Anteater Recon vehicle

[raafif]

I have been thinking of doing a mod to a kit since I bought it 10 ... 15 years ago -- did a profile of the idea at the time.  So now that there's a "Bite Me" build on the go I will try to do it.

Don't get all excited just yet ... some of my builds have been known to last for 40 years !!

[Sport25ing]

I hope not 

[raafif]

You will be gald to know that I have been very brave & made the first major cut – a difficult full width cut with the Dremel Buzzsaw.  Actually I was very brave a second time when a second cut was made but quickly applied a band-aide to my thumb without crying. Then 3 more smaller cuts to sever the nose from the rest, glued it to the upper section & set it aside to dry.

Dug out the parts for a turret & modified them to fit the main section – will have to figure out a way for it to rotate or otherwise I’ll have to just glue it on solidly.

So now, I guess, is the time to open the instructions & see what I need to do from here.

Day Two – got stuck in & surprisingly managed to, except for paint, complete all the landing gear – luckily there wasn’t so many parts & the instructions were quite good.
Just picked up the instructions again & started scratching my head over the many, many small & miniature parts for the upper section ...

[apophenia]

Oh, this sounds very promising. And the cut thumb? Good on ya!

1 - For not blubbing;

2 - Because Styrene, goddess of whiffing, appreciates all blood sacrifices 

[raafif]

Side planks added to the upper hull & trimmed the rear plate. Glued the said plate to the hull but found I had trimmed too much off in places but that’s easily fixed later.  Now to join the upper & lower sections before starting on the dozens of superstructure additions.

My God !  So far this must be the fastest build I have ever done !!

[Kerick]

When you added the word Anteater to the title I immediately thought you might be working on an F-111 but your writing suggests not likely.

[GTX_Admin]

When you added the word Anteater to the title I immediately thought you might be working on an F-111 but your writing suggests not likely.

I think Do335...

[Kerick]

Side planks added to the upper hull & trimmed the rear plate. Glued the said plate to the hull but found I had trimmed too much off in places but that’s easily fixed later.  Now to join the upper & lower sections before starting on the dozens of superstructure additions.

My God !  So far this must be the fastest build I have ever done !!

Upper hull and rear plate = tank?
Landing gear = aircraft?
Superstructure = ship?
Me = puzzled!
Looking forward to pics of this whatever it turns out to be!

[Old Wombat]

Flying Boat?

[raafif]

Glued the hulls together !  A little mismatch but better than some kits from the box. 
But now for the hard bit – filling the large missing sections created by my initial mods & cuts with plasticard.  I’m not good at getting the measurement exactly the same or even cutting straight lines so I spent an hour “cut & check”- ing two lines then another 45 minutes on another piece ….. but it’s coming together so far.

Glued bits together, mainly from the old Tamiya Marder & various kits to make a main turret with mantlet.  A sub-turret was made using the Marder gun & a base.
Started experimenting with adding non kit bits to add interest.


Aircraft, Tank, Ship ?  That's for me to know & you to be puzzled over !!
           If you don't like that then Bite Me


May post an image soon.

[Kerick]

Amphibious assault hover craft frigate!

[raafif]

Imperial Stormtroopers made the master of this kit - not a metric measurement in sight.  I made exactly a 1" extension to the hull purely by happen-stance - makes rebuilding the gap easier as my steel ruler is 6" X 1" wide

After a boring two days at work I'm happy to get back to the hobby desk today.

[Old Wombat]

Looks Stryker/LAV-III-based.

[raafif]

Added several mods & greeblies, replaced six grab-handles with others as the kit ones were under-scale & far too fragile.  Added many more very small parts, tiresome to do but add to the overall look.  Mis-numbered parts on the instructions didn’t help

Bad news for me – after looking again at the profile that I did several years ago and comparing it with my model, I’ve made a large mistake.  I forgot how I did the profile - I moved all the suspension aft so that there was only a few mm between the tires resulting in a nicer overhang at the front.  In making the model, I left the kit suspension alone – result – nose shorter & it don’t look sexy enough.  Too late to change that, so now I’ve started to rip the front suspension units out & shorten them which “should” give a sexier stance. 
Luckily my home-made glue (*Gloop*) is strong enough to bond the parts but only melts the plastic just enough to do the job.

I’ve already cut, drilled, pegged (with piano wire) & re-glued the first set of struts.  Getting the stance right may take a bit of fiddleing but hopefully this will be a fairly quick fix.

[raafif]

OK, I may as well stop pretending that I’m keeping all of you guessing what it is – Anteater Recon based on a Stryker.  I’ve used AFV Club’s Stryker MGS as I had used the turret on another project & had the rest of the kit sitting around.

Here’s the profile I did previously ...

[raafif]

Fixed the suspension for a better look – it only took 4 hours to do.  I did things the hard way on the first strut but learnt to do things in a simpler manner on the others.  It now has hydraulic tilt & may have to be renamed “Bloodhound”.

Again many more greeblies added & a few more to go yet then paint.

[Kerick]

Look’n pretty cool! Carry on!

[jcf]

Oh, this sounds very promising. And the cut thumb? Good on ya!

1 - For not blubbing;

2 - Because Styrene, goddess of whiffing, appreciates all blood sacrifices 

Her friends call her Polly.

[raafif]

A rush to get it finished.  Many paint...wait for it to dry -- paint...wait for it to dry...touch up the messy bits -- paint...wait for it to dry -- so boring & frustrating !

Markings are for Canada - maybe the vehicle has been deployed to combat the hoard of Russians swarming thru Canada like ants to attack the USA -- or maybe to keep the Frenchies in Eastern Canada at bay?

I’m rather disappointed in the finished design.  I intended the front overhang to be much longer & I should have cut & shut the lower hull in two more places to get the wheels much closer together & further aft instead of just sliding the upper hull forward.
Still this is my first extension job in plasticard.  My attempt to drop the nose was only partially successful as I didn’t chop enough out of the front suspension struts ... next time !!

This has been a big learning curve for me & has taught that things aren’t really as difficult as you think – just get stuck in & deal with each problem as they arise even if you have to redo the fix twice over.
Still a little work to do to really finish this model but good to post a few pics by the deadline.

[Sport25ing]

Very Good indeed 

[Buzzbomb]

Very nice.

[Kerick]

Looks cool! Don’t forget to post in the finished builds! I wouldn’t want to miss it.

[Frank3k]

Looks good! Armored land shark!

[Old Wombat]

Very good build!


Pity you don't have a better camera, though. The images don't, I feel, do justice to the work.

[raafif]

Pity you don't have a better camera, though. The images don't, I feel, do justice to the work.

Thanks all.

Very true Wombat, unfortunately I'm on a partial pension & I'd have to sell many kits to afford a better one & there's no real market for kits here.  Current kits that retail for $85 only bring $25 at the market