tacom mixed up the battery boxes provided with this kit.

 

Also of note is the headlight dip switch mounted to the left of, and slightly back from the steering levers (on the Tacom kit it is part of the drivers foot plate - looks like a small  indentation on the drivers foot plate). The dead mans pedal is mounted to the left of the accelerator pedal.

 

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fv432driversposition.JPG

Head light dip switch and dead mans pedal positions. Drivers seat front left hand mounting is also clearly seen, there are four of these welded to the hull and drilled out to mount the drivers seat.

 

A bit late for me to throw my sixpence worth in to the comments already logged here but hope it helps to clear up the small problems you encountered whilst carrying out this conversion

 

yours aye

 

Les

 

Looks like I posted some bum info about the drivers seat. If you go to this site address http://www.fv432apc.com/manuals/fv432manuals/2350T250/2350-T-250-302.pdf and look for Chap 3 Page 18 you can clearly see that what I thought was the drivers seat runner mounting plate is actually the commanders footplate.

 

The drivers seat is mounted on four lugs mounted on the hull.

 

This of course does mean that the drivers seat mountings in the Tacom kit are wrong and will probably have to be removed. This will allow the Primary Radio Battery Box to be mounted in the correct position under the seat. scratch building of four lugs will be necessary so that the drivers seat can be placed in to the correct position.

 

Further to this try visiting the following site http://www.fv432apc.com/fv432manuals.html for info (AESPs and Handbooks) that will show you the interior fittings on a FV432 plus there is info on an FV436 (look for AESP 2350-T-253).

 

Hope this helps, as I know it will help me when my Tacom kit arrives next week lol

Edited by lab1950
Added info about site http://www.fv432apc.com/fv432 manuals.html. Added additional info about primary radio batteries and drivers seat mountings. Added Wiki link address for larger interior photo. New photo of drivers seat position.
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Cheers Lab 

Much appreciated for the comments fella, build is at is on hold as I'm taking my time with the details and want to nail it properly. 

These wagons have a very special place in my heart as I've spilt blood sweet and tears working on them  

I crewed the Sigs version for almost 8 happy years in all forms from lowly driver to commander and then as a DMI.

 

I'll be back on the build at some point soon.

 

Regards

 

Dan 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 6 months later...

Remember this one? 

 

I popped it on the back burner a while ago as I didn't want to rush the build. I'm going to restart and continue 

on it for a while, it won't be full non stop build as this is going to involve a huge amount of scratch building and I don't want to burn out on it at this point 

in time.  

 

So this a quick recap, I'm building my old wagon 09EA90 G3 Ops, 6th Armd Bde ( AFV 436) . I've done a lot of the basic construction  of the Takom 432 kit which represents 

the MK2/1 version. My wagon was just a MK2 and had a different NBC filtration system from the MK2/1. A large box was mounted on the side to accommodate the filters

was used on the MK2 which isn't the correct version that Takom have kitted. 

 

Scorpion Models have released the conversion a few months ago so this was must for me, saves whole heap of scratch building. 

 

The bits in the set. 

 

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New hull side in light grey resin -top . Bottom side is the kit part which I removed from my hull.  you can also see the new filter box and NBC fan. 

 

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You also get a couple of spare track links which I'll not be using, We never fitted them to the top of the filter box but carried 10 spare links in the cage. 

I'll scratch up the link brackets from plastic and also add the step to the brush guard. 

 

Basic parts cleaned up and just placed on the new hull side. 

 

P1080604

 

 

More to follow chaps.

 

Dan 

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4 minutes ago, ivan-o said:

Good to see this back Dan. Whats the SMM kit like? I fancy a Mk 3 if Takom ever get round to giving us some more kits!

 

Its not bad Ivan, no air bubbles at all, I have a bit of shrinkage on the brush guard but nothing that a touch of filler wont sort out. 

I'd recommend this if you were in the market for a MK2 that's for sure. The new hull side is a drop fit and it fits like a treat. 

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32 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

Nice to see this back on the bench Dan if only for a short period of time.

 

            Roger

Agreed 100%.  and Dan - utterly bizarre as I was looking at Scorpion Models Mk3 conversion set this morning pondering......before seeing this thread resumption later  !!

 

Dan - do you have any pics of Mk 3s in green alone?  I'm looking for one to model but there don't seem to be that many pics about.  Thanks if you have

You've inspired me to add one of these to the build list :winkgrin:  (Bloody Boats :whistle:)

Rob

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Cheers chaps, we will see how I get on with this one but I’m hoping to take it quite far.

 

Rob, I do have a couple, all of the 43’s are now at MK3 standard I think, so I’ll have a dig about and post them up over the next day or so, one picture I found is a green 436 MK3 being used as a driver trainer that was in my old squadron, I drove it often which is quite spooky. Last time I saw it was 1992. 

 

Dan 

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Just catching up with this, lovely work so far. I completly forgot about the warning horn in the frontbwhen i did mine. Nice touch.

 

Good to see someone else with some Scorpion Minitures items. I have a few of their CVR(t) sets but not used them yet. How you finding them to work with.

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8 hours ago, Bish said:

Just catching up with this, lovely work so far. I completly forgot about the warning horn in the frontbwhen i did mine. Nice touch.

 

Good to see someone else with some Scorpion Minitures items. I have a few of their CVR(t) sets but not used them yet. How you finding them to work with.


They are good Bish, like I said earlier the hull side was just a drop fit, no bubbles or warping found on my example. The price point is also a winner ;)

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Hi, I'm working on the takom bulldog version atm and after messing up the l&l tracks (I was half a link out on one side) I bought the master club metal tracks and was wondering how to go about painting them, paint first and then apply pads or add the pads and mask them before painting? 

I'm amazed by the scratch building your doing, it's going to look fantastic when you're done. 

 

 

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