A few 1/35 IFV's and AFV's

[Ramba]

Well, I'm going to shamelessly copy Ramba's take on the Excalibur! 

I get that its intended as a sort of "inspired by" Excalibur, but really - there's no doubt at all that's its lineage is a direct descendant of Excalibur., more like a son than a 5th cousin!

Please do one. I would love to see it. Yours would be way more realistic than mine.

Mine is inspired by and looks somewhat like the real one but it really is a long, long, long lost relative of the actual Excalibur.

[Ramba]

Academy gives two sets of arms for different elevation and even though I used the smaller arms for the lower elevation, it was still a bit too high for my liking.

I trimmed the arms and reattached the attachment parts.



Original position and new lowered position.



Test fitting on the turret and on the vehicle.



This is the look I am going for.

[Buzzbomb]

 

really looking forward to how this evolves further.

[Ramba]

really looking forward to how this evolves further.

Thanks! Still doing some tweaks here and there but it is coming along.

[finsrin]

Would say you are right on track - err wheels - with extensive mods. 
Looks like plastic card work will end up appearing OOB !

[Ramba]

Would say you are right on track - err wheels - with extensive mods. 
Looks like plastic card work will end up appearing OOB !

Thanks!

I was actually looking at a set of tracks from Shapeways. I don't have the tracks so I wasn't sure how they would look by not being able to test fit them so I decided to do mine as an 8x8 same as the original Excalibur.

Here are the tracks from Shapeways.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/46ZY6C5EV/track-set-for-wheeled-vehicles

Here is a real HMMWV fitted with the tracks.

[Ramba]

Slowly moving along with the what if Excalibur.

Scratch built a dashboard. I used the steering wheel from the Italeri HMMWV. Got the front frame for the roof added but the roof is still not glued yet. Also test fitting the radar.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Hard to believe that this started off as an LAV-25.  Looking better and better with every update! 

[Old Wombat]

The images of the "real" Excaliber back in Post #476 are slightly confusing as in the first both the top & the rear of the cabin seem to be made of mesh, while the second image seems to clearly show (at least the top of) the rear of the cabin to be sheet steel.

The armour plate of your version, Ramba, would at least make it a little quieter in the cabin when the gun was fired overhead.

[Ramba]

Hard to believe that this started off as an LAV-25.  Looking better and better with every update! 

Thanks to you for the LAV kit that I was able to to do this build.

[Ramba]

The images of the "real" Excaliber back in Post #476 are slightly confusing as in the first both the top & the rear of the cabin seem to be made of mesh, while the second image seems to clearly show (at least the top of) the rear of the cabin to be sheet steel.

The armour plate of your version, Ramba, would at least make it a little quieter in the cabin when the gun was fired overhead.

There might have been multiple prototypes built as I have also noticed the different materials used for the roof and back of the cab.

One has the perforated roof but solid rear cab.

One has the solid roof but perforated cab.

One has a solid roof and solid rear cab.

I have seen a couple others with a solid roof, solid rear cab and windshield in place. The ones with the windshields in place have a totally different window frame.

[Ramba]

The what if Excalibur is still ongoing but going much slower than before. I need to finish off the M167 VADS turret for it. I need to put in all those radios and controls but I have no idea what they actually look like as most are covered. I will just have to scratch build mine with the covers on. I still need to finish off the cab too.

The ZTL-11 what if and the Marder what if are both on hold. The Marder what if is mostly on hold because I need to scratch build the mantlet and mantlet cover and I really don't know how to go about scratch building the mantlet cover part so that is the main reason it is on hold. The ZTL-11 what if is on hold because I need to fill and sand all those messed up areas I had to fix and I just don't want to fill and sand anything right now.

In the mean time, I have been mostly working on a what if M270 command vehicle similar tot he M4 C2V by using the Dragon 1/35 M270 MLRS. I am scratch building a command and communications housing for the rear of the M270 where the rockets would normally be. Everything is just taped on for test fitting. I haven't committed to gluing the housing together just yet as I will be adding some crew hatches to the roof and panels to the side walls. It is easier to add those before gluing the housing together.

[Old Wombat]

That's looking really good!

One question, though: You know Trumpeter make the M4 C2V in 1/35, right?

[Ramba]

That's looking really good!

One question, though: You know Trumpeter make the M4 C2V in 1/35, right?

Thanks!

Yes, I know about the Trumpeter kit and I actually had one on pre order when it was first announced but stupidly I canceled the pre order. Anyway, my conversion is not an actual M4 C2V, it is what if only. I have two Dragon M270 MLRS kits and don't need two of them so I decided to convert one to a what if command vehicle.

[Old Wombat]

 

[Ramba]

A small update on the Dragon M270 command vehicle what if. I started putting on some hatches from the AFV Stryker upgrade set.

[Story]

That's looking really good!

One question, though: You know Trumpeter make the M4 C2V in 1/35, right?

I use to have photographs of the prototype, from when it was display-parked out in front of a barracks on Aberdeen Proving Ground.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

It loos like everything is coming together rather well. 

[Ramba]

It loos like everything is coming together rather well.

Thanks!

[Ramba]

Got a couple more smaller access panels added to the rear of the side walls and added the rear section of the housing for the door. The overall housing is now glued together but is only taped to the hull.

[Frank3k]

Coming along! I've wanted to make something like this out of my old Dragon MRLS kit.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ramba - great save on the rear wall/door by using that part from another kit.  Definitely looking better with each new update. 

[finsrin]

Enjoying the updates.  You certainly are skilled with plastic card building.
As Jeff said -- great save on the rear wall/door by using that part from another kit.

[Old Wombat]

Coming together very nicely!

What did you use for the rear hatch "housing"? The cut-outs at the bottom look like water-jet/propeller channels, which make me think Soviet/Russian but I have a feeling it's not.

[Ramba]

Coming along! I've wanted to make something like this out of my old Dragon MRLS kit.

Thanks! You should go ahead and try it. It's not that difficult as everything is flat. Just a lot of measuring.

@Ramba - great save on the rear wall/door by using that part from another kit.  Definitely looking better with each new update. 

Thanks! The Hobby Boss ZTL-11 spare rear section with the bigger door looks a lot better than the ESCI LAV-25 rear with the two small doggie doors. Glad I remembered that larger rear door was left over from the Hobby Boss kit.

Enjoying the updates.  You certainly are skilled with plastic card building.
As Jeff said -- great save on the rear wall/door by using that part from another kit.

Thanks! Yes, the Hobby Boss ZTL-11 spare rear section/door definitely came in handy. I originally used the ESCI LAV-25 rear doors but the LAV doors are really small. The larger door makes  big difference in the overall look.

Coming together very nicely!

What did you use for the rear hatch "housing"? The cut-outs at the bottom look like water-jet/propeller channels, which make me think Soviet/Russian but I have a feeling it's not.

Thanks! The rear was from the Hobby Boss ZTL-11 kit. The rear I used was a left over part. Looks like Hobby Boss intended to use the molds for a different version of the ZTL vehicle and included the different rear but the only other version Hobby Boss released was the ZBL-09 and the ZBL-09 has a different rear so not sure what other ZTL version Hobby Boss was intending to release.