My latest project is a Warrior ICV (Infantry Command Vehicle) March '03, Basrah, Iraq. I used the Academy Op Telic Warrior kit and Accurate Armour's ICV conversion. The Accurate Armour set is to their usual excellent standard. The main diferance between an ICV and a MCV is the rear door setup. The ICV has two smaller doors as opposed to the MCV's one large door.

For gear, I used some of the pieces from the Academy kit, some from the AA set, and some from the spares box. I also used some British ration boxes and water boxes that I printed off myself. The placards on the ammo cans were also decals that I made from ammo placard images lifted off the web. The nets on the sides were done using thin graphics arts tape, and were a real B!^@H to make. They came out looking great, but I don't want to do them again for a while.

It also has Bison's Op Telic Warrior decals. The vehicle is the same as in the Academy kit decals, but they got it wrong. Academy has 08 on the sides and rear, when it should be 0B as on the Bison sheet.

The model is a farewell gift for our British Exchange Officer here at the NTC and is his vehicle from Iraq, where he was an Infantry Company Commander. It will be put on a base with a road and a sign to Basrah.

Here is the actual vehicle.



And my representation of it.





More here.

As always, comments, criticism, etc. welcome.

Gino,

Just curious, but what are the white panels on the front, side and rear? I know nothing about these vehicles. The build looks great!!

All US and UK vehicles participating in the invasion of Iraq carried them. They appeared as a cool spot when viewed at long range through thermal viewers, and served to identify coalition vehicles. Most losses in the original 1991 war were friendly fire accidents, and this was a simple solution. US vehicles had theirs painted sand, but the British left theirs white.

Yup, Gerald nailed it. They are called CIPs, Combat Identifier Panels.

Excellent job Gino, and a nice conversion too. That net looks good, did you glue the gear to the sides and then add the net? I see you managed to put an POL drum in the basket at the front, is that an aftermarket drum? The drums in my Academy kit will not fit, so I'm going to cover it with a sheet of some sorts (mine, when finished will be a KFOR version in Bosnia. I made the terminal mistake of trying to use the Academy decals... .. I might have to strip and respray.. )
I would perhaps consider a dark wash in the Fire Handle recess, to emphasise the fact that it is a hole.

Very nice, your Exchange Officer will be chuffed.

Cheers
Henk

Thanks Henk. The oil drum in the front bin is from the AA set. It is narrower than the Academy one. I did glue the gear on first then add the net. It was still a b!$%h to do though. Glad you like it. Good luck on yours.

Very nice build.

Great build Gino, like the way you did the nets on the side.

Congrats

Nice bit of British armor and a fantastic job on the netting and the stowage. You sure crank these out quick.

The ride height looks pretty good. Did you add a pull handle to the hole on the left side armor? Should be a hole to the access flap on the hull side.

One strange quirk of the Academy kit is that the armor is slightly too far to the rear. The weld seam just to the front of the rear stowage boxes should be visible. But that's a real nitpick.

Paul

Thanks guys, glad you like it.

Paul, Funny you should mention the height. I was told at M-L that it looks too high. I have heard it may be a problem with the Academy kit, looks good to me though. I thought the circular cut-out was for a Halon pull handle, like on US tracks, oh well. I too noticed the side armor is too far back, but of course too late, after it was on and painted. Thanks for the candid comments. I have been a busy beaver lately. I am moving soon and had to get these last few done before I go. This is the last one and now I have to start getting ready to move. Will be away from the workbench for a while till I get set up in AL at Maxwell AFB.

Outstanding job Gino. I think im going to have to do an exchange on your base to get free kits out of you eh. :-)

Were the tracks provided in the Academy kit individual links or are they the typical rubber tracks similar to the ones found in the Tamiya kit?

Also how did you find the Academy kit in general in terms of parts coming together?

Thanks Jeremy.




Unfortunately, not that easy. This one is far from free. Would love to have you here though.

The Academy kit goes together with no issues. It is a great kit. The tracks are rubber band style, but they are excellent. The customer actually bought AA's resin replacement tracks, but the kit ones looked better, so we went with them instead. It comes with lots of extras and add-ons too. It also includes all the parts from their original Warrior kit so it can be built as almost any Warrior out there, with or without the add-on armor. I highly recommend it.

Here is a review of the Academy Warrior from PMMS.

Gino,

As long as the axis of the roadwheel spindle is fairly close to the bottom of the hull then it's good enough. From what I can tell, it's about right and about where I've set mine.

No idea why the kit allows some much deviance in the position of the roadwheel arm without any sort of guidance as to what the normal position was.

Paul

Yup, I depressed the roadwheel arms as far down as they could go. Looks good to me too.

I guess you will have one happy UK exchange offiser. Getting this piece of art sure beats t-shirts and coffey mugs. Excellent work as allways.

Erik

Gino,
Absolutely fantastic ----
Used to feel a loss when I saw "pressie "pieces go--------
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

Thanks Erik and BARV.

Guess it is a language thing (although we both speak english ), but what does this

"Used to feel a loss when I saw "pressie "pieces go"

mean???

nice and clean work. i like the net carrier on the sides..plus the pair of poles on the rear..what are those for?

your right about the height..i lessen the tension on the tracks by pressing the hull alittle lower.

thanks for sharing.

Nice piece Gino
Really love the netting what can of materials you used.
I did use lead film?

Really cool, Question
what is the red boxe on the rarden ammo boxes on the front ??

cheers
seb

Thanks. As posted above, the netting is made out of thin Graphics Arts tape. The diamond on the Rarden ammo boxes is a ammo warning placard . You can see them in the pic of the original ICV. They look like this:

I think Barv means that he felt the loss when he handed a kit over as a present after all the hard work put into it.

Ahh, now I get it. That is what I was thinking, but wasn't sure. I too hate to see this one go. I came out really well.
I did take a bunch of pics of it though.

Gino
thanks for the answer
cheers
seb