Time to add some welds. The main welds between the superstructure and hull are added using Magic Sculpt while the others (inc moulded on ones I removed earlier) are being replaced with these...









Gary

'stitched up' the welding nicely

Looks great! Outstanding work!

Better be careful, Resi-cast will be wanting to break yours down into sub-assemblies to re-do theirs.....

Thank you gentlemen

Remainder of welds are now done. I've added some more to curved areas using black oil paint. The pigment is quite thick and makes nice relief detail (even though it takes a few days to dry :roll: )...













Gary

The distinctive walkway along each side is provided as photoetch....



I soldered some brass rod to the underside to increase its rigidity. There are also two short lengths at either end which fit into two holes I've drilled in the superstructure to help with alignment....



And dry fitted....



Gary

Looking at some reference photos, it seems that the walkway support legs tended to have some strengthening ribs on the inner face so I added these using scrap PE...



Gary

The BARVs have some rope draped along each side and these are attached to rings welded to the edge of the upper hull. These are placed as per instructions before the walkway is secured in place....





Gary

Hi Gary,

Excellent work on the broken parts, resign doesn't bounce well, but your fix is excellent. Looking really good. The Archers weld strips look very handy, I have some but haven't used them yet. This will make for a really fine model when you're finished. Look forward to further developments.

Cheers

Al

Excellent save after dropping the model. Your brass work and replaced weld beads improved it anyway.

Thanks guys

Crew access ladder. The sides are provided as PE with styrene rungs which I substituted for brass tubing so I could solder everything for strength....



Folds up when not in use....



Pulley. Needed a bit of clean up to remove excess resin but worth the extra work....



Gary

The second walkway is now complete and in place. Just working on a few small details before moving onto the tracks....









Gary

Looking excellent, nice work.

Al

Gonna be a shame to paint it....

Awesome build Gary! I have been following it from the beginning.

Almost a shame to put paint on it.

Mike

Thanks guys - glad you like it

PE chains with retaining pins added to appropriate places....



And this is where the fun really begins Modelkasten's T49 steel tracks....



8 parts per link and 166 links needed :shock: That equates to a parts count higher than most complete kits Not an evening build

Gary

Wow, master at work here. Very inspiring and a really interesting subject as well.
Seeing builds like this takes me closer and closer to try my hand at soldering

Thanks Johan.

I had a slight mishap with the tow bar so remade one from scratch...



Aside from the tracks, this is pretty much ready for paint now unless anyone spots something I've missed....











Gary

After a base coat of Tamiya Surface Primer from a rattle can - pretty important given the myriad of materials used here - I then set about the main colour. I gave this a lot of thought and even enlisted a RN model boat builder for some advice. In the end, I discovered I had the perfect colour already sitting on my shelf. AK Interactive's SLA Blue (AK-793) After a nice spraying session and adding some colour modulation, here's where things currently sit (suspension units painted but not shown here)...







Next step will be to add a little gloss to where the decals will go. That in itself is a problem as most of the decals provided by Resicast are, in reality, unusable I'm assuming there was an issue during the printing but they have small dots all over the artwork and look awful. The two circles with anchors are just about usable, but the AOS flashes and recognition stars aren't. The stars can be sourced from the spares box and I'll make the AOS ones up using suitable colour rectangles from spare decals.

Gary

Amazing job Gary
Very nice modulation.....are all BARV painted in blue?
I thought that these vehicles were painted in normal olive drab

Regards

Thanks Dario.

A vast majority were painted in 'Battleship Grey'. As they were used on the beaches, the colour was more suited to the grey seas. Some though were painted in OD and were used inland.

Gary

Very impressive build!
Amazing detailing

Ok Gary, thanks for clarification

The idea of making the REME AOS flash out of scrap decals didn't work out as the red and blue bits I had started to break up when wet so that went straight out of the window So out came the masking tape to do things the old fashioned way. After an initial blast with yellow....



While that was drying, the aerial recognition star was added....



Before completing the AOS flash with some Royal Blue and Red....



Have to say I'm pretty happy with the result. One more of these on the other side with two much smaller ones on each end....

Gary