lesthegringo Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 (edited) Guys, my eldest son, who despite my attempts to get him into aircraft loves tanks. So much so that he has built a load, and bought me some to make. In fact so much so that a few weeks back, he became a qualified Challenger ll tank driver in the Royal Tank Regiment. I'm still trying to get my head around that.... especially after a family day at Bovington when he got me to sit in his new 'office' - my back will never be the same again But I want to to build him a Challenger ll for him to display for his birthday later this year. As I am no AFV expert, and have very little interest outside of his influence, I d like to know what the current kits are like, and which you would recommend. I believe there are two, Trumpeter and Tamiya, the idea would be to just lightly weather it but not go nuts on details as I would have no idea if it was right or not. Apart from maybe an open hatch or two, I'm not interested in any full interior kits, though may consider the drivers compartment if it does not end up a detail rabbit hole (no pun intended). I don’t know which kits represent the Challenger ll currently in use, I assume the older ones are not up to date though. So any guidance gratefully received, including any glaring errors that can be easily corrected Thanks Les Edited February 12, 2020 by lesthegringo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 The Tamiya kit represents an Operation Telic era tank complete with armour panels and side dust skirts, the Trumpeter Enhanced Armour kit represents a slightly later spec with as the title suggests the extra enhanced armour on the turret and bar armour around the rear quarters. Rye Field Models are on the verge of releasing the latest spec version, if it's as good as their recent Sherman, it will be very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar F1 Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Very good to hear that your son has joined the RTR. I really enjoyed my time in though it was on Chieftains and Challenger 1s. The key question is do you want the up armoured versions or the bulk standard one your son is driving now. If the latter the Trumpeter Kosovo kit is probably the way to go though bear in mind it is nearly 20 years old and takes some fettling. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesthegringo Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Thanks for the replies gents. The intention was to build him something he has driven, so whatever is is use now. How long until the Rye model is out? If it's going to be a while, I'll go for the Trumpeter version Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesthegringo Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 I found a preview of the Rye Models kit, and even to my untrained eye it is not the same as he's driving. The big 'panniers' outside of the track skirts are not present on the ones he drives, his have the jagged shaped ones. Looks like the Trumpeter one is what I will go for. As for the fettling, compared to some of the miserable aircraft kits I've built, I can't see it being too much of an issue - no compound curves, aerodynamic fairings, visible weld beads and single colour matt finish, compare that to prepping an ill fitting aircraft kit for a metallic finish with fuselage and wing bands in bright primary and above all gloss finish! The kit shall remain unnamed. And the other factor is I can use mud and other weathering to hide anything nasty! Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 On the full size Chally the track skirts are an intercangeable item, the up-armour blocks aren't normally fitted for peacetime training, but are fitted when the tanks are operated in an area where there are IED or RPG threats. At the present time only the 3 early Trumpeter kits (kit #00308 Challenger II, #00323 Op Telic #00345 KFOR Kosovo) include the zig-zag skirts, Trumpeter modified the tooling for the better in the Enhanced Armour kit (#01522), but didn't include the original sideskirts in the revised tooling. When RFM first showed the sprue layout for their forthcoming kit it included the zig-zag skirts but they then disappeared from subsequent images, I suspect they may be included in a future release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesthegringo Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 Maybe by getting one of the older kits as well I can swap parts and correct it that way. I don’t think trying to mod the Rye Models kit is a goer though Les 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan-o Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Although the trumpeter kit is the cheapest it can build into a decent model. If you was to add some Accurate Armour updates it can be very good. KFOR kit with AA updates. HTH Ivan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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