Now this build is for a work colleague…. And it’s going to represent a vehicle his grandad served on in Italy during 1944 with the 1st Buffs (Royal East Kent Regt). My mate has his whole service history from N Africa through to the wars end and his medals etc so this will serve as a nice visual reminder his granddad’s service.
I still have a bit of research to do which will be done this Monday when I can see some UCarrier books and study some of the internal images, as I want to get as much detail into it as possible, I will also add links on here to a few other areas concerning this build ……
I was going to do a box contents review …… but then I saw the amount of plastic this kit has …. lets just sum it up by saying its an insane amount ……
A very nice and detailed instruction booklet.
A PE fret covering a lot of nice items. A nice decal sheet which I will be able to partially use.
Chain, and metal recovery cable.
Now … 38 … yes 38 Sprues including a clear sprue … some sprues are doubles and even up to 8 of the same …. this does not include the track sprues ……
22 Track link and pin sprues ….
So, an awful lot of plastic !! But it all looks superbly detailed with no flash that I can see nor sink marks that will be visible on the finished kit. Very impressed thus far.
When you get to the tracks use lengths of plastic rod instead of the pins theyre very fragile and refuse to stay in unless you source alternative tracks.
Theres a few simplifications otherwise but it builds remarkably well and the level of detail is pretty nice.
Thanks Keith….one other thing if you’re able to at some point … do you have the exact build length mudguard to mudguard and width .. just so I can plan slightly ahead for a base area ? And there’s no rush mate
I decided to label the main hull sprues to ID easier, but I can also leave a lot as they are due to them not being needed till a lot later in the build or easy to find as they are just tools or weapons etc …..
After having a quick look the the destruction booklet, I can see one area that’s going to need some attention, and that being the void under the PE engine casing….
I can see that I will need to at least knock up the air cleaner box and pipe, potentially the gearbox housing and various cables/pipes and drive shaft outlet ……
And first plastic now cut …. Bottom plate and a cover …..
Gecko did an engine kit but a club member said you cannot see anything under the housing. Maybe wait til the cover is made up and see if you see under before making the parts unless it’s needed because you will know thing.
I think it’s safe not bother with the output shaft or the gearbox as it will be to far down to see anything … I may just add a scratch air cleaner/box and it’s pipe work as that will probably be just visible through the PE, and should be nice and straightforward to get done .
You can get away with the round air filter top and tube to the carb as not much else would be visible both easy to scratch. I replaced the photoetch with ali mesh as the plate over the centre should really be beneath the mesh supporting it. It all depends how mad you want to get detailing really.
Thanks to G @G-man69 , I was able to grab a few valuable hours looking through some truly amazing Universal Carrier/ Bren GC reference books, which actually covered every variant manufactured and put into service. The info these Tomes provided was seriously next level, which also included copies of original blue prints which again covered all variants. There must have been thousands of images between the 3 books, and I dont think any were repeated !!
I managed to get some good info and images of areas I needed, so it was very much worth the trip and of course great to catch up with G man ….
. Cheers mate
