Saturday 13 April 2013

Armoured Transport part 3

With 5 personnel carrier bodies to play with, I decided to upgrade one with a weapons turret.  I bought a small plastic Gepard SPAA tank a while ago, the Leopard tank body was rubbish but the turret had possibilities.  Sadly I couldn't find it, but luckily I had a couple of old Airfix CVR(T) Scorpion tank kits handy, so I decided to go with one of them.

Fire support vehicle.
The turret has been built in the Scimitar configuration with a 30mm RARDEN cannon. I've added a few extras in the form of corrugated plasticard, a bit more treadplate, a map pin sensor sphere, the end of an MG34 mounted coaxially with the main gun, a couple of Italeri jerry cans and the missile pod from a Mechwarrior clicky tank.

Rear detail.
 The APC body has a fire extinguisher added next to the forward stowage area and a small hatch nearby.  I imagine this hatch is for munitions loading.  The turret is slightly offset to one side to prevent the missile pod protruding over the side of the vehicle.  With a hole drilled through two layers of 1.5mm plasticard, the turret fits snugly in place and doesn't wobble as you turn it.  After completing the turret, I discovered that the slight overhang of the jerry cans on the back of the turret bustle/stowage bin was going to leave them too close to the top of the hull, they'd end up rubbing a line in the paint.  An extra circle of 1mm plasticard has lifted the turret enough to avoid this problem.

APC top plate mounting.
 I've found that Mechwarrior clicky vehicles are an excellent source of missile pods and the like and are still fairly easy to get hold of on e-bay.  You can see the missile pod donor on the right here.  As well as the tanks seen here, I have a the Jes II missile carrier which comes with loads of missile pods - some will be finding their way into my forces very soon.

Weapon donors.

7 comments:

  1. I like that a lot. Very good looking. Wish I would have thought about weapon donors before I placed my Mechwarrior order recently. Oh well, an excuse for another order isn't a bad thing.

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  2. Very cool, look forward to seeing it with a lick of paint.

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  3. Were did you get the treadplated embossed plasticard from? i really need some of that stuff...

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    1. Squire's model supplies - http://www.squirestools.com/toolscat.htm

      1:100 single tread treadplate £1.99 a sheet.

      I think Antenocitis workshop sell it too.

      A sheet of this and a couple of wire mesh bird feeders and you've got all the raw materials you need for a load of gantries and walkways with safety rails!

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  4. I love these vehicle conversions! It's neat to see such imaginative work.

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  5. The conversions of Matchbox AFV's is inspiring

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