Hi everyone! I'm originally from the Philippines but now currently residing in England. My favorite subjects are modern AFV especially British Armors. This is my current project, Accurate Armour Chieftain ARRV Mk 7. Overall this is a nice kit but have some problems here and there which I have to correct base on my references.

























Cheer!
Raphael

Nice work on the details.


Arte et Marte

hi val . ust say you work is excellent ,aspiering detail , very interesting subjuct too , looking forward to seeing this complete .i will follow this build and look forward to your updates ,,keep up the fantastic work

Thanks woody, sauceman for the encouraging words. I'm on the process of scratchbuilding the new main hydraulic controls of the atlas crane because the I'm not really satisfied.

keep up the good work and looking forward to more updates

Very slow progress. Its more than a year since I last touch this kit. Have lost interest in a way but 2 days ago I have the itch to continue on.

Here are some progress shots of the rebuilding of details on this atlas crane. Reference are all taken from primeportal. Very limited pics of the internal hydraulics of the crane control so I go by the available pics.







Here it is as compared to the original Accurate Armour part. The detail and casting is very good but I think it didn't capture the complexity of the control very well. I rebuilt the whole thing and add parts of the original control sparingly.





Here it is sitting where it should be on the ARRV left hand side. Note the rebuit commander's hatch and MG's.




So far this is what I have done. Still a long way to go.

Hi Val!

You've done an awesome job with that crane. Amazing! I am planning to build the Chieftain ARV too but I want to complete the MK.3 (or MK.5?) and the MK.10 first.

Really nice job on the details!


cheers

Updates: I have managed to do a bit of the front end. All the cables are replaced with brass wires, warped and poorly casted parts have been corrected and or replaced to improved it.


You could see the wires to detail the hydraulic gauges here.

Screen PE added to the gauges.


The driver's hatch was totally redone and I made it workable in order to open/close the hatch.




With the rest of the parts I corrected.



Still a long way to go.
Thanks!

UPDATES:

The engine grills with handles installed.


Scratchbuilt the front smoke discharger mount.


....and the rear. I have totally re done the mountings and brackets because the original part from AA is badly done and the details lost especially the four small mounts connecting the rear smoke discharger to the mounting plate.


Rear view of both left and right smoke discharger.



Overall progress so far..... work is slow.... getting very cold here in Hastings and we have a very bad snow issues....

Its been a while since I last work on this kit and had to stop for a while. Despite all the walkaround I have for this build I still lack a close detail picture of the Atlas crane controls. As you can see I'm fully correcting the one from AA as the casting didn't fully capture the details and also broken parts. I could understand that it is difficult to cast this one piece because of its complicated shape thats why I rebuild everything. Anybody here had a personal collection of a detailed walkaround of the crane's control? The one from Primeportal is ok and I have it but still lacks a close full walkaround. Anybody here took a detailed pics from the tank in Duxford? Are we allowed to go and take a picture of the real thing behind the Landwarfare museum up close?

If you go on a quiet day, i.e. no major show going on and ask the blokes working at the back they will let you take photos.
Super work on the Chieffy by the way

Malcolm

Thanks Malcolm!

Its been a while since I last touch this models and will resume work soon. I'm planning to go to Duxford but its been raining for the past few days and the area where they park the ARRV is probably very muddy by now.

Anybody here knows if their is a Chieftain ARRV in Bovington?

I commanded one these things from '84 - '86 - Reg No 00 GC 02; just one point to make - the recovery fittings on mine never ever got used, as we had Chieftain ARV's in our unit as well (7 Armoured Workshop).

In addition, my ARRV was the first one ever fitted with indicators (at the rear only); myself and my crew fitted them after we came close to having a bad accident, nearly hitting a bus, on a public road near Soltau in Germany. We used the indicators lights from Landrovers as an simpler solution.

We had three ARRV's in our section (which was called the Forward Repair Group - FRG), and they all had names/graffiti on them - mine was 'Hissing Sid', another was 'Slithering Sam', and the third was 'old Snakehips' (this one was commanded by Mick Dowling, who was awarded a posthumous Miltary Medal for his actions in Gulf War 1). In addition, stencilled across the bottom rear bar of the packframe mounted over the engine/gearbox was 'FRG - On A Mission From God', although for the life of me I can't remember why we had that on there!

I've seen recent photo's of '02 and she is now used as a recovery wreck (at Bordon in Hampshire I think).

Hi Graeme, thats great! Do you have a personal pictures or walkaround?

This is one of my forgotten build. Will bring it forward as I managed some down time on this project as well. Photo to follow soon. As you can see on the WIPs I have done extensive update on the Accurate Armour offering. The crane control is a total re-worked as well as most of the bins. I agree on most of the people that did this conversion that the instruction is very poor and limited. It left me guessing in between details.

I missed it the first time around. I'd love to see more. Such a small percentage of modelers take on a resin kit like that. And then to add even more detail to it...
Props, man.

I have built the Mk.5 ARV and am now halfway through the Mk.7 ARRV using just the Accurate Armour kit....

Your correct about the instructions as a quick review will confim, they are a compromise of the other (earlier) kit and this one. Several of the items/parts are featured in the pictures and shown located in different places?

Try the revolving Orange Beacon light. One or two pictures show items that are replaced with the later kit parts, front left bin for instance, the instructions show the older bin with tarp stowed on the top?.

My kit has warped front fenders and it looks like 'droopy eyes' from the front, I was able to warm and bend them back somewhat..

However, having served on Chieftains that is not unusual.

The instructions photos are very 'fuzzy' and leave a lot to be desired....

My decals are very thick and hard to work with...

An expensive conversion but worth building...

Great work on yours and very well done.

Keith.

Thanks Keith. Took me quite a while to read your post here. Seems I over looked my own thread. I'm working on the crane on this and took loads of detail shot of the real vehicle last year on the war and peace show. Luckily the owner let me go on top and took pictures.

The vehicle is the "Shrek".

R2D2:
Looks GREAT!!!!! Love the rebuilt Crane module. Details are really making the difference. Some day I will build one of both the MK.V ARV and the ARRV Mk.7, but I cant afford AA products, so mine will all be scratch/conversion.
Todd

Wow, a couple of posts every two years, that's a long BLOG

Hopefully this one is not intended to remain a shelf queen as it really is a great subject.

Olivier

Nice one !!!
Reminds me of mine still in my stash.
Besides being a Chieftain and all it's problems in reality ... still one of the best looking AFVs around

Cheers
Christopher