BATUS Chieftain Mk10 Stillbrew & CVRT Spartan Range Safety

That barrel looks huge… makes you feel like asking your opponent… “You’ve Gotta’ Ask Yourself A Question. ‘Do I Feel Lucky?’ Well Do Ya…PUNK?”

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@Johnnych01 John, very sweet looking build!

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And the answer would be …" At 3km with a FIN round or 4 to 6 km with a HESH round…No " lol

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Thanks Wade, kind of you to say mate :+1:

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Thanks as always Matt for the support and keeping an eye on things :+1:

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Just see what size looks like with the turret on the hull.

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Looking good Johnny.
You’ll be happy to know I located the casting marks of the StillBrew turret ring protection blocks, and happier still that they’re only visible when the turret is removed.


Mal

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Nice research Mal… And hidden away is always good lol … And less work :grin:

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My thought exactly

Mal

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I have managed to get both the front Boz plate arms located and fixed.

Same process as before, drill a hole in the back and another in the hull to give extra support. Had to thin down the mounting plates on these as they stood out more. Happy with the result though and I did test fit with the wheels fitted to make sure it all looks correct.

I couldn’t live with the AA GPMG barrel… So. …

Off it came, and so did the donor barrel from a spare Tamiya GPMG. The Tamiya one has better detailing and the proper length, so it had to be done.

Removed barrel…

And fitted donor barrel… All nice and straight from the side :grin:

And also straight looking at it from the rear. (The Comd cupola is traversed off at a slight angle for a reason if anyone notices)

Now to fit some very tiny padlocks :+1:

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This is really going to be nice when you finish it. I’ve always said you can never go wrong with Accurate Armour kits, so I’m surprised by some of the problems you encountered early on in the thread. I’ve built over a dozen of their kits and never had a problem. Of course, this one must be ancient as I don’t recall ever having one with that yellowish resin. I do have a half completed one myself lying about somewhere with that same colored resin but I’m not sure it’s from A-A as I’ve only got the turret pieces and the frontal armor plates, not a whole upper hull.
A shame about the footman loops. They’ve gotten much more refined since this kit was made, at least on their Centurion kits, which are also starting to show their age. The ones on your kit are a bit on the largish side. I’d say it’d be worth the effort to redo them.
I know mine are probably too large for some people’s taste, but I definitely like the look as opposed to most kit ones. There are several ways to make them but I like using wire as they won’t pop off if I’m adding stowage to them the way PE loops can.

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Thanks for dropping in @18bravo to have a look. Yeah, once it’s done and the BATUS paint is on I think it will scrub up ok to be honest. As you said, and in Accurate Armour’s defence this a very old kit from the original molds, and it was left for a long time so I can take the issues with it as it’s understandable with its age etc. I think by what others have said and like you did as well, that the newer AA kits and the ones less old are very nice to work with. I guess as processes develop over time the quality of the parts improves as well.
Luckily those Boz plate loops were on @AfvAficionado Mal’s kit and not mine. The AA ones are PE and look ok so shouldnt be a problem fixing those in place (and BTW, the ones you’ve shown on your kit look very nice actually and not over scale) and the plates have pre drilled holes ready for them.

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Very nice job John. Considering the price of this type of kits you’d expect at least a perfect match between resin and PE parts.
I wish you’ve now discovered all the kit discrepancies and the next steps will be a smooth ride.

Olivier

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Thanks Olivier. I think alot of the issues were just age and first mold related. All fairly easy to remedy and it should still be a good looking kit. Just have to order the exhaust elbows from FC model trend. I’ve never dealt with them before so hope that’s a smooth order. Looking at what’s left to do, I can’t see any other issues now. Fingers crossed :+1::crossed_fingers:

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I ordered from FC Modeltrend last month and it was troublefree. They print on demand, so you just have to wait a few days for your order to ship. Shipping was smooth and fast.

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I have had a good experience with FC. Some products are already printed so you don’t have to wait for them to be shipped. Be prepared to clean the printing marks. I had some lines on my AMX 13 gun barrel.

Olivier

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Matt and @Bison126 , thanks for the prompt replies and positive feedback. Will register with them later and get the order put in… And possibly see if anything else grabs my eye …:+1:

Very clean and detailed work on this. I love it when someone can take a difficult kit and turn it into a first class model.

John, you might want to try these if they’re appropriate for your model; readily available in the UK:

image

as a bit of Googling will reveal.

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Thanks Brian, I jumped the gun a bit and ordered the FC ones about an hour ago … I think there’s only a few quid in it so I shan’t cry to much lol…
On a side note, is that show still planned for Oct 24 in Yeovil ?