Have decided start another one having recovered from the Sherman adventure, going modern this time with the academy warrior "Iraq 2003". The Tamiya Chally II was looking lonely on the shelf with all the old guys and needed a younger pal.
No probs so far but I've only just done the wheels and suspension arms, the pencil stub in the pic is no ordinary pencil stub but a finely crafted precision jig to set the height of the arms as I read on another site (MM) that the way the arms fit to the hull tub results in the ride height being to high, so thanks to them. Will try and get some more done tomorrow. Again any pointers/crits most welcome.

I'd like to know more about the pencil trick. Is that for a Warrior with the addon armor?

Paul

I'll definitely be using the pencil trick on my next running gear.

Bit more done today, hull tub complete with tracks on and work started on hull top.
Very grateful to others who have picked up and posted about the ride height, if I had just gone blindly crashing in to this I would have had all sorts of problems.
Even after cutting off the semicircular location tabs on the ends of the suspension arms leaving them free to rotate 360, which allowed me to lift the arms up closer to the hull bottom ( hence the need for the pencil to set them at 22mm from underneath of sponson to top of axle) the tracks are still very tight to get on even after soaking in hot water. There is no way the tracks would have fitted had the arms been positioned as instructed. I am going to leave the tracks on for a couple of days to see if they'll set. Haven't glued the hull top and bottom yet there is a slight warp around the rear that will need banded/clamped. Sorely tempted by the Accurate Armour interior set for this it looks tremendous but decided against, it would mean my wee pastic tank would be costing nearly £75, don't think I'm that serious about the hobby................yet ?

you will.... you will

It's when you start collecting all the resin/pe/add-ons for a particular kit/variant, then discover a major mfr will be releasing it, & you buy that as well.... to compare them....

Got a bit more done over the last couple of days, don't get much time for this lark when on 12hr shifts, eat sleep work. It's coming on well and begining to look right. Got the rear sorted with some super glue as I couldn't figure out how best to put clamps on and it just needed a wee bit filler on the corners. I painted the funny looking angled plate behind the drivers hatch with sufacer as it appears to be cast when looking at reference photos, anybody know what this is? also have left off the tool rack on the front as the tool handles will need some work, they look like square section steel bars but should be wooden pickaxe handles and a sledge hammer. Not very good. Again looking at photos there is a lot of wiring behind the lights, I only noticed this after the guards were in place and trying to get wee bits of stretched sprue in behind them was challenging. The turret fit at the front isn't too clever and once the clamps come off there will be a bit of light surgery needed there as well. Not looking forward to the mesh round the stowage rack at the back of the turret have read this to be awkward may try cutting out the mesh with sharp scissors as the one on the side didn't cut very well with a blade.

1. I'm guessing that the intake you are referring to is for the NBC pack which is in the access door on the left side of the vehicle. The Airwaves set contains a grille for the intake and another piece suggesting that that piece on the hull behind the intake is a hinged door.
2. The Airwaves set also contains a piece suggesting that the front tool rack comes off completed and is secured to the hull by 4 grommets. A good place to add some detail.
3. The basket is beast to assemble. Enjoy getting the supplied plastic mesh to stick to the plastic even with super glue. Something is off in the parts since it will scrape on some of the pieces protruding from the rear deck.

Paul

You can always use window screen for the mesh. There are plastic and metal variaties that you can get from a hardware store. Looking like the beast is getting close to color me bad time.

Thanks for your comments,
Matt; You have sussed my secret "Plan B"! I had found an old piece of Aluminium mesh used to patch up rusty old cars from when I had a rusty old car (West of Scotland weather not kind to to motors) thought this might work if supplied nylon or whatever it is goes tits up. I think this sounds similar to your window mesh.
Paul; NBC air intake, that makes sense, thanks for that, Ok question no2; am I right in thinking the spikey things positioned around the vechicle are some kind of smoke discharger or anti personnel weapon ?

I've never seen a picture of them in use but they are supposed to be camo net pole holders.

Paul

Turret basket ARGHHHHHH.........................!

Thanks Paul that was bugging me, this thing is festooned with clutter (in a good way)
As you can see the basket affair is done, that was tough but not as bad as I had thought. Think I've stumbled over a method of making it easier;
Cut out the templates off the instructions but leave a margin of approx 1/4".
Cover the reverse side with water soluble PVA use you finger to spread a really thin skin.
Lay down the mesh and firm down not too hard or the mesh will distort and leave to dry for a couple of hours.
And here is the trick (accident rather than design!)
The PVA will shrink and pull the mesh up in a curve roughly following the curves of the basket frame.
Next trim the template and bonded mesh to final shape, use small sharp scissors.
Spread a fine coat of "Evostik" (Rubber contact adhesive) onto inside contact areas of frame and attach mesh/template, leave the paper template on until set (couple of minutes) it makes it easier to handle.
Remove paper, should just pull off with minimum effort and voila!
This don't help getting the basket frames aligned and fitting to the side frames which I found the really hard part but did seem to ease some of the pain.
Back to work tomorrow so won't get much done for a few days.
Oh aye left off the two periscopes still thinking how best to do the glass areas wish Academy had given us clear parts for these. Thought about cutting them out but the surrounding walls are too thick so am looking at different surface treatments, paint, coloured cellophane or maybe coloured foil don't know yet will have to do some experiments.

Excellent last name, Paul
One of my favourite vehicles. Just wanted to point out a couple things if I may.
The piece underneath the main gun is cast into the main turret piece I believe, it kind of blends into the main piece:



Your smoke dischargers may be a bit too high, and the tubes don't seem to be aligned properly (I know it's tough to get them to stay where you want!). Also the lift rings behind the antennas should be in front of the smoke launchers:




Yah that basket is a bee-atch! It should actually sit level with the top of the turret, it's a pain to fix.



Check Prime Portal for an extensive walk-around of this vehicle by Dan Hay (we teamed up for the drive to Medicine Hat). I've got five more of these kits in the stash to get to some day! Oh yes, the little tubes are for mounting the camo net poles to drape the net over.

Cheers,
Jim

Jim, thanks for your comments and pics I'll try and get the lifting eyes and dischargers moved tonight, re the basket I have had another look at mine and compared to the actual vehicle the model basket has a pronounced curve when viewed from rear on the top rail, compared to a straight run on the real one.

After the drama of getting it done I can't face removing it and attempting a repair so I'll just live with it. I have been looking at the prime portal pages for reference since the start of this one and very helpful they are, though obviously will need to look a bit harder !
Have sent you a PM.

It almost looks like the back piece of the basket is upside down.

Paul

paul, you had me really worried for a moment there, don't know if you're familiar with this model or not but the basket is made up of three pieces, two side brackets with extending arms to which the main rear section fits. I had mixed up the two side brackets after removing from the sprue and had to look at pics to find out which went on which side here is the pic I used

As you can see the sides of the basket flare upwards and this is how I positioned the two sides. The rear section of the basket would only marry up one way.
Hope this makes sense because I can feel a headache coming on !

I've had my fun with the basket. I used the kit mesh and I laid it on as a square pattern instead of a diamond so I've got to redo it.



Paul

Very nearly did the same, I feel your pain, just noticed another wee issue with mine; the turret hatches opening/closing dampers are fully retracted and not connected to the back hinge bar. This will now bug me so its back under the magnifier for me.

Have now got some paint on but still lots to do, funny how photos show up all the faults you miss with the naked eye !

Funny how that works Looking good, and I've been following this one to grab tips for my own build, assuming I actually get around to it

Hope, when I get mine, I build it to your standard.

Sorry it's been so long getting this last post in for anyone following this, very busy at work anyway here are some pics of the finished article, quite pleased with it, thinking of doing the trumpeter AS90 SPG next to complete the unholy trinity anyone got any tips on this one?










Together at last !

Fantastic finish! Well done Paul!

Cheers!
Val

Looking good. What did you do on the sight units to replicate the lenses?

Paul

I like