This is looking great. Any thoughts on the crew?

Jeremy: Thanks for popping in, hopefully I'll get alot more done tomorrow when I'm off

Matt: Thanks for the comments man! In regard to your question about the Landrover I should point out I probably shouldnt have used the the term "Unsuitable" in the way I did earlier ..I'll try explain from what I am aware of without getting into too much trouble



Firstly the Landys are superb vehicles. (if not a little thirsty )
They have a long serving history in the Irish Army, being first purchased as early in 1954 with the series I, right through II, III and 109's and only being retired from sevice in the mid 1990's with the Landrover Defender Series. Landrovers served In the Congo and for many years in the Lebanon. Landrover Defender Ambulances still serve as Medical field ambulances in the Army today (Purchased 1996).

However in the Irish procurement of the WMIK Landrover for the ARW some apparant errors where made. Sadly this only came to light after a fatal accident in Liberia.
I wont go into specifics, but it appears that the producer of this variant of WMIK sold the Army a vehicle that was "unsuitable" for what the ARW would need in demands of performance and handling.
To put it correctly there were more commercial parts on the underside of these Landys than specifically strengtened parts that are usually produced for the Military Market.

The WMIK Fleet had to go, considerations and enquries were made as to the best vehicle suited to the ARW's needs. However why the Ford is a total mystery to me, I have no idea how the ARW aquire its equipment and under what conditions they are purchased.

But if you look at the Irish Defences Forces aquistions over the past decade in regard to Military Aircraft and Vehicles, its very apparant we purchase new equipment or modernised variants of equipment on the market that usually have not been combat proven at the time or sold in any relevant quantidies before.

This is apparant with alot of purchases made like the Mowag IIIH, RG-32M, AW135, EC-135. This can go back a little more when the Irish Army first purchased the Alvis Scorpion (1981) and had planned to procure a homegrown APC the Timoney (which interestingly is now the basis for the suspension design on the M1117 Guardian) ..wow that was a long answer, hope its useful after all that

Callmehobbes: cheers my friend, I'm thinking of recreating these figures in the photograph. I'll focus more on this later in the build.

looks amazing!

Roy,

Amazing stuff! I keep coming back to check your progress and it is wonderful to see it get developed.
Also great scratch building skills,you are a maniac for the details.

Many thanks for the interesting info on the transition to the F350 and on the ARW.

For the figures, based on the last picture, you may want to take a look at Toromodel offering: they are Polish soldiers so the equipment maybe not correct but cold look the part. See here:

http://toro-model.home.pl/pliki/figurki35e.htm
(second half of the page)

Kepp it up!

Sven: thanks so much!

Nicola: Thanks again for your support my friend! I'm going to get alot doen tomorrow when I'm off, cant wait!

I saw those figures you attached in that link (thanks BTW!).
They would be very useful but I am going to convert a figure I already have whilst constructing the chestrigs etc from scratch!

That is a great looking Ford there, Roy.
It would look better with some wing-dingers on it

graet stuff roy very intersting topic nice to find out a little about our special forces im following this topic with great interest keep it up

Roy, there was a misunderstanding. I meant IRA to make a vignette or small diorama. I won't share my views on the continuing conflict in Ireland as I may be mistaken as someone who promotes terrorism. The ARW forces should not be too dificult to replicate with a little scratch building. I'll be watching for the figures you use on this build.

Hi Roy, that is some very impressive work mate, cant wait to see the finished result., keep up the good work, will be keeping an eye on this one for sure.

Cheers Andrew

Hi Michael, thanks for the kind words! yeah I agree, I'm gonna try go with the last photo I posted
For anyone scratching they're heads at this term it's a little slang name some folk here use for the Army Ranger Wing. It's derived from an old Irish term used for faires (think Disney guys not manbags!!)

Chicane: cheers man & ta for dropping in!

Matt: no problem bud, just a small mix up, no worries!
I think we can both agree it's an interesting historical subject at the very least
Drop back in later on Friday evening, I'm hoping to make huge strides during the day with this! (gotta go cast my vote though too, it's election day here at last! )

Cheers Andrew, thanks for your support!! ..I'm looking forward to seeing the end result too

Roy, thanks for the info. I can understand why they went away from the landies, but the fords are an unusla choice, But with the Ford you will get a huge payload and heaps of grunt! A bit heavy off road, but a good choice for SF teams. I've driven them and the chevy suburban and love those huge yank tanks!

Just a quick update guys as I have to run!

I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted to on the Ford yesterday but I made some headway on the rear Ricardo Roll Cage.
I used some cotton bud sticks for the frame. Bending them carefully over a hot candle!
Its painstaking work, and I've alot of filling and sanding to do but its coming on ok

Very interesting build Roy. Its starting to really look the part.

Ah...cotton buds- now there's something I never thought of. I would've been melting sprue's all over the shop! Looking good Roy- and that pic from Chad is class.

Looking great Roy. It is really coming together. Great job.

Hi Roy

Amazing build, I cant wait to see the finished result, this is going to have jaws dropping at comps this year!

just a question on the roll cage are you going to coat it in camo netting or leave the bar exposed and a quick one for arming the figures Steyrs or something from the HK family?

keep up the momentum fantastic work

al

Frank: Welcome aboard and thanks for the support! The Roll cage was a little trickier than i first thought, considering the hours I've put in I'm pretty happy with the results so far but I have alot of cleaning up to do here later.

Karl: Thanks again mate, yeah the aul cotton buds worked wonders! I managed to destroy two for every one that I managed to bend with heat though. Whatever detergant or anti-septic these things are coated in does not work well with glue, poly or super!

Gino: good to see you back man, cheers for the kudos!!

Alan: Howya bud, well to be honest I'm going to go with the camo netting over the roll cage, as you can see its not finished yet but nearly there. When its all tidy I'll apply the netting. (should cover up some discrepencies too)

In regard to the figs I hav'nt really made my mind up yet, I'll attach two pictures below to give you an idea of some of the choices available to me, I'm sure I'll stick a steyr in somewhere but I'll also go with something different seeing as its SF.





Today I got some more work done on the rear bed.
I built up more of the roll cage.





I added the netting that aligns each side of the rear bed too.



Just at the top centre of the rear bed you'll see I built the large storage box, this usually houses parts belonging to the mounted main weapon, like a spare barrel for the 12.7mm. I also imagine the spare barrel for the GPMG might be stored here too within a short distance of the mount on the passanger side of the cab.



The little white box at the rear of the pick up bed (just right of where the door will be) is a scratched battery box for the Sincgars. (i'll be adding a Baby Sincgar to the main cab later in the build)

Anyway here is where she is at now,

Roy,
How are you doing! I have to pitch in and congratulate you on some fantastic converting, your work is outstanding. I really like the bull bars you got them to a tee judging from the pictures you posted. Additionally, the work on the roll cage demonstrates that you are truly a patient man. I look forward to see more details and progress of your work.
All best wishes,

Jerry

Amazing job Mr.Kinsella just wonderfull!
The tubing(caging) is amazing!
Sven

Shaping up, shaping up! The roll cage looks awesome- it gives the Ford a much more menacing presence I think.
What tyres are you using Roy, the kit ones or aftermarket?

Really like what you have done with this so far. Keep up the great work.

Regards,

Rod

Jerry: Thanks for taking the time out to leave such kind words! I hope I can keep you entertained for a bit anyway!

Sven: Thanks again my friend! Roll cage is a pain but I'm nearly there.

Karl: cheers bud! Good question by the way! This little area has been bothering me.. The wheels and the Tyres in the kit are totally different from what I need!! There are no aftermarket bits for this so Plan A, I'll have to try convert the wheel or try something else (I have a plan B, not gonna speak to soon but might have an easier option..)

Rod: thanks bud, cheers for the kudos!

OK guys here's the update!

Firstly I did some more work on the Roll Cage earlier today





Secondly I took off the rear bumper (fender) to get in at those little tight areas that needed the attention of some filler and sanding! I had some square looking areas that i needed to round off so got I that out of the way.



Next I decided I'd build the crew ring mount on the top of the roll cage. I began By measuring out the exact size ring I'd need, the results eleminated everything in my spares box so i had to scratch built one.

Lucky for me the inner circle of the ring I was going to have to scratch is just a little smaller than the standard plastic inner ring used on Tamiya Humvee roof turrets. (The bit used in between the the roof hatch and the internal roof ring)

So begining with this Humvee piece I began building the ring mount seen below in this photo


I began by scratching a base for the humvee ring using plastic card.
This ring section would be a little bigger than my spare humvee ring allowing me to build up the wall and surface properly.
First I used some filler, then when it dried I applied the outter skin of the ring using more plastic card (seen here in a cone shape)




Next I cleaned off the cone shape leaving the ring to take shape a little


..a bit more sanding and cleaning later


..and another bit of sanding and cleaning later I'm left with the general shape..


Next I measured out the bolt marks that you can see running along the ring mount in the photo and I drilled little holes around the outer circle


Lastly I added some stretched sprue to each hole. leveling out the heads of each one with sharp cutters to illustrate the bolts.


it looks messy because of the pen and pencil marks but I was happy with the result and it should look better when primed!

There was a very slight fit issue mounting the ring onto the roll cage but a bit of sanding here and there managed to allow the ring mount sit comfortably in its cradle.
I have to come back to this later to detail the ring mount but thats enough for one day

Fine work so far....Good reference for all....

Look truly amazing congrats
You bent the Qtipes rods with a lighter ??
Cheers
Seb