Pete's BAE Warrior

[Steve Jones]

Sorry to hear about all the issues you have been encountering. Its a shame as your doing such a great job. I hope it all comes good in the end

 

[stillp]

Thanks Steve. At least I'll be able to cover it all with dust.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Haven't done much recently because of the temperatures and various domestic duties, but I've about finished painting the tracks:

I still can't make up my mind what to do about the bar armour. Looking at the same kind of armour on some Scorpions at the Tanks Trucks & Firepower show, the slats are about 40mm wide, 6mm thick, spaced apart by about 50mm. That is, they're 40 x 6 mm bars laid flat, but spaced by 50mm. The Airfix version scales to about 60 x 60mm, spaced about 60 mm. I could spend half a lifetime scraping the slats down to a more appropriate thickness, but then they'd be too far apart. Or I could just fit it to give an 'impression' of the proper armour... or I could leave it off. Any thoughts folks?
Another issue is that the bar armour sections on top of the turret obstruct the hatches, and I'm sure the crew would want to be able to open them, so I've carved some of it away to allow the hatches to be open:

Hopefully you can see that the right-hand side has been carved away. I've noticed though that some reviews show the turret hatches open without having carved away that armour, but I can't see how unless I've glued it in the wrong place, which doesn't look possible.
Decisions, decisions...

Thanks for looking.
Pete

 

[scottie3158]

Hi Pete,
Nice work so far. As to the bar armour if it is to over scale I think it will ruin the overall look. But it is your build and you know if you will be happy with it. Can you get some correct thickness evergreen strip and make it yourself?

 

[stillp]

Thanks Scottie. I don't think it would be doable with Evergreen - scale thickness would be 0.125 mm, 0.005". Might be possible in brass, but there are 23 horizontal bars on each side of the hull, in 5 sections, each of which has 3 vertical round bars and a vertical slat each side of the section. Then there's the front, rear, and turret. Possible, but far from simple.

Hmm... I see Evergreen go down to 0.010" thickness... only twice the size I'd need. The verticals would need to be wire, but how I'd drill holes that size in 23 strips, 5 times, 345 holes, just for the hull sides.

Unless I can find something like a grater or strainer that's about the right size of course.

Cheers
Pete

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Nice work on that monster Pete. Built it as part of the Afghanistan diorama of all British stuff used in that conflict.

Fun starts on the bar armour hung on the Warrior. Advice paint the Warrior & hang on the bar armour afterwards.

Matter of interest there were Warriors out there with out the bar armour. They acted as recovery for the Warriors
who broke down.

Laurie

 

[Jakko]

I don't think it would be doable with Evergreen - scale thickness would be 0.125 mm, 0.005”.

Absolute scale thickness might not be achievable anyway, but in any case you’d have such a job putting it all together neatly that I’d consider it not doable myself anyway.

Might be possible in brass, but there are 23 horizontal bars on each side of the hull, in 5 sections, each of which has 3 vertical round bars and a vertical slat each side of the section. Then there's the front, rear, and turret. Possible, but far from simple.

I would be tempted to look at 3D printing. It would need material that can be laid down finely enough, of course, but given that, I consider it to be more doable than glueing hundreds or even thousands of pieces of plastic strip together accurately.

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Pete

The bar armour was planted stuck on for the Afghanistan conflict & ruined the looks of the vehicle.
That is even with the bar amour to the correct scale.

The vehicle was designed without bar armour in it's pristine self. Why not leave it off. In doing that
you will be able to see all the detail of the Warrior as designed not mucked about with.

My first had to have bar armour for Afghanistan. The second I have to build will not have the armour.
The Warrior looked sleek & war like before I put the armour on. Armour on it looked in comparison
like a spaceman due for take off. Ugly.

Just a thought.

Laurie

 

[stillp]

Nice work on that monster Pete. Built it as part of the Afghanistan diorama of all British stuff used in that conflict.

Fun starts on the bar armour hung on the Warrior. Advice paint the Warrior & hang on the bar armour afterwards.

Matter of interest there were Warriors out there with out the bar armour. They acted as recovery for the Warriors
who broke down.

Laurie

Thanks Laurie. Yes, I remember that dio, but I'd forgotten there was a Warrior. Must try to find it again. Do you remember having problems with the turret hatches fouling on the bar armour?
I agree, painting after fitting the armour would not be possible. I'm sure there were Warriors in Afghanistan without the bar armour, but perhaps not this specific version with the additional aerials.
Anyway, it'll need tracks, lights, and the rest of the parts whether I fit the armour or not, so I can press on.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Absolute scale thickness might not be achievable anyway, but in any case you’d have such a job putting it all together neatly that I’d consider it not doable myself anyway.


I would be tempted to look at 3D printing. It would need material that can be laid down finely enough, of course, but given that, I consider it to be more doable than glueing hundreds or even thousands of pieces of plastic strip together accurately.

Interesting thought Jakko. I don't know anyone who could do the design for 3D printing though, let alone the actual printing with a suitable resolution. It would have to be brass, I think.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Pete

The bar armour was planted stuck on for the Afghanistan conflict & ruined the looks of the vehicle.
That is even with the bar amour to the correct scale.

The vehicle was designed without bar armour in it's pristine self. Why not leave it off. In doing that
you will be able to see all the detail of the Warrior as designed not mucked about with.

My first had to have bar armour for Afghanistan. The second I have to build will not have the armour.
The Warrior looked sleek & war like before I put the armour on. Armour on it looked in comparison
like a spaceman due for take off. Ugly.

Just a thought.

Laurie

I'm told it was referred to in the field as the "monkey cage"! It certainly made the vehicle look very different.
Pete

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Thanks Laurie. Yes, I remember that dio, but I'd forgotten there was a Warrior. Must try to find it again. Do you remember having problems with the turret hatches fouling on the bar armour?
I agree, painting after fitting the armour would not be possible. I'm sure there were Warriors in Afghanistan without the bar armour, but perhaps not this specific version with the additional aerials.
Anyway, it'll need tracks, lights, and the rest of the parts whether I fit the armour or not, so I can press on.
Pete

I cannot remember any problems Pete with the bar armour & the turret hatches. This is a picture from the build I did (not on this forum).
Cannot remember the detail but all seems to have gone well. I think I remember the isnstructions not be very explicit.

 

[stillp]

Thanks Laurie. You haven't got the hatches fitted there though.
Looks as if you had the PE set?
Pete

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Thanks Laurie. You haven't got the hatches fitted there though.
Looks as if you had the PE set?
Pete

Yes I had the full Airfix PE set (Eduard manufactured of course)

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Thanks Laurie. You haven't got the hatches fitted there though.
Looks as if you had the PE set?
Pete

Just had a deko at my Warrior the hatches are the Airfix ones.

Laurie

 

[stillp]

I would have thought they'd have included the bar armour in the PE. I think I've found the problem with the hatches fouling the armour - user error! That armour was a nightmare to fit, and as you said the instructions were a bit vague.

Pete

 

[Jakko]

Interesting thought Jakko. I don't know anyone who could do the design for 3D printing though, let alone the actual printing with a suitable resolution.

The design is the real problem — printing is easy enough through Shapeways or similar companies. I could probably knock up a set of this armour if I wanted to, but I just know there will be all kinds of pitfalls that would make me wish I hadn’t

 

[Deleted member 5496]

I would have thought they'd have included the bar armour in the PE. I think I've found the problem with the hatches fouling the armour - user error! That armour was a nightmare to fit, and as you said the instructions were a bit vague.

Yes the Armour in PE would have been really great. But Eduard only use thin metal & do
not think it would have worked.

Pity FLightpath did not do something. Their metal is twice the thickness plus they do a
better job altogether than Eduard.

One thing I did do which helps visually is to hang things around the bar armour.

 

[stillp]

Thanks Laurie, it does look better with things hanging off it. I don't know why they supplied a mesh to go in front of the thermal imaging system, as the real thing didn't have that, and I'm sure it would have affected the thermal system's performance.
The thinness of Eduard PE would be OK for the slats if it was horizontal - they's have to make several hundred slats with holes for the vertical rods etched in. Might be an interesting exercise for someone who made their own etch. I suppose another alternative would have been to make a 'grid' of the right size but then twist the bars to be horizontal. The bending wouldn't be easy though.

Decision made - NO bar armour!

Pete

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Thanks Laurie, it does look better with things hanging off it. I don't know why they supplied a mesh to go in front of the thermal imaging system, as the real thing didn't have that, and I'm sure it would have affected the thermal system's performance.
The thinness of Eduard PE would be OK for the slats if it was horizontal - they's have to make several hundred slats with holes for the vertical rods etched in. Might be an interesting exercise for someone who made their own etch. I suppose another alternative would have been to make a 'grid' of the right size but then twist the bars to be horizontal. The bending wouldn't be easy though.

Decision made - NO bar armour!

Pete

Ha ha I had that dilemma Petebut as it was to be authentic for the Afghanistan diorama I did not have that option.
But I think it will look much better "nude".

Always a problem do you fiddle with detail while you can be producing another model.

Laurie