Armoured Forward Observation Vehicle

Hmmm… as scratchbuilds go, not my finest hour…

I wanted to experiment a little, after doing such a great job on my Rattling Rosie (if I do say so myself). So I tried to carve a more complex shape (for me at least) out of packing foam, and rather than glue on some card, decided to try thick double-sided tape. The plan was to get a hammered-on plate metal effect (I had used double-sided tape for the rear doors on my steam wagon and it worked really well).

I also wanted to try out a method for making rivets from one of the chaps on the GWP, which entailed gently poking a ballpoint pen onto strips of paper, thus creating rivet shaped bulges on the other side. Rather than fiddle about with gluing paper strips, I decided to use some metallic sticky tape that I had lying around, and use quite a lot in my scratchbuilding. These were then stuck onto the chassis.

The plan was to take the resultant armoured car and glue on the remaining ‘Purdue’ turret I had left from 6mil Phil.

However my skill with a saw leaves a lot to be desired, resulting in a rather asymmetrical foam block. Stiff card would have probably hidden this somewhat, but thick tape does not. Still I persevered, adding plastic spacers for wheels, and cut-in-half plastic washers for mudguards. I also added a few other bits of sprue and wire (for a window hatch and circular rear hatch, with hinges) and rear steps, and a bit of corrugated card for the radiator grille.

I decided not to waste my spare turret on this, so instead added a short length of plastic tube on the front as a telescope, thus creating a rather lopsided forward observation vehicle, to give a bit of protection to any artillery spotters.

A basic block camouflage paint scheme in an attempt to hide some of the defects, and there you have it!

5/10 – must do better.

EDIT:- One of the guys from the Steve Dean Painting Forum has suggested that this vehicle is actually draped in a temporary camo sheet, and isn't a hamfisted scratchbuild at all - well done that man!