Hi Guys
Just bought a Trumpeter Ariete MBT
Does any know the correct colour of this tank ?
I have seen pictures of it in the NATO tri camo
but what shade of green is this tank , for the green version
cheers Sean

Hi Sean

The colours I've seen suggested are NATO Green (surprise!) or Humbrol 102

There's only one Ariete "wearing" the NATO 3 colours camo scheme. The others are painted in NATO greem as correctly stated before. I've seen lots of them and they're green only when they're wet. If you look carefully at the pics you'll see that when they're dry the colour tends much more to gray than green.
Here you can find quite a lot of pics of the Ariete.
The markings coming with the kit are all wrong in shape & colours. The only one available correct decals set is from AWD...
Ciao
Fabio

Hey Sean,

the Ariete is an excellent kit, but there are two things to watch out for. One is the decals, they are the wrong size and i recommend replacing them with the AWD decals that Fabio mentions in his post. Secondly, i had trouble getting the tracks to fit over the idler wheel. The only solution i could find was to make two short stub axles, glue these into the wheels then open the hole out on the chassis, you need to lower this hole by 3mm, then the tracks should fit.

Regards from the Swamp

Eth

Cheers guys
this helps me out
i'll get some of those decals

Hey Eth,

How is the detail of the perforated armour on the turret top? I see that Eduard has included PE armour plates in their set to go over top of the kit moulded armour.

Any need to replace the kit armour with the PE armour?

Has anyone picked up Royal Model's detail set for the Ariete...any review?

Building it myself, so here are my thoughts on the Trumpeter Ariete. Lots to like about the kit. First kit to feature a slide molded machine gun with the top cooling slots depicted, and it has those multiple depth holes in the engine grill screen to define a two-layer grill (a trick Tamiya first did on their Leopard 2), so a metal replacement is not strictly necessary. Nice detail overall, but two problem areas. First, they simply forgot the machine gun port in the turret front armor left of the main gun. Just a slot with rounded ends--it's sometimes seen taped over for travel to keep out dust, so that's an easy fix with some colored decal or tape. Second, the gun tube on the kit is for the very first vehicles deployed, and has the larger, rounded bore evacuator. The current version is a plain, square-cut cylinder mounted eccentrically, so the top edge is slightly above the gun tube but the lower edge is almost flush. You can saw out the middle of the gun tube and replace it with plastic or metal tubing, or Royal Models sells a resin replacement. Model Point also offers a metal barrel, but no indication if it is an early or late version (no illustration on the website). Lion Roar has a useful little photoetch update set that includes the late-style square footsteps on the mudguards, if you don't want the bent metal rod versions in the kit.
Oddly, neither Lion Roar nor Eduard include parts to upgrade the optical port on the turret front just right of the gun. You can refine the hinge with plastic rod and add the actuating cable from wire (it feeds around the corner and the actuator is in front of the doors for the main thermal viewer).
Ignore Eduard's little chains to secure the tow cables--the real things are held in place by big cotter pins. Don't think it's necessary to replace the turret top armor with PE--just seems like make work on Eduard's part.

More Ariete pictures from Ferreamole, always worth looking at for Italian things

Ariete

Gerald,

Thanks for the info. Is there a problem with the circular engine air intake grill on the back deck? I believe I had read that the kit has it extended and it should actually be flush with the back deck.

Here's the answer Jason
http://www.ferreamole.it/images/mbt_ariete/IMG0039.jpg

Ciao
Gaetano

Reply for Jason,




Hey Jason,

the Royal Model detail set is very good, well cast and my set had no air bubbles or warpage. The instructions are clear, and way better than most AM/Resin instructions. The gun barrel is a definate improvement over the kit one. The biggest draw back concerns the actual location of certain parts, such as the add on armour and the tools. You need to be careful here and dry fit the parts several times to make sure you have them in the right position. I would definately recommend the Royal Models set, it allows you to build a different looking Ariete and if you are unfamiliar with Resin, i woudl say is an easyish set to begin with.

As to the Eduard replacement perforated roof armour? I have not seen this Eduard set, but looking at the turret on my Arete i would say it is entirely up to you. The Trumpeter parts maybe slightly over scale, but i think they are well done and would be quite a headache to remove as they are cast as part of the turret roof.

If you need any help msg me and i will do my best ot answer any questions. Although i build modern armour mainly for fun and a change of pace so i am not expert on these tanks.

Regards from the Swamp

Eth

Here are some other pics of Ariete:

http://www.makettinfo.hu/

Click on the Union Jack flag and under the Photos / Vehicles there are some pics taken in Hungary on a shooting exercise.

Hello All

I have a Question about the C1 Ariete. Now that we have Italian attention these fellas might be able to help me. :-)

1.Is it true the construction is based on the Leopard 1?
2.How many has there been build?
3.What is the purpose of the round containers on the sides of the turret??(The same as the leopard 1 or not??)
4.If anybody has written information about the construction and the general idea of the tank please send it to me. I would be very glad. I use this Information to instruct my soldiers if you want to know why.

Thanks in advance already

Greetings Roel

Thanks Gaetano, Eth, and Lazlo for all your responses.

To me it looks like the air intake grill is just fine on the Trumpeter kit.

Roel,

The Ariete not based on the Leopard 1. It has better armour, a bigger gun, better fire control system, and a bigger power pack....lots of better and more modern technology than the Leopard 1.

I think Italy has around 200 Arietes.

The tubes I think you speak of are multi barrel grenade dischargers....do you mean on the turret sides in banks of four? They can launch both smoke and fragmentation grenades.

For info on the tank just run a Google search for "Ariete tank". You will find plenty of technical information on the Ariete.

Hi Roel
The tank based on the Leopard 1 project you mentioned probably is the OF-40, an italian design optimized for desert environments and sold to the Arab Emirates in 36 machines during the '80s.
The round containers at the rear corners of the turret, similar to those on the Leo 1, are for the gun cleaning brushes.
Check the link below, there is a very good four-pages article with history and a technical desciption of the tank. Unfortunately it's in italian but I think it isn't difficoult to find someone who speak italian in Belgium.

http://www.ferreamole.it/images/mbt_ariete/mbtariete01.htm

If you need something else let me know.

Ciao
Gaetano

Hi,

I've seen in the interent an up-armored AM resin parts "Antica Babilonia" for the Ariete deployed in the Iraq (I think 2 of them), have any of you guys purchased and used it? how is it?


grazie!

Hi Tanker
The kits you saw are from Italian Tanks, a small italian company (I don't know if is still on business) that produces both the early and late up-armor sets including new gun barel and engine deck.
On the two examples I saw the casting quality wasn't so good...

Ciao
Gaetano

oh that's too bad. i hope other makers will produce it. anyway, bottom line which is the better PE set?

The up armouring sets are also made by Royal Model. They also make a resin and photo etched detail set with the correct barrel.

I have all the Royal Model sets on the way to me and I will let you know how they are when they arrive. They look very nice on the Royal Model site.

The Eduard set includes a lot of good PE. It also includes the top turret amour plates in PE which are to be added over the kit plates. It doesn't really make sense to do that as the kit turret already looks fine when compared to references and it will take a lot of work to remove the kit plates to replace them with the PE parts.

The Royal Model set looks very nice to and in includes resin update items...which makes it more expensive.

The Voyager set looks pretty minimal.

The Lion Roar set looks ok but I don't think it includes as much as the Eduard or Royal Model sets.

Go to the Eduard site and you can look at the PE and the instructions...just search for Ariete. The Royal Model site shows the armour packages and the PE/resin update sets.