Challenger 2 Turret Next

I've now finished off the hull with just the side skirts to sort out later. The front splash plate is just fixed temporary for the pictures, I might make a new part later as I'm not entirely happy with the etched kit item. On the real tank there is no ribbing or raised areas, it's just a plain sheet of metal. 

Working on the turret this morning which is made up of a lower and upper section plus three vertical sections for the sides and rear. There is quite a bit if flash on these parts so some careful sanding and fitting ensures a good mating surface. The mantlet was also built up and here I made a blank firing adaptor for the co-ax using punched plastic card. Very happy with it even though it was extremely fiddly to build.

Once all parts of the turret fitted correctly I deviated from the instructions and glued the side sections to the lower turret section instead of the upper one. I found this much easier to get a good fit. Tamiya quick setting glue was used for this.

 

Tis The Season..........

Yes it's time for the festive message & round up of the year. Again a pretty poor one for modelling shows with Stonehenge modellers only attending two shows, Avon & Yeovil. However they where both excellent and in a way made up for the lack of shows we usually attend. The biggest blow was having yet again to cancel our Belgium trip in October, not least as it's a great social event for us but also it's just so much fun. Fingers & toes crossed we make it next year.

On the bench I managed to finish nine builds this year and that's with a serious loss of mojo during the last few months. The Comet & AMX-30 are the stand out builds for the year, I thoroughly enjoyed them. Next year I'm planning on changing my diorama bases which will involve utilising foam board. 

I want to try and make more distinct bases that will be custom made to each individual model instead of relying on picture frames and their limited sizes. This will also help with my current display issues and hopefully free up more space in the cabinets. I'm also thinking very seriously about recording my builds and posting them on youtube. Still some research into this but the idea is forming!

Work wise it's again been a busy year and also an interesting one with plenty of opportunities to watch the British army in action & enjoy the fantastic wildlife & scenery on Salisbury plain.

So I wish you all a great Christmas and thanks for all your kind comments over the year. I hope you've enjoyed the blog and my witterings! Finally I'll leave you with Dita in suitable festive garb, enjoy!

Challenger 2 Tow Ropes & Front End

Making my way to the front of the model I've now added the tow ropes replacing the kit string with 0.90mm copper wire. I always find adding certain types of tow rope during the construction far easier than trying to add them once the model is painted. I can still mask off easily enough as the ropes are not fixed to the three holders along each hull side.

Onto the front of the hull now and here I've added some conduit to the light using lead wire and lead sheet for the retaining clips. I like the fact that the fire extinguishers are molded with a hessian covering them, something very common on these tanks that I've seen in my day job. 

I've also experimented with new front mud flaps as the kit ones are overly thick. So I've doubled over some tamiya type tape and then glued to the front. Once cut to shape some plastic card and punched bolts finish it off nicely. I think it looks much better than the kit part.

  

Challenger 2 Rear Deck

With the second light guard quickly knocked up I've moved onto the rear deck. There's loads of parts to add here such as all the hinges for the deck sections and handles. I added a bit of improvement by removing the solid centre deck handles and replacing with plastic strip. The stowage boxes build up very nicely and I added a couple of accurate armour padlocks and breather pipes. 

Challenger 2 More Details

The second drum has now been modified and this time I've gone for a slightly different configuration. The rear mud flaps have also gone on, they are quite thick so some sanding down on the inner surfaces is of benefit for a more scale look. Finally I've added the clear rear light lenses and made up new guards using brass wire as the kit supplied guards are a pain to clean up and are overly thick. 

Challenger 2 Adding Extra Details

Working on the rear hull now and so far I've added the electrical conduits for the rear lights, detailed the field phone & first aid box assembly and replaced the molded straps and ratchets on one of the fuel drums. Here I've also added a bit of lead foil for a tarp as the norm on these is to use the drums as stowage.  I've also knocked up a better rear indicator located on the top of the fuel can rack. 

The fuel drums and their racks will be kept separate which will aid painting and masking later on.

 

Challenger 2 Upper Hull

I've now got the upper hull on the model after a bit of fettling as the fit was slightly off. I had to gently clamp the front section as the lower hull seemed to be a bit warped. Once it was fully cured the joins where lightly sanded before a bit of Mr surfacer was used to blend it in with the sides.

Next I've started on adding some details beginning with some brackets on the hull sides. On the kit they are just solid strips so I carefully shaved each one off before adding two tiny blocks of plastic card then glued the shaved bracket face back onto these. Looks much better I think. 

I've also removed the very weedy looking breather pipes and replaced with plastic rod, again this looks miles better. Finally the front and rear hull sections are having some work done. On the rear I've plugged the location points for the spare track links as they are very rarely seen in place, at least on Salisbury Plain. 

   

RFM Challenger 2 Tracks

The first track run is now done and with the jigs supplied this does not take long at all. I added some wear to the track pads on the front and rear faces as that's all that will be seen once finished using my trusty old como mini drill and a round burr bit. For ease of painting & weathering later I drilled out the final track pin and replaced it with a brass one, this also makes it much easier to fit to the model.

Chally 2 Wheels & Tracks

With the swinging arms in place the wheels have now been built and given some wear using a scalpel & rough file. With the suspension now movable I can adjust the ride height of the model later to suit my references as I want to depict a tank with a fully warmed up suspension seen in the picture below.

A quick test of the track build up reveals no problems, I thought they might be a bit of a pain to assemble but they are quite easy to build thanks to the track jigs supplied. Detail is again very good and with careful gluing they are fully articulated. 

Chally 2 Begins!

Made a start this afternoon with the lower hull. This is made up of four parts which fit reasonably well. Some flash is evident and I needed to trim the location tabs on the rear plate slightly as it was too tight. 

The central spar in the hull is a locator for the swinging arms and gives a good positive fit. Each swinging arm has a small tab which fits into a slot on the hull which ensures they all line up. I decided to remove these tabs which makes the suspension workable. Hopefully this will help later on as I want to show a fully warmed up suspension system and I can adjust to suit. 

The wheels look great and I do like the face they have the torque indicators as well. I'll beat these up later with some nicks and dents in the rubber running surfaces.

A quick test fit of the upper hull and I have a slight bit of spay on the front sides around the drivers station and the front hull joint is slightly proud. Nothing some clamping and filling won't solve later on.