FV 107 Scimitar, LEP Up-Armoured, Queen's Dragoon Guards, Operation Herrick 2008

I thought you might be interested in this build I completed a coupel of days agofor the Help for Heroes Charity Group Build over on Britmodeller. The build was inspired by this photo (and many like it):


© Andrew Chittock ( fineartamerica.com/featured/1-a-fv107-scimitar-armoured-andrew-chittock.html ) Used here only for reference.

So my build consists of the AFV Club kit, plus the resin LEP Upgrade set from Castoff Models to get the enhanced Plasan armour, plus scratch built bar armour to complete the upgrades to 2008-ish standard. I backed off bringing it totally up-to-date with all the extra ECM gear as that was just TOO much scratch building!

So may I present the completed model:



















Here are a selection of photos during the build:



Fruilmodel tracks and initial atempt at bar armour using a cheap Accurate Armour Challenger upgrade set, but this didn't work as the bar spacings are different and there isn't enough on the Chally to cover the whole Scimitar! I ended up taking a trip to Bovington to measure the "Scimitar" they have in the Afghan section, only to discover that it isn't a Scimitar at all but a Sabre they had lying about and they mocked up the bar armour in the museum!

Anyway after a lot of reworkign I got a plan for the bar armour:


(Click here for the full size scaled diagram)

Using 0.25mm x 1.5mm and 0.5mm x 1.5mm plastic strips for the slats and 0.5mm brass rod for the vertical bars, I was able to build a complete set of the bar armour:



If you only knew the time, patience and anguish that one sentence encompass!! Here is one of the jigs I built to try to drill the holes evenly and accurately:



It failed, along with at least 2 other attempts. In the end each hole was individually measured and drilled (wibble!) I went through at least twice the amount of plastic strip that ended up in the model, just on failed pieces of bar armour! Eventually I had a good set and was able to fix it to the hull - this alone took about a week!



I even added the inter-panel brackets:


and in the finished version you can see the silver spring clips that clamp the bar armour panels to the frame.



Decals came from a Bison set, British AFVs in Iraq, which showed a vehicle of the Queen's Dragoon Guards in Iraq in 2003, so I made an assumotion that when the QDG were posted to Op Herrick in 2008, they'd take the same vehicles, just upgraded

Commander and gunner figures were from Black dog, althought eh gunner's head was replaced with one from Accurate Armour with the scarf and the driver is from Accurate Armour as well. Water bottles, slave leads, stowage, carbon fibre antennae, helmets were all from Accurate Armour.

...and this is what happened two days ago as I was preparing to photograph the finished model after 2 months work when the photo booth slid off the table as I was moving it to get a shot...



Thankfully I was able to rebuild and repair so what you see above is the finished model after repairs.

Absolutely superb Andrew! The slat armour is stunningly impressive, you sure have some patience to pull that off. The overall finish, figures etc really bring it together. Now I wish someone would release a set for the slat.

Thanks Rob Well the good news is that I've been talking to Terry from Castoff Models during my build. We've swapped notes and plans, which was useful as we'd both made errors but DIFFERENT errors in the plans and he's working on a resin set. He sent me a test shot a couple of weeks ago and it is pretty good - much easier than building it yourself

I will be doing this again now that I've worked out the "best" way to do it... after all there is the Scimitar 2 that NEEDS to be built by someone! (I just received my Accurate Armour Spartan in the post this morning )

The amount of work you've put into this is unbelievable, inspirational even. I'm glad you were able to fix it after it fell off the table because, honestly, I would've had a heart attack at that point.

Well there were a couple of stiff drinks required before I could even LOOK at it after that, and I'm sorry to say that one of my old (not very good) models got sacrificed to the great god of anger management... that reminds me I must clean up in the garden!

In total, I started the build on 9th July and finished on 28th August.

Amazing model. What you did with the slat armour is just unbelievable... good to hear you are in contact with Terry, he's been making wonders with CVRts.

As for the anger management story, I completely understand. Sometimes this hobby, which is supposed to be relaxing, turns its ugly head and models end up in the wall. Oh well. Glad to hear it was one of your older works, this one is far too good to be smashed up.

Mario

Good job and well done.

There are so many other vehicles out there that need updates like that. I would like to see a set for the Challenger recovery vehicle, (CRARRV).

Keith.

CRARRV would indeed be nice. I've already started looking into doing a Scimitar 2. I'm finally seeing some good set of photos appear for it and I reckon its doable. I've got a Spartan from Accurate Armour and 2 Scimitars in the stash. Now I know how to make the bar armour, it ought to be possible to make a decent attempt at a Scimitar 2! Maybe later this year...

Later this year? I'd strike while the iron's hot m8 - those pics on Plain Military of the latest Pashtun Dawn Ex are crying out to be used as references

I see what you mean... but I'm building smethign else at the moment that has to be finished first but its so damn tempting to go straight into a Samson/Scimitar2 recovery dio...

Respect man!! I admire anyone who tackles a job like this. Eventhough I rarely do modern armor, I love the bar armor look, and as you´ve scratched this yourself, only makes it more amazing. The figures, base and stowage bring it then to a whole other level. First class!!

When I said later this year I didn't quie expect it to be so soon... just signed up for the Operation Afghanistan Campaign on here and will do the Samson WITH bar armour and ECM gear omg what have I let myself in for!

Should be an interesting build, I look forward to it.



Keith.