Amusing Hobby Conqueror Mk 1

Frank - reference my last: Do you want the etch piece? Sorry, lateral thinking clearly not my forte today (or many others come to that). Just send me your adrress by PM perhaps and I’ll get it in the post.

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The Abrams commander’s hatch can be placed in a similar position. It is called the Protected Open position by the US.

This shows it on an M1A1 cupola, but the M1A2 cupola can be placed in a similar position.

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Any tips on the suspension of this beast, Brian?
I seem to recall there was a modification to adjust the height…

I bought the AH kit just for the suspension. I plan to use it on an Accurate Armor Resin Conqueror ARV mostly because I’m not crazy about the white metal running gear and suspension the AA kit came with.

Although I suspect a solid block of resin would probably compress the springs included with the AH kit.

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No your ok,
moving the models to the new house, it has departed somewhere, I know about the umbrella position, but that piece seams, it is solid on the vehicle, and moving the hatch on top of it would remove the cover required to in front of commander

Centurion mk8s + what it upgraded to, had it and chieftain 1/2s
Its a amusing hobby mk1, driver has 3 episcopes , originally lacked basket to turret rear. And fuel caps were on the outside edges to engine compartment.

Mk2, 1 driver episcope large opening to front plate top edge for it, fuel fillers on engine deck, all fitted with basket and large fume extractor to barrel.

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Now, that’s a timely question; I now remember adding thin plastic strip to my Conq when I first started it (sadly, some time ago). What prompted it I think, was that I perceived that there was too much space between the road wheels and the lower bazooka plates. My workaround - which is hardly scientific - was to extend the length of the plates by aforementioned strip. I can’t confirm what width of strip as my model is masked up for painting and I can’t really check. It must only be around a millimetre or so. What prompted me was studying the tank’s apparent ride height and also comparing it with the illustration in the old AFV Profile on the Conqueror; the picture in the centre pages appears to be exactly 1:35. As my model if on the ranges I like to think it has a full ammo load so should appear lower on its haunches in any case. By adding the strip I’ve hopefully achieved that illusion.

You can just see the strip here.

None of this is really relevant to your ARV build though; I would only suggest that as - well, to me, - working in plastic easier than say resin/white metal, just bastardize using the AH components as you see fit. ’ Not really much help this, is it?(!)

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Frank,

As promised; 'hope this helps:

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A brief update; Conq in base colour - detail painting still to happen (probably this pm):

The Fire Control Turret is masked off with a mix of masking tape and cling-film - the latter working quite well as a masking agent.

A few notes that I should have mentioned earlier: I used Accurate Armour fire extinguishers to add variety, and besides, they’re the ones I recall when I first saw these monsters back in the day (c. 1965); whether or not they’re appropriate for 1957 I have no idea. A possible “Oops” moment I’m afraid.

I also procured an Accurate Armour set of radio antennae bases, but when I compared the AA ones with the kit version, I realised that there wasn’t much point; the kits ones do indeed appear a little undernourished but they were practically the same as the AA ones, so I let it go. I may touch up gently the kit ones with Mr Dissolved Putty where they have been slightly damaged by my over-zealous drilling to take the brass rod antennae I use.

I’ve also been working on the Austin Champ:

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The kit comes with 2 types of suspension component - a one piece and separate parts with a spring, which is quite anaemic:

@Arch-Stanton Al, when I built mine, I made my own correctly spaced spring:

But when the front part of the mount is added, you see virtually nothing of it. When you assemble the kit using the stock parts, the one part ones set the road wheels too low with a very noticeable gap and their spring version, whilst better, is still too high:

When I build my next one, I will add a section of styrene stock on top of these parts, so when the arms sit on them, it will sit higher and bring the wheels up where they should be:

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The kit turret profile is off too:



Looking at the open hatch pic, it suggests the Amusing hobby hatch is too wide, and a commonly cited kit issue. However, look at the periscope cover on the left of the hatch-less pic, and its relation to the bolt (green circle) in front of it, plus the apparent width of the triangular segment to the scope cover’s left. Then look at how the section of turret on the right of the hatch tapers slightly at the front. Compare to the pic of the kit turret. Then compare the centreline on the raised section on the right close to the back end of the turret to the area in the kit (Yellow arrow) I think it is because the sections on the kit turret beside the hatch are too narrow, not that the kit hatch is too wide at all. Also the mantlet in the kit seems narrower than the one in the pic, which means if it was widened to fit a widened area on the hull beside the hatch, the rest would be in proportion!

My fix:
image
image
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Another issue is the stowage box. The one in the kit has a bevelled corner which was the one fitted to the Mk 2. The mark 1 had a full rectangular one:
image

My Fix:


Not a big issue to fix, just a matter off cutting into the bend on the side piece so you can straighten it, trim off the slightly longer end that results, then fill the gap. Of course I realised this after I had used a complete new piece of styrene to replace the kit part first time around!

Also needs some conduit:
image

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Thank you very much Peter. I knew I’d seen something about the Conqueror suspension somewhere.
Great explanation.

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Great job so far Brian. Sorry I’m joining this thread a little late, but I have the kit with the spaced armor. I believe this was a prototype? Love that Austin Champ!
Again great job so far

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Richard, the so called “Super Conqueror” was a one-off built purely as one of the test bed targets for new warheads. The extra armour was added to replicate the perceived protection of future enemy tanks.



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Peter thank you for the pics and info. I purchased the kit not having read much about it but intrigued by its sheer size like most heavy tanks. Looks like some possible diorama ideas there in those photos.

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I think the extinguishers are the correct sort Brian… And regarding those ABAs …I was a little underwhelmed with the clansman ones I had with the accurate armour Striker and Stillbrew I did, I think they are underscale… That’s what’s put me off buying any more individual sets…
Conq is looking very good now with some paint on it :+1:

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After going through the diagram, the fixture beside the elevation post , ( flag on ) its job is to stop the hatch flying forwards , there is a lift up support beside the .30 for fixing in position, into head out position., when requested, must lay down when not required!!.

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While detail painting continues, and work on the Champ, I thought I’d outline the plan regarding figures. I hope to provide 4 x figures to populate this little scene. There will be a Tank Commander located in his turret, a Gunnery Instructor SNCO, standing on the rear decks, and a Major – Officer Commanding – observing in front of his vehicle (Champ) with his Driver out of the vehicle but smoking a normally illicit fag (cigarette). Figures will come from the following sets:

Figs 1

I’ll use one of the Stretcher Bearers as the SNCO on the engine decks.

This venerable set - remember them? The chunky figure with the binos far left is just what I need.

And this excellent figure from Firing Line for the Champ driver; the Tank Commander figure will be from this set - if I can find them amongst the somewhat expanded stash (!):

Figs 4

This, I feel, is one of the most useful sets ever produced for converting to modern tank crews; as they’re in coveralls to start with, it’s normally just a matter of utilising Hornet Heads and adding a few tweaks here and there. I use them a lot.

Now, this is all ambitious stuff and I’m no Jerry Rutman, but I can normally fudge a bit of Milliput here and there. I hope to depict the OC figure in a parka similar to the Firing Line figure; the actual piece of kit was one of these:

s-l500 (1)

s-l500 (2)

and a very subdtantial piece of kit it was; there was one in the Guardroom at Ripon Barracks in Germany when I went there for my first posting. As a lowly Private, I wasn’t deemed competent enough for the far more relaxed duty of Duty Clerk in Corps HQ, so, as is the lot of most such ranks, I frequently found myself on guard at the main gate. German winters were pretty merciless back then, and the Guardroom had 1 x parka; as it was deemed too risky to issue several sizes (I imagine they would be stolen, or more likely, it was down to the sheer cussedness and parsimony of the QM staff), the largest size was issued, working to a one-size fits all policy. Well, it really didn’t. Back then at a puny 5’2", wearing one was like stepping into a shed. With a wire-reinforced hood, from which I could fashion a pill-box like slit, I found I didn’t even need to pace up and down when on duty, but just let the snow pile up around me, as I was quite toasty - these things really were well made. Of course, it gave those wishing to enter the barracks a bit of a start when this snowy sort of mound emitted a request for ID, but well, such are the vagaries of la vie militaire(!)

Anyway, I digress; I hope to convert the strecher bearer figure into a passable SNCO Instructor remonstrating perhaps with the Commander. The figure is already in a more or less decent enough version of Combat Dress (though I’ll probably tweak the trousers - the versions in the 50s were quite baggy), ensure I have perhaps a pointing arm, a 37 Pat belt, and of course a Hornet Head.

Anyway, that’s the plan; now, back to painting.

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I’m a bit late finding this one Brian, but just had a good catch up. She’s coming along brilliantly.

Will we see this one at Yeovil next month perhaps?

Terry

I hope so; even if uncompleted I’ll take it along as a Work-in-Progress.

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Detail painting of the tank is taking rather longer than I’d hoped; in the meantime – and literally whilst waiting for paint to dry – I’ve been continuing to add detail to the Champ. I discovered that the canopy is warped, but hope that can be remedied using boiling water. I was planning on painting-as-you-go with the Champ but that was becoming increasingly onerous and might even prevent me airbrushing, so I’ll probably mask off some areas and then prime as normal.

The warped canopy:

I’ve also prepped some other details for the Champ such as formation plates and a sign “OC” (for Officer Commanding). I’ve also experimented on base colours when it comes to applying the Home Forces decal (the lion and crown); these were made for me some time ago by a modelling friend but don’t really have the density of colour necessary; I’ve applied the decal as normal on to a base gloss colour of Bronze Green and also one on white. To my mind it looks slightly better on white so I may have to paint some white squares on to the Conqueror.

And the Champ in primer, again, using cling-film as a mask for the wheels:

Lastly, a coat of gloss on to the FCT to ensure the Bronze Green is replicated well enough; there are a few details to touch up:

And that folks, is the sum total of today’s efforts (apart from the detail painting on the Conqueror itself).

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Going great guns Brian… FCT looks very nice :+1:

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