Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Land => Topic started by: Claymore on September 06, 2013, 11:36:09 PM
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As I am away from home for the next 2 weeks and therefore unlikely to complete my current project in time for the GB cut off date, I thought that I would post what I have anyway. I don't think I was ever really going to make it in time, as I only started it a week ago. Such is life....
The build of the BMP-2 Vagyar is pretty well complete. As you can see the design is heavily influenced by the Swedish Strv 103 'S-Tank' but comes out bigger and all together a lot meaner. Full backstory would have followed on completion. I'll post it across on the main Land thread in due course.
(http://i.imgur.com/Rv76xx9.jpg) (http://imgur.com/Rv76xx9)
(http://i.imgur.com/DDHXpV7.jpg) (http://imgur.com/DDHXpV7)
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A spray of undercoat helps pull it all together...
(http://i.imgur.com/AKrU6IA.jpg) (http://imgur.com/AKrU6IA)
(http://i.imgur.com/50BCLap.jpg) (http://imgur.com/50BCLap)
(http://i.imgur.com/P745heL.jpg) (http://imgur.com/P745heL)
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Had never thought of that before, but it looks like a natural. That's going to look amazing painted.
Cheers,
Logan
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That just looks simply fantastic. The primer/undercoat makes it look like it was always meant to be in this configuration. Nicely done.
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Wow!
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Thank you all. Although I had a basic plan, the build has evolved somewhat as I got my head around some practical issues with the turret-less design. Hence the Remote Weapons Station, defensive aids and rear facing camera pod. Shame I will not be able do any more before the competition closes but I will hopefully have the painted end product (probably in some wacky Russian winter camo) posted on the Land thread by the end of the month.
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That looks really great. At first glace you register it as an S-tank and them your brain goes "hang on a minute..."
BTW, I could've sworn I posted a comment about this before leaving work tonight..... ???
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Absolutely wicked! Great idea to use those Hoffman devices as smoke grenade launchers.
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That looks really great. At first glace you register it as an S-tank and them your brain goes "hang on a minute..."
BTW, I could've sworn I posted a comment about this before leaving work tonight..... ???
Thanks. When I post the backstory you will see that the S-tank is very much the Russian's inspiration but for a very different war.
Ah the posting gremlins have been at work! :o
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Absolutely wicked! Great idea to use those Hoffman devices as smoke grenade launchers.
Thanks and well spotted. It's surprising what turns up in the spares box! ;)
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Absolutely wicked! Great idea to use those Hoffman devices as smoke grenade launchers.
Thanks and well spotted. It's surprising what turns up in the spares box! ;)
I know all too well. The Hoffman device in particular was one of those things that never appealed to me since it was just a noise maker for simulation of main gun firing. The damned things were showing up in a couple of the Tamiya models and accessory kits so I ended up with a good number of them without much effort. I was cutting away the barrel/gun tube clamps and planning to use the things for flare/chaff launchers on a couple of aircraft projects. Now I may have to rethink that plan and try your idea out on a ground vehicle.
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Yes, I must admit that I came across 4 of them in my spares box; but that's the great thing about kit-bashing, everything gets recycled. :))
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That is brilliant ... and totally believable :)
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That is wicked looking.
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That looks really good! It looks like a very tight fit with the barrel going through the engine compartment;the breech is in the engine cooling ductwork/space. But it is a Russian vehicle, so crew comfort and safety are secondary considerations.
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Claymore, that is brilliant! 8)
A Russian vehicle modified to a Swedish concept with a German remote weapon station & it looks natural! :D
Be great to see it painted up. :))
:)
Guy
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Claymore, that is brilliant! 8)
A Russian vehicle modified to a Swedish concept with a German remote weapon station & it looks natural! :D
Be great to see it painted up. :))
:)
Guy
What Old Wombat said. :)
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Completely out of nowhere :-* Wish I thought of it :)
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Yes.. it certainly does require a second take.
Great (and very swift) construction, as always.
In so many ways it would be a maintenance nightmare but hey.. it is Russian.
I can almost see the Autoloader clanking away, 5cm from the commanders face.
Great Build
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Great concept and model!
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Thank you all very much. This one has been sitting in the back of my mind for quite a while. I first thought of the idea back in 2008 when I was designing a strategic wargame based on a PRC intervention into the Siberian oilfields of a Russia that was recovering from a WW3 type scenario in 1993 (a previous series of games). It is very much meant to be a wartime/all hands to the pumps expedience and so is good enough as opposed to perfect. So... clunky autoloader - yup, right in the commander's face - yup, German RWS copied from captured vehicles - yup, gas turbine to make up for loss of engine space - yup. But what you end up with is a 3-man, light weight, highly mobile, heavy hitting AT gun system that is ideally suited for scooting about the Siberian forests.
As promised, I will post the finished model with full backstory in the Land thread... ... ... Ah, just noticed it has already been moved into the land thread. :-[ In that case watch this space. ;)
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No I haven't slipped into a comma, I am still working in this #%**~# model. I tried painting the damned thing in a modern Russian winter camo scheme and it looked awful so it is currently back to a grey primer coat. I'm going to give it a go in a Swedish/Finnish/Russian style woodland splinter camo instead and see what happens. :(
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Have you thought of going for a more "traditional" Russian winter scheme? ???
:)
Guy
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Have you thought of going for a more "traditional" Russian winter scheme? ???
:)
Guy
Yes mate I have and it may well yet be the way that things end up. I now have the paints for the woodland splinter cam so we will see how that turns out; but if it turns into a sordid pair of pants, I'll go with the white and dark green! ;)
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Just to let you know that I have not fallen out of the AH AFV modelling tree and am now well on the way to finishing the BMP-2 based Vagyar.
At last I settled on a camo job that I was happy with (heavily based on an actual Finnish Army scheme). I have attached a couple of picture to show you how things are going although there is much yet to do. I will probably also replace the bent antenna which suffer from a close encounter with a curious cat beast.
(http://i.imgur.com/QYVvrgo.jpg) (http://imgur.com/QYVvrgo)
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Oh yeah!
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That scheme fits this AFV to a T and really looks the part!
Nice work, Claymore!
Brian da Basher
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yep! Perfect cam scheme for that AFV. Will induce the double-take for sure!
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Thanks chaps. Hopefully, not long now to completion. ;)
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Excellent choice on the Finnish camouflage :)
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Neat looking idea and the camo looks great! :icon_beer:
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It could, and has been, argued that by out-surviving Nazi Germany in the short but destructive war of 1993, the Soviet Union emerged as co-victors alongside NATO. However, for the victors, and particularly the Soviet Union, that accolade was won at considerable cost. The destruction in men and material even before the final nuclear exchanges was shocking enough but the death toll in the annihilation of the majority of her European cities was too much even for the stoic peoples of the Soviet Union. In the years that followed the war, soviet communism would evaporate as the individual member states of the Union sought independence. Unable to afford the luxury of maintaining its military forces to pre-war scales, and unable or unwilling to contemplate further military adventurism, Russia rapidly demobilised. Whilst maintaining a relatively small core of professionals, the majority of her army was stood down and the bulk of her equipment mothballed. Little of worth was left west of the Urals and with the capital relocated to Novosibirsk, Siberia with its vast reserves of natural resources was Russia’s passport to economic recovery.
However, Russia’s plight had not gone unnoticed and envious eyes looked upon those same strategic reserves; the opportunity for easy pickings and the potential to boost the People’s Republic of China’s standing as the new global superpower was just too tempting.
As Chinese sabres started to rattle in the winter of 2007/2008, Russia, realising that war was once again inevitable, did all that it could to prepare for the impending storm. Realising that its fixed defences and Machinegun Divisions along the Amur River would, at best, only slow down the Chines advance, Russia needed to rapidly increase its mobile anti-tank defences. Whilst as many tanks as possible were brought out of storage and crews recalled to active service, the need was still pressing. The 125mm 2A45M Sprut-B towed anti-tank gun was a good gun but its lack of mobility would severely hamper its usefulness in the coming conflict. Kurganmashzavod JSC, the maker of the BMP series of AFVs and one of the few remaining military manufacturing facilities in Russia suggested taking some of their stored BMP-2 and adapting them to carry the 2A45M Sprut-B gun. Taking a leaf out of the Swedish Stridsvagn 103 (S-Tank) book, the design they came up with was elegant, effective and, most importantly, quick to produce.
The BMP-2S Vagyar (Viking) as it became known in homage to its Scandinavian roots was a standard BMP-2 with its turret and UTD-20/3 diesel engine removed. The 125mm 2A45M Sprut-B with modified recoil system and fume extractor was fitted centrally in a fixed mounting through the upper glacis plate. An autoloader system was strapped to the breach and a large magazine fitted in the now redundant crew compartment. The Commander and Gunner sat either side of the breach/autoloader and with dual day and thermal fire control systems were able to duplicate each other’s functions. The Driver’s position remained unchanged, although a rear mounted camera system allowed him to drive the Vagyar effectively in reverse without assistance from the Commander. The engine was replaced by a smaller but more powerful SG-1000 gas turbine and the 2 forward and 2 rear road wheels attached to a basic gas-hydraulic hydro-pneumatic suspension to allow for accurate laying of the main gun in elevation. For local defence, the Vagyar carried the X3 (7.62mm) RWS with its own integral day/thermal sights. The X3 was, in essence, a copy of the German Marder IFV RWS mount and was heavily based on the experiences and a grudging respect gained during the 1993 war. Two 9-barrelled directional smoke dischargers were also fitted. Given the size of the BMP-2 chassis, the Vagyar was still also able to carry 2 infantrymen in the rear compartment when additional local force protection was required . This extra space also proved extremely useful for the carriage of additional ammunition/fuel/stores, etc or for the extraction of injured personnel.
The end result of the Vagyar conversion was a highly mobile, light weight, all weather anti-tank system at a fraction of the cost and production time of an MBT. An excellent operational extract of the performance of the Vagyar in the field can be found at Chapter 7 of Alexander Kamarov’s book ‘Heroes of Irkutsk’.
The model depicts vehicle 234, 180th Anti-Tank Battery, 56th Mech Bde and comprises parts from an old Italeri BMP-2, an Italeri T-72, a Tamiya Marder IFV, some plastic card and a few bits and pieces from the spares box.
(http://i.imgur.com/4S2yClu.jpg) (http://imgur.com/4S2yClu)
(http://i.imgur.com/Axqid5c.jpg) (http://imgur.com/Axqid5c)
(http://i.imgur.com/m6Wuscf.jpg) (http://imgur.com/m6Wuscf)
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:)
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Thank you good fellow. Unfortunately, as always my photo skills do not do my models justice. I will try again tomorrow when the light is better. :-[
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That is a very nice looking camouflage scheme you have on that model. I am still amazed at your ability to re-purpose your spare kit parts so effectively.
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That camouflage scheme on that vehicle works super well. Makes identification difficult. Is unusually effective.
Small turret on top with main gun in front is a cool configuration 8)
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Thanks chaps. As promised I have taken some better pics and gone back and amended the main post. :)
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Sweet! 8)
:)
Guy