Flightpath 1/48 Beaverette Mk.III Airfield Defence Vehicle -- FINISHED

[dnl42]

This is my next project in this GB. According to Wikipedia:

Quote

The first version of the vehicle was built in 1940 by Standard Motor Company at the instigation of Lord Beaverbrook, then Minister of Aircraft Production (hence the name Beaverette). It was based on commercial car chassis, on which a simple riveted armoured hull was mounted. The 11mm of steel was backed by 3 inch thick oak planks.[1] The hull was open at the top and at the rear. The armament consisted of a Bren light machine gun, which could be fired through a slot in the casemate armour. Subsequent versions received all-around protection and a machine gun turret - an enclosed one with a Bren MG or an open-topped one with twin Vickers machine guns. Some vehicles also carried Boys anti-tank rifles. Some also had a No. 11 or No. 19 radio set. Production was stopped in 1942. About 2,800 units were delivered.

 

The box looks promising.

 

Within are a rather thick sheet of PE (0.15 in), cast metal parts, and some brass rod; decals are not included.

 

It looks like body is well detailed, but this is a curbside model. I'm not yet sure I'm going to do an interior or chassis. The body is primarily composed of part 1, which is quite a bit of origami.

[Maginot]

Great choice of subject, in no way mainstream. What a peculiar little vehicle. Seen the Tank Chat from The Tank Museum on this one. An (almost) all PE kit. Wow! That would sort me out. Hope it's an enjoyable ride.

[Robert Stuart]

Look interesting, and certainly different.

Trying to work out how the chassis works.

[dnl42]

Here are the body shell and chassis freed from the fret. The brass is so thick that this is not a trivial result! 

 

And here's the origami fold. The instructions called for rivits to be punched from the inside. I'm not sure I'm happy with them, I think I'll go with Archer Fine Transfer's resin rivets.

 

The chassis is a pan with a big ol' hole in it whence the turret top lay. That hole reminds me of a 61 Beetle I had in university with the all too typical hole in the chassis where the battery sat. Early this morning I realized I had a potential replacement chassis in Tamiya's 1/48 Tilly. Well, it's a little long so I guess I'll be building something. Time too take a stroll over to JeroenS' builds...

 

I foud what I believe is a prototype chassis at https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/210868/standard-fourteen-rolling-chassis-ratrod. Even better, the last post has this:

Quote

Now sold and in Norfolk waiting to be rebuilt as a WW2 Beaverette armoured car.

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

 

[dnl42]

I found some Standard catalogs. The 1939 issue indicates the Flying Twelve had an 8' 4" wheelbase while the Flying Fourteen had a 9' wheelbase, which scales out to 2.08" and 2.25" respectively.  In the 1941 catalog, I see "Utility production of basically 12 and 14hp models continue along with the Beaverette". The kit's wheelbase is 1.59 inches, scaling out to 6' 4". 

 

The Tilly scales out to 7' 9".

[Courageous]

I have a Beaverette too but in 1/72, think it has less parts than yours! Will be interesting to see if you solder or CA those large PE seams...

 

Stuart

[dnl42]

I'm going to try soldering the very large PE seams! I've been working out a jig that aligns the edges and enables access for soldering iron and solder. So far, I can hold or I can solder, but not hold and solder...

[dnl42]

I finally figured out a jig to enable me to hold and solder. The key was to clamp the middle section, with the 1st area of interest outside the jig.

 

I know how to solder electronics, but this is my first try at soldering PE, and with one of those big ol' Weller soldering guns. I used Tix low-temp solder and I'm quite happy with it. Well, here's the soldered part. Not horrible! The jig kept it true, but I'm going to rely on Tamiya Putty and Mr.Surfacer to even this out. 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking...and laughing. 

 

 

 

[Stef N.]

Very impressive work that. Nice one.👍

[Courageous]

No laughing here matey, you're soldering looks 'top drawer'.

 

Stuart

[StuartH]

Superb skills 👏

[CliffB]

Very impressive!  

[dnl42]

The hull is essentially done. The turret is built from a ring and top. I formed the ring around some dowels, bent the turret top, and then married the two with CA. Fortunately the top had an inset that correctly positions the ring. Easy to describe but it took a couple of hours to get it all done. Next up were the radiator louvers. Contrary to the instructions, I bent the louvers before I attached the panel to the hull. Getting the 1st louver bent with a #11 blade was quite a challenge given the part's small size. After that, though, bending each louver was easy with a small flat-blade screwdriver. I'll need to put a backing plate behind the louvers. The viewport doors needed some effort to attach as they have a very small overlap with the openings. I ended up putting a 6 mil alum backing plate behind each opening to help. PE grab handles were replaced with 0.5mm brass wire. Hatches, &etc. were the last to fit.

 

I'll add some Archer Fine Transers weld lines and rivets before painting.

 

Next up is a new chassis.

[Bertie McBoatface]

This is excellent work and very interesting indeed (though you had my attention with the word 'Beaverette'). Who'd have thought you could make armoured cars out of metal!

[dnl42]

Thanks!

 

I must admit that I find working with metal very satisfying! I have a steam jones, and I suppose working with metal is tapping into that. Funny, my wife thinks I like trains, it's really steam trains, or steam anything.

 

A friend has 3 Nichcols & Shepherd traction engines. The near one is apparently the only remaining 'return flue' Nichols & Shepherd engine; the next two are both 25 HP models. He routinely runs the middle one, with the canopy, the 1st and 3rd are being worked on.  I'm itching to drive the RV to MN to help him play with his toys. 

[dnl42]

I somehow put hand-grabs where they didn't belong. I removed them, repaired the damage, and went looking for what I should have done. Looking more carefully at photos showed there were tow rings(?) front and rear, which I added. Some small lights were collateral damage in the repair; I replaced them with disks punched from Evergreen strip.

 

I also had to correct the turret mounting. The instructions had me laminate 2 doublers and then mount them to the underside of the roof. Despite my best efforts, the turret didn't mount well. To fix this, I removed the doublers and sperately filed the roof and middle doubler to ensure the turret fit into the aperatures. I then glued the middle doubler to the roof and ensured the turret continued to fit properly. With that verified I was able to mount the bottom doubler, which supported the turret.

 

Now back to that chassis

[Muchmirth]

This looks painfully difficult and challenging to build but your doing an amazing job on it.

[IanC]

Incredible work - hugely impressive!

[Geo1966]

11 hours ago, Muchmirth said:

This looks painfully difficult and challenging to build but your doing an amazing job on it.

Seconded! You are a braver man than me!

[dnl42]

Disclaimer. This chassis will be a flight of fancy...arguably no better than the pan provided with the kit.

 

I found some photos of a post-war Standard 14 chassis. While the Beavertte Mk.III has a shortened wheelbase, my assumption is the chassis looked somewhat like this, with the front-end largely intact and surgery aft of the transmission. Compariing Tamiya's 1/48 Tilly chassis to the Beavertte hull, that doesn't appear too unreasonable.

 

With that, I drew a template based on some imagined measuremets.

 

Your comments are most welcome.

[Old Man]

This is shaping up great!

 

 

[dnl42]

Here's my 1st shot at a chassis. The gross geometry is OK 

I'll work on the mechanical parts before trying again.

 

[dnl42]

I have a drivetrain! Well, something vaguely like the representation on the Tilly.

Back to the frame.

[Colin W]

Some great building going on here.  Im impressed with your soldering technique, much better than most of us would manage I'm sure.

[dnl42]

Thank you everybody for the comments, they're very appreciated.

 

Here's the chassis so far. It's built of 23 thou sheet and some rectangular tubes that I opened up for the rear axle and shaft tunnels. These tunnels are vaguely reminiscent of photos I saw of the interior.

I have spring leaves cut from 10 mil plastic and the rear frame members assembled. I won't attach them until I figure out what I'm going to do with the front half of the chassis. I will box in the wheel wells; my question is the engine and transmission between them. 

 

Thanks for looking!