Hi Al,
Finally decided to have a peek at your blog and must say it's looking interesting.
One question does come to mind though and it's propably a stupid one. , if you're recycling old kits you've built, how are you managing to disassemble the kit's parts without trashing them?
Is the kit so old that the welds are brittle or did you use CA glue when you originally built it?
I ended up with a cracked and twisted mess the last time I tried to pry an old kit apart !!
Cheers

jjumbo

Hi Pat,

Thanks for dropping in and your comments. It's an interesting build with lots of potential.

On the carrier front, this will be the 5th, 3 of which were very old kits I re-cycled, including this one.

Hi John,

All 3 kits were 15 years or more in age, so it didn't take a lot for them to come apart, any stubborn joints can always be treated with some 'turps', white spirit and it will weaken the glue.

Cheers guys

Al

Great job on this kit-it seems that I haven't been email updates on your build. The storage really looks the part. Dan

Hi Dan,

You got me there??

The stowage that comes with the kit has a lot of detail in it, the bulk stowage just seems more appropriate for the setting. Shame to pass it up though, still there's always a NWE version some time in the future .

Thanks for looking in.

Al

How about this for a paintscheme Alan

Hi Pat,

- Yip, I've seen that one too lol, lol. Make a good little dio though. Add in this one and you've got a real party going on



Al

I've used that as a christmas card before

I was thinking - if you mounted a 37mm Pak-35/36 Anti-Tank Gun, painted it in three colour German camo and renamed your blog accordingly you probably get a lot more hits

[/quote]

I've used that as a christmas card before

I was thinking - if you mounted a 37mm Pak-35/36 Anti-Tank Gun, painted it in three colour German camo and renamed your blog accordingly you probably get a lot more hits [/quote]

Hi Pat,

There are a lot of 'Lurkers' around.

Maybe this will bring them in:

It's the latest Panzer Aust DB Mk III Mid Production - Took part in the invasions of England in the early 80s. Air Portable with 37mm broom stick , Special Road wheels and appropriate markings



Alternatively someone might actually consider adding something useful to the blog, but maybe that's a 'Bin to Far'

Al

'Wot' no sense of humour

OK folks, some more pics of a little progress.

Test fitting the front hull and plate to make sure my altered driver with knees raised works in OK and working on getting a snug fit for the rear stowage as there is an added part from the conversion set to fit into the bulk stowage.

Point to note here is the conversion instructions indicate that you should use the Instrument Panel from the Tamiya kit. There was a slight difference in the Mk I panel, as it had a large dial on top and 4 smaller dials below, also no hanging dial as per the Tamiya kit. Only noticed this after I had fitted it, but at least my panel face is the right way up!! I've altered it a little but doubt if I could fit 4 small dials into the space so it will have to do for now.











Al

I wish I'd seen this earlier, that's one fine little beastie you're building there.

Hi Joe,

Thanks for lookig in, it's a fair amount of work but a lot of fun too and good to have a vehicle that wasn't available before to build.

Cheers

Al

Morning Gents,

Here's a pic of the Instrument Panel I mentioned in the post above:



If I had picked the difference up earlier I might have made an effort to alter the face, I still might lol, lol.

Here's the kit part added to the front plate with the fire extinguisher, grab handle and drivers wheel fitted. I have trimmed of the extra dial on the instrument panel and shaved off one of the knobs that doesn't belong.



I did some work on the rear plate this morning, Ah PE lol, lol. so far so good though:





On fitting the rear stowage you need to add parts CA, CB, U26, DV and P9



These fit onto the bulk stowage which is why the fit needs to be correct. Also on the buld stowage if you look at the next pic you will see that the water cans are supported from below by a bracket. Haven't got that far yet but something to remember vwhen you fit the stowage.





There is not too much work to do on the front and I've made a start by fitting parts DC and DD. If you're using the fron stowage then part DD and DP are probably not required but I hollowed out the botton on the tarp so that it will fit over them when in place.





Al

You sound like you enjoy using photo etch as much as I do

One question- what are they going to use that saw on in the desert?

Hi Pat,

Palm trees I assume lol, lol, Never know when you might need a large tree saw, better load it just in case

Egypt is not without trees, just large parts of it are. There are a fair few in Algeria too, so put it down to forward planning. If you look under the second blanket you'll find a kitchen sink too

The PE is not too bad to work with, at least the bits I've used so far. Just hate the glue as it usually sticks to everything else but where I want it to go first. I'm getting a little better at working with it, quite chuffed with the rear plate.

Al

Al, Those look like good instructions. Quality work there. Dan

Hi Dan,

Thanks for looking in. The only errors I've come across in the instructions so far are that part SB on the page for Left Compartment Assembly should be SS and on the opposite page the kit instrument panel face is shown upside down.

With this one you're basically replacing everything but the lower hull/some of the road wheels and side plates, so a good read is essential as you go.

You need to take care when removing part DM the MG mount for the front drivers bulk head as it is different from the other two and I cut mine from the spur incorrectly. It will still work fine but is missing a small extension that hangs into the drivers compartment.

Pat brought up a good point on the stowage set. Not sure how appropriate the saw might be in the Western Desert lol, lol so I migh switch the bulk stowage. That said the carrier was used in every theatre of war so I suppose it just depends on what location your modelling it in.

I'll see if anyone else gives an opinion on that one.

Cheers

Al

Hi folks,

Todays progess

Fitted the front and rear plates with the driver in place. Altered the instrument panel and added the boys AT rifle (I used one form the Italeri kit here).

Needed a little filler round the front but nothing major. Added some plumbing from the wireless to the battery and also the top Bren storage holders. I'm hoping that if I remove the magazines from the spare brens they will slot through the holders into their respective supports on the floor.

Also changed the Rear RHS front Bren Bin. The kit provides one that has a closed top and as it is placed under the grenade box you would be unable to open it. Ospreys book on the Universal Carrier shows a good top picture of the Mk I which has an open style bin here as per those in the front, so I made one from plastic card. Also fitted the 2 front grab handles.

Cleaned up the second bulk stowage item to see what it might look like so will paint it up and then decide which to use.

You get 2 styles of front lights so in effect you could have 3 different options. I'm going for the conical shaped ones as they have a nice fitting for the cable. Anyone got a good pic of the Mk I front lights and were the cables entered the main compartment???????









This is a rather horrible picture taken with the flash but you will get an idea of the level of detail inside the compartments.



Al

Great to see this taking shape day by day Al. You're on the home stretch now.

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the support. There still seems to be a lot of small parts to fit lol, lol.

Some pics of the layout of the dio:







Nothing ground breaking here, just a simple base to display the kits on.

Al

Al, Maybe the next Carrier could be a Soviet version with a anti-tank rifle? Dan

Hi Dan,

You could certainly model this one as a Soviet vehicle, but if I do another it will be British or Canadian in NWE.

Thanks for dropping in.

Al

Hi folks,

some more updates;

added the front lights, horn ansd some wiring plus the lifting hooks







If I add the front stowage it would look something like this



The alternative bulk stowage



Al

Nice to see the progress you've made on this one Al, I hear you about the joys of PE and super glue. Keep plugging away at it, going to look great when you've got it all together.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for dropping in and the encouragement. Next weekend should see the finish of it (famous last words).

Al

Looks good Al,
You've really got a lot done in the past week, my computer's been acting up and I haven't been able to access the Internet for about 6 days.
Can't wait to see the finished product.
Cheers

jjumbo