Hi Guys,

Well some where in here are the bits for my universal carrier .



Granham's new conversion set appeared in perfect time for the upgrade of this old kit which I'm going to use along wiht the Grant Mk I and Damiler Mk II SC in a small desert scene.



at the same time I got the Stowage set for the kit, lucky SWMBO doesn't know these are new additions



I haven't opened the boxes yet but I'm looking forward to this one.



This is turing out to be a year of boats and bren carriers!!

Al

i'm looking forward to this,as soon as graham finishes at Beltring i'm ordering these beauties

And I thought I was messy

Hi Pat,

I gathered up all the carrier parts and they are now in a nice pile



Some basic info on the Conversion set:

Universal Carrier Mk I Conversion Set 35.1200

The conversion Set. What you get. well I counted 125 resin items listed, some of which are x 2 or x 4 so you get a lot plus a fret of 47 PE parts not all of which are needed and some plastic rod. In short you get everything you need to convert the Mk II to a Mk I including a new set of Graham's excellent tracks. The parts are well packed in a nice sturdy box.

The instruction sheet contains 24 pages of instructions, which are clearly displayed with good quality B & W pics to show you where things go.

On first look at the parts, now soaking ion the sink, they are very well cast with lots of fine crips detail:









Universal Carrier Mk I stowage No 1 - 35.2203

Pat will be doing a full review of this set so it is not my intention to do more than outline it here.

Looking at the conversion set the stowage would not actually be required to complete a prefectly good complete carrier. Also being marked No 1 would lead one to think that a No 2 stowage set might also be coming out.

Again this all looks very sharp and well moulded. The plus with the stowage are the replacement suspension parts which give it the low slung bum effect or more correctly put, nose up effect. It would be possible to alter the kit suspension to create this I would imagine, but these are a neat addition.

The stowage is accompanied by a 2 page A4 instruction sheet, that again is clearly displayed and I'll leave the rest up to Pat.





BTW if anyone feels like calling me a Sock Puppet at this stage, well forget it, It's no secret I'm a big fan of the Resicast kits as they are one of the best sources for British/Commonwealth items around - IMHO, and have opend up a whole new area of modelling for me. Of course that could be said about Formations and Accurate Armour too - plus quite a few others lol, lol.

I'm really looking forward to this one, the universal carrier is a favourite vehicle of mine as it served in every theatre of war and throughtout the British and Commonwealth Army's during WW2. The release of this kit came in perfect time for my current desert build, so fingers crossed it all goes well.

Cheers

Al

I built the Tamiya Universal carrier many many years and I'm sure it is degrading in a landfill site somewhere. I picked up one recently because I had some some Resicast carrier items to review - its a nice kit to build but according to George Moore is offscale and everyone agrees the tracks are bad. Graham is producing nice conversions and accessories to bring it up to scratch but what we really need is a new tool plastic kit.
Looking forward to your build.

Hi Pat,

I think a lot of the early Tamiya kits are a bit off scale, at least that's what I've heard. Still we work with what we have.

I think Graham's new kits will breath another 30 years of life into the old Tamiya kit but I'd agree what's needed is a brand new plastic one, and it will probably appear once I have my conversions finished , along with a range of versions to follow

I waited 2 years for good affordable replecement track to appear before I re-vamped two very old ones and the new Resicast tracks make a big imporvement. I then built the old and new deep wading versions and whilst both turned out pretty well, but the new version of the wading set was just so much easier to work with.

Anyway back to the job in hand. I had actually started work on this before I found out about the Mk I conversion set so in some way I'm ahead of myself. I had re-attatched the rear suspension and pinned it on with copper rod as both the wheels had come off. At that time I set the rear wheels with a slight nose up effect so the suspension set that came with the stowage I can us on my 3" mortar and MG carriers when I get to them.

OK - stage one is to remove various bits form the inner and outer hull. Some of these I had already removed, but I had to separate the sides and lower hull to clean up the co-drivers side of the floor and at the same time used it as an opportunity to remove the various pins marks that were still on the kit. (this one was built a long time agao when I probably didn't know what pin marks were)

I had already filed down the underside of the mudgards both front and rear as they looked a bit thick.

The first resin part I'm dealing with is the engine block, part UOO. As you can see the plug was attatched by a small join and came away with very little use of the razor saw. Only thing to watch out for is not to damage the two runners that fit over the runners for the engine on the kit.

Not a big step forward but a start:









Al

Hi Guys,

well I've re-assembled the basic hull and cut out and test fitted the main replacement panels. Also tried out one small piece of stowage for the front plate. fits like a glove.





Still the 2 rear panels to clean up.



I'll repaint the wheels and underside before I go any further.

Al

Hi Guys,

No one interested in the Mk I carrier?????

OK this afternoon/evenings progress (don't you just love flexi time )

I have added the 8 small buttons and 8 handles to the top of the engine housing. I've given the radiator a few rough coats of paint and cleaned up the remainder of the main plates. I've also added some milliput texture to the seating.

Looking at the side of the old carrier the paint work had become very thick so I scrubbed a large proportion of it off using Mr Muscle Bathroom and Sink cleaner and one of those plastic sponge scrubbers you clean the dishes with lol, lol, which seemed to work just fine. (hopefully the bits won't fall apart!!)

One thing I noticed when I was building the Deep wader was that the design was very much geared towards the modeller. - well thought out if you know what I mean. This thought came to me again when I was fitting the handles and buttons, you get extra in the kit, so if you loose one or two it's no big panic. If that is the case in every set then again it's thinking for the builder which it great,

Sorry about the low light pics but natural light only last for so long







Al

Al,

You've got to remember to check that Blog box when you start posts like this, does wonders for the interest level even if it does put some stress on you in the process.

Hi Bill,

Blogs, a new concept to me thanks.

I got real excited when I saw this conversion set come out and although building it based on a very old carrier is perhaps not the best way to go, waste not want not as they say. With most of the major parts being replaced anyway hopefully it will work out OK.

Al

Sometimes the most engaging and enjoyable projects are those that take an old kit and bring it up to standard or convert it, at least in my experience. Looking forward to what you do with this one.

I don't think you'll be disappointed, the conversion set is excellent and the stowage a bonus although you could build a perfectly good Mk I with the conversion set alone.

For me this is a really welcome addition, to a previously unobtainable vehicle, as I could never have scratched one of these.

Bill,

Yip the Dingo and this one were 2 of the first 1/35 builds I ever did and it seemed a shame to waste them, so fingers crossed this one will turn out OK. I've re-cycled quite a few of my old efforts, keeps the cost down and it's fun to see some new life come into them.

Cheers

Al

Bloody hell Al Clean your desk

More of my favourite works of yours!! I am going to like this.

I hope this one comes out as good as the last 2 they were superb. The deep wader was another favourite of mine... all little chunks of visual interest.

Oh and I didnt know you were an amber leaf smoker mate that was my own brand for a few years too I jacked it in about 2 years ago and put on about 5 stone lol

Al, Great start on this kit, and as you said, it would be nice to see this kit redone. I think that it would be a great seller as it has so many varients. Dan

Al-- you obviously primed her, but what is the overall paint scheme going to be?
thanks
DJ

Hi Jon,

That's a tidy picture , you should see it when I really get going The Amber Leaf is a throw back to a previous time, I'm a Golden Virginia man now. The carriers have been a lot of fun, as I said I've been waiting for a few years to get on with them. This year seems to be one of Boats and Brens

PS: package on route, finally made it to the post office this afternoon.

Dan,

I hope the conversion sells well, we've got a completely new vehicle that has a lot of potential in many settings. I boubt if this will be the only one I build.

DJ,

This one is for N africa, so desert yellow, possibly. I might try a basic camo scheme or one of the Caunter schemes of Slate, Silver Grey and Portland Stone. I have Mike Starmer's book and I've only tried out an experiment on the M3 Scout Car so far. Just need to make sure it fits with the Dingo and Grant.

Well as I'm just back from 'shopping' with SHMBO and was made to part with about £150.00 , I hope to settle down and get a little more done on the kit.

Cheers

Al

Morning folks,

Well some updates on yesterdays progress. I repainted the under hull and wheels to tidy them up a bit. Added the drivers floor plate, pedals and gear levers and cut out a couple of small bits if plastic sheet to fil up the dip at the front of the kit. I had added some milliput to the seats, so I gave these a light sanding and a first coat of paint.







I removed the 2 supports from the vent at the top of the buklhead as per the instructions and have yet to add a small cross bar to this that run across the radiator. The radiator and vent have also had a coat of paint as it would be difficult to paint these once in place.



I fitted the engine to the bulkhead and then test fitted this in the kit and with the rear bulkhead. Then I started scratching my head . There was a 2/3mm gap at the end. I double checked and tripple checked the instructions ot see if I had left some thing off, all should have been fine. I then checked the repalcement engine block against the kit one I had removed and it was short. I also checked it against another unused lower hull and same detail. At this point I contacted Graham, to see if he could throw any light on the fit issue.



He kindly responded, despite getting ready to go off on holiday, and it seems there may have been a number of factors at play here. Shrinkage occures in the normal casting process although not a severe case like this. This may have been casued by a casting, of a casting, of a casting if you know what I mean or by too much pressure on the mold. As I seem to have a bad case of this I Imagine it is a combination of several factors.

Well having clarified the problem I though about fixing it. Fortunately this occurred at the end of the engine so it was really only necesary to add some media to fill the gap. I found some old plastic from one of the Tamiya kits, probably a name plate or stand for a figure. glued this on and filed it to shape. There was still a slight gap so I repeated the process with a thin piece of plastic sheet.





This means that I will have a slight larger end on the rear of the engine, but in reality when all the bits are in and stowage and figs added it shouldn't make any noicable difference to the finished model.

Graham is going to check what went wrong with this piece, so hopefully no one else will have the same problem. I've looked through the rest of the build instructions and this shouldn't affect the remainder of the build, so I'll lead on as they say,

Work so far:



Al

Hi Guys ,

Some more porgress:

For those of you who know the vehicle, you'll see that I have removed the side bars on the hull. This was really something I should have done when I had the kit apart, but it wasn't a difficult job, just saw them off.

I have complete the main fittings in the LHS rear compartment and I'm working on those ofr the RHS. You get a good No 22 Wireless Set with the kit so I shall have to do a little plumbing before it gets fixed in. Oddly the battery is stored over on the LHS and not the right by the radio as in the Mk II.

Some pics:













AL

Hi guys,

Hmmm lol, lol. Getting a response on site these days is harder than trying to squeeze blood from a stone!

Right a few more updates.

Installed the front interior bins and added some fittings to the engine top:





Installed the No 22 wireless and added some plumbing



Butchered a pair of legs to get the driver to fit:



Difficult vehicle to photograph, here's one with the flash showing a bit more of the interior.



There you go. Glad I'm not in the desert waiting on someone to bring me some water
I'd have died of thirst a long time ago .

Al

Good work, Alan! Do you have Osprey's old 7th Armored Division book? At the beginning, there's a great picture of a carrier with, I think, a Boys AT rifle and some Italian PWs nearby. That would be a nifty scheme and scene. Best wishes on completion and keep at it! Dave

Hi Dave,

I don't have the book but I'll see what pictures of Mk I's I can find. Thanks for dropping in and taking the time to post.

For those who haven't noticed the fitting on the top of the engine is for the 2" mtr. It's also on upside down . The instruction wasn't to clear hear and I noticed it about 10 minutes after I had fitted it. Fortunately if came off in one piece. There was pic in Osprey's Universal Carrier that made me realise I had it on the wrong way.

I've about finished sanding down the rear of the engine so that the backplate will have a good fit, so hopefully I will get that fitted and the tracks done over the weekend.

Al

Hi Folks,

Camo and stowage.

The conversion set comes with enough stowage to complete the vehicle, I've borrowed a pic form Graham's site to illustrate this and also by the looks of it some pics from Terrys's site PMMS.



I quite like this for a finish, but as my vehicle will be in N Africa and troops carried all they could with them I'm going to go for the 2nd option from the Stowage Set Mk I no 1.

1st option - bulk stowage



2nd option - bulk stowage



Here's some pics of the Mk I in various camo schemes:







These if I remember correctly were taken in Italy





(Hornet - pease take note lol, lol.)

I'd like to try a Caunter scheme but as the carrier needs to fit in with my small dio, I think just plain Desert Yellow or a wavey green/grey scheme as per the Grant might be more appropriate.



Any thoughts or do you by chance have some additional pics of the Mk 1 in N Africa.

Al

OK folks some updates.

I've connected the 2" mtr correctly to its stand but not fixedit to the vehicle yet. After a fair bit of sanding on the built up rear ebngine I've fitted the rear plate and drive shaft/wheels. Also started work on the driver figure I plan to use.

The kit doesn't come with any rifles although the fittings for the rifles are aprt of the conversio ste. The Ultracast SMLE's fit so I'll add a couple of those. Stilol lots of small items to add, I'll work on at the figure and make a start on the tracks now the drive shalf is on.

Some pics:

Driver - just used the Tamiya one and have altered his legs to fit - added a Hornet head.



Rear bulkhead fitted



2" Mtr sorted out but will be attatched at the en of the build



Rear Bulk stowage and you can jusy make out the top of the SMLE in the LHS rear compartment.



Front fittings still to work on



A few top shots







Al

Hi Folks,

A little porgress on the kit. The tracks are on and this is my slightly altered Tamiya driver. he needs some pouches or a pistol holster for the webbing.







Al

Nice work Alan, You're making a great job of it. It will look great in your dio.
How many carriers have you built so far?