Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier

[ShaunW]

Thanks for your interest, guys. I've made a bit more progress during the week and today.

The front plate is now on and was a reasonable fit. At first I thought there was an issue as the top of the plate is not parallel to the top of the body but, after consulting photos, it would appear that's how it was. I also assembled the torso and legs of the driver figure to check the fit (right hand seat here as this is a British designed vehicle) and he goes in there OK but the steering wheel will have to be fitted afterwards, which will be a bit fiddly but that is often the way it is when fitting driver figures to vehicles.





At the rear I have fitted the exhausts, final drive differential and drive sprockets together with the hull end plate. I've test fitted the tracks and they are a little fiddly to get behind the drive sprockets but it can be done. The holes in the end plate are for the tow hook assembly, which I will fit after paint together with the pioneer tools that are carried there, as there is the rear vehicle serial decal to go on which will be difficult to apply if all the other stuff is on there plus it will be easier to paint the tools off the model. The ends of the exhausts have been drilled out and the exhausts were quite tricky to fit as they are in three parts and fit around the drive shafts.



I have only added a minimum of additional detail to the cabin in the form of plastic rod to simulate the connection to the clutch pedal and the connector for the gear shift. I haven't bothered to scratch up any foot control pedals are they will not be readily visible.



Next up will be fitting the front hull deck and a dry run has revealed that it will require a fair bit of fettling to achieve a decent fit, which has not been the case for the rest of the major sub-assemblies in the kit. I will be leaving the wheels and suspension units off until after paint largely in order to facilitate painting of the wheel tyres.

Thanks for looking.

[Stuart]

Excellent work Shaun!

[Clashcityrocker]

Nice tidy construction Shaun.

Nigel

[B4en]

I don't remember any fit problems last time I built a Tamiya carrier Shaun, but that was a long while ago. The one part I really disliked was the awful rolled tarp they provided for the back end of the kit.

Good to see you whizzing along with this - Tamiya are usually a good mojo restorer!

[ShaunW]

Many thanks for the interest, guys. No modelling today as I've been over to the Wirral and back to collect my father in law who has been enjoying a week over there with his family. It's a two hour drive each way from our house and all I want to do now is sit down, read stuff on here and have a beer rather than more concentration at the modelling bench - a reminder that I'm not as young as I used to be!

I agree, Ben, the tarp is a bit pants but, of course, is a product of its time. Over the years I have tarted up similar tarps and canvas roofs on vehicles using a couple or three of layers of tissue, attached using diluted PVA, in order to improve the surface texture and I might do similar here.

[flakmonkey]

Nice work here with one of Tamiya's most basic of kits.

Milliput can be turned into some pretty spiffy rolled up tarps. Just roll it out as thinly as you possibly can, make it into a burrito, use a cocktail stick for the creases and folds, and before you know it, Bob's your Auntie Veronica.

Or something.

P.S: Is it just me who still calls these thing a Bren Gun Carrier?

[iggie]

Good work Shaun, and good to hear that you escaped the clutches of the Wirral safely.
Funnily enough, I was told off earlier this week for using 'the' before Wirral; apparently it is effectively a county, so should be referred to in the same manner as you would Yorkshire, or Ukraine for example
Enjoy the beer!

[ShaunW]

Many thanks, guys. I still call them Bren Gun Carriers and indeed my photos for the build are catalogued under "BrenC" but thought I'd use the vehicle's Sunday name for this build thread. I've always called it the Wirral, Jim and from what I know the peninsular is basically half Merseyside and half Cheshire. No doubt someone will correct me on that if I'm wrong!!

Some progress has been made in that the model has now received most of its final hull parts save for the running gear. Paint is Tamiya Olive Drab followed by a coat of Tamiya gloss clear coat once the paint had stood for a couple of days to harden off. Both paint and clear coat were applied by airbrush and thinned with Tamiya's own X20A. Tamiya's OD shade is probably closer to US OD than that applied to British vehicles post 1944 and I know about Mike Starmer paint mixes etc but, being colour blind, mixing shades is not my strong suit. By the time the paint is matt varnished and some weathering has taken place I think the colour will be close enough for government work.










Next up will be assembling the running gear, which is painted and the tracks before I move on to the decals and matt coat. Or something like that.

Thanks for looking.

[Clashcityrocker]

Neat work Shaun.

Nigel

[Cardinal]

Looks good so far Shaun.

[flakmonkey]

To be fair, British green would fade into all kinds of colours and US army OD is probably a good enough match for a vehicle that has been around the block. I'm a big fan of the Mig Ammo "four shades of OD" system, myself.

I shall be speaking to Mike Basset, England manager (you may know him better as the person who plays Ricky Tomlinson on tv) for the definitive Wirral answer.

[B4en]

That's looking perfect Shaun. Lovely finish on that paint.

I used to party in the Wirral years ago and everyone I knew from the Wirral called the place the Wirral.

[ShaunW]

Thanks fr the comments, guys, much appreciated.

I've now put on the wheels and tracks together with the front side plates. You will note the difference in colour shade. That's because Mr Vacant Head here forgot to apply gloss varnish to them whilst it was in his airbrush and they were still on the sprues. No worries, they'll get a matt coat and some weathering and shouldn't be far off - it's a military vehicle at the end of the day not a custom car. No real issues with the wheels and tracks although the latter were a tad tight which I solved by nipping off one or two teeth at the top of the drive sprockets and not fully joining the tracks as the joins are handily hidden by the side plates. I'm debating whether or not to fit the rear side steps as in-service photos would appear to show that they were not fitted to many Carriers - perhaps they got in the way of track/wheel maintenance or were simply vulnerable to being damaged or knocked off. The tracks have received a base coat of Tamiya NATO Black, applied by brush and they will be weathered in due course.







Thanks for looking.

[B4en]

I've got some superdetailed Bren Carrier tracks and suspension waiting to be built up and I bet they won't look any better than the old Tamiya stuff does.
Lookig good Shaun.

[Cardinal]

The varnish isn’t too big a deal since like you said, it’s nothing like a car that would have a clean gloss. Looks good and the tracks look like the right thickness.