Tony M

And finally, the finished project on a basic diorama: As it would've have been like on exercise, however, it was set up in the following order; Basic cam (hessian dropped, skirt/cab), comms, full cam (with cam nets in place), comfort.....

Sometimes this project was frustrating, spending 2 years building it, in sections & not seeing the finished job till the last final days of the build, talk about patiencs? lol Once everything started to come together (permanently) I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even when I thought I'd finished, I found a picture of 2 pieces of kit that I forgot what they looked like. I could've left them out & played dumb, but that's not in my nature & pride soon takes over. SEOW's (Single Engineering Order Wire). Minus the units, thinking I'd finished Made & fitted...... Finished project prior to it's permanent set up.

Additional pieces. There are approximately 112 separate items that are added to the wagon when finished (not including the remote mast & 16 cam poles, not shown in picture), they are: 2 Scam 12 masts. 8 mast legs, 4 with steps, 4 without. 3 mast bags, which include: (per mast bag), Base plate (of which one is attached to remote mast), 4 base plate spikes, 4 guy rope stakes, 4 guy ropes, pump, hammer, aerial key, mast bag & wooden board to go into the bottom of the mast bag. Steps. 2 band 1 antennas. 3 grid reflectors. 3 band 2 attachments for the grid reflectors. 3 band 3 attachments for the grid reflectors. 10 Jerry cans. SHF dish 3 mast head adapters. 2 x 3.5KVa Onan exhausts. 2 silencers for exhausts. 2 earth spikes. OS map. 3 drums of coax, 2 coax’s on each drum. Broom. Crypto safe key. (All items have been scratch built except for the jerry cans, broom & a hammer). The jerry cans were very distinctive on a Radio Relay, connected to the genny or at a petrol point & were always part of any resup (resupply). I almost took it upon myself to fabricate a jerry can, either by carving out of something & making a mould so I could make more of them but again from the internet I was lucky enough to source them from Austria.

I did make the roof with 1 bar tread plate on top & lighting/ducting underneath that could be removed for viewing but I just couldn't get my head around the fact you couldn't see the detail inside until you removed the roof which had the potential of breaking something when handling, one thing I've learned from scale modelling is how fragile the projects are....... As I found out when I broke the wheel when moving, build & repair, build & repair lol. so the sky light was made that is more of a permanant fixture. Below was with the solid roof on when I sprayed the black on. Below is the base plate spikes (bottom) made from wire & top is the guy rope stakes from evergreen angle. Two of the stakes are used to prop up the 3.5 KVa generator exhaust (which wasn't their job) to keep it off the floor to avoid dry grass from catching fire. & four stakes to anchor the guy ropes from the remote Scam 12 mast as this is posed with 2 sections raised in the diorama. The guy rope holder was made from wire & bent into shape using tweezers & brown extra strong cotton for the guy rope. & four base plate spikes are securing the base plate to the ground at the base of the remote mast on the diorama.

The storage cage behind the cab, then wrapped in mesh. Inside box body. Radio banks test fitted (note, only one extractor fan on front wall at this stage). When parts started to get finished I started to fit them against the front wall & worked my back towards the door: extractor fans, genny control box, ducting & Triffid Radios. Extractor fans finished. They were built up piece by piece & marry up with the cowels on the outside of the front wall. When first made I didn't realise that they wasn't 'central' on the wall, I found out when I started to build the genny control unit (in the corner) & test fitted them to find I didn't have the room. After viewing photos I then realised & I'd already had cut the holes in the front wall for the fans, thus a new inner skin was made & fans relocated.

I've got the feelers out for the size but it looks like I would make them out of wire as they're thin enough as it is. Tony M

I've seen the plastic fabric but I always thought it was too shiny, so much for cam & concealment eh? lol That's the trouble, you have to watch you don't cover all the detail with something that was integral to the set up, it's a balancing act. My next project has that problem as it's armoured & there's loads of detail that's on the inside & I can't do to that, what I done to the Bedford. That was something I forgot, I put the cam poles in the side next to the scam 12 mast but I didn't make the mushrooms, that'll take some makeing? I'm glad it's not 1/35 scale, wouldn't get the same detail? lol As for the working hinges. Only one part of my project has a working hinge & that's on the outside. The crypto safe & cupboard are set in position. I stripped apart a 3 pair telephone cable & cut a piece off one cable, the width of the hinge, the wire (solid, not the multy strips type) was taken out & the outer sheath was then divided into 4 parts of which, 2 parts (1st & 3rd piece) were glued to the body & the other 2 parts (2nd & 4th piece) were glued to the door, once set the wire that I had taken out was then slid back in. What's the end result on your TM, civi or mil? Tony M

The ‘skirt/hessian’ is made from man size tissue. I measured the depth (from the bed to the floor) & all the way around the wagon & cut the pieces to size. Laid down cling film on my work surface & around the wagon as not to make a mess. Using PVA glue, 50/50 mixture with water & lightly pasted the tissue (watch out for the tissue coming apart). Once tissue was wet, I rolled the tissue, starting at one end & work my way along, doing a few millimetres at a time until the whole length was rolled. I then wrapped it around the wagon & tied it with cotton at the points that was going to be secured when finished. Waited 24 hours for it to dry, removed it, primed & painted it. Secured it back to the vehicle at the points that are now set in the dried tissue. I done the same with the hessian that is wrapped around the cab roof but that was in brown & the skirt was in flat black. It's set in this position but if I find a fabric that is similar to hessian & thin enough then I'll replace it? Tony M

Underslung cables. The drum of Quad was made from brass & the power cable drums were evergreen. Quad. 1 drum is mounted above the Scam 12 mast storage & the other drum of quad is mounted next to the fuel tank. One side complete. Power cable drums Fitted to the bed prior to fixing to the chassis. The jerry can holder was relocated to above the Scam 12 mast storage. & the fuel tank was repositioned further back to create enought space for the underslung drum of quad.

Inside of box body This frame was made that houses the: TACE, SHF & SEOW units but......I dropped in on the floor & stood on it resulting in many pieces, again, had to be remade. The unit that has been test fitted in the frame is the TACE. I drilled 120 1/2mm holes in the front to add the affect of the switches. To the right side approximately a dozen 1/2mm cables were added & they were lost in the ducting.

3.5KVa Onan generator exhaust. The exhaust that is connected to the 3.5KVa Onan generator is of the flexible type but to try & replicate this was a challenge. I purchased from KFS the tool & shackle kit just solely for the hammer as this would go into the mast bag. I noticed that the tow ropes were very similar to the exhaust pattern so I converted both tow ropes into exhausts & made the silencers from evergreen tubing. I broke the first tow rope as I was trying to straighten it, not realising that you had to put it hot water to bend to the required shape but lucky enough, there was enough length left for the exhaust.

Sorry Nige, no engineering background. I have never done any course but I have done all my own repairs to my cars, from changing brakes to full engine rebuilds with no training what-so-ever, I just watch other people & learn, or in the case of model building, surf the net lol. To be honest I wished there was a model club where I live so I can visit em & pick their brains & make my next project better? I'm just to modest & shy really, don't want to ask silly questions. I can take some comfort from all the positive comments that I'm getting & even Howard from KFS said that he knows people that have done modelling for 20 years & wouldn't attempt what I've done. Tony M

Grid Reflector After working out what the shape was (a circle bent over at the sides), I worked out the size of the diameter & I turned to my tool box for a socket that was of the same size. I heated the 2mm brass rod & wound it around the socket. The same was done with the 1mm brass rods & cut to the required size. Trying to bend the brass rod cold meant that the rod would try to spring back to its original shape. Trying to solder the 1mm brass rods into place with a 1mm gap in between each rod was problematic as if I wasn’t careful, when soldering one rod, another rod would come loose. At one point half a dozen 1mm rods came loose through overheating the 2mm rod. ½ mm holes were drilled using a hand drill & I probably broke half a dozen drill bits in the process. Putting a drawing pin in the end of the hand drill saved me from working holes into the palm of my hand.

I thought you might pipe up & squeak Howard lol. As for it being a 'breeze', I wished? Project 439 has started, it's gunna be slow, but it's started. Your challenge 'will be' included & parts ordered & remake of other parts, I hope, will be made better, with a lot of luck? Keep me in the loop as & when the kit is close to becoming available & when scratch built parts get made I'll send ya pics..... Tony M

Thanks Nige The tread plate came from KFS (http://www.kitformservices.com/photoetch/CHEQUER_.jpg). You're 'surprised' I hadn't fitted speakers/lights, however, it has already been suggested to me (as my next project is a Ptarmigan Trifffid/Radio Relay FV439 & has some equipment the same as what I've already done) to use fiber optics & LEDs to light up the radio equipment & internal lights. . This project was my first model build, now the next one needs to be lit up, people don't want much (thanks Howard) lol. Gives me something else to get my teeth into. Tony M

Everything can be removed from the Bedford prime mover & returned back to its original state or converted to something else. 3.5 KVa Onan Generator (Genny). The frame was constructed from brass but was a problem as I needed more than one pair of hands to put the parts together. I made a jig, which I did from scrap evergreen parts. This enabled me to make the frame & solder the parts together with relative ease, also, when it came to making the frame for the second genny, it was exactly the same as the first. I found a block of plastic that was used in jewellers for mounting jewellery on. I cut two pieces out & filed them into shape which was easier than trying to make the part. When made the two gennies were then mounted onto a genny cradle that could slide either way when mounted onto the vehicle. This was set with it slid out position & exhaust fitted for display. Gennies test fitted to cradle with jerry cans in their holders. Clear plastic is from the jewellers plastic block that I found. Batteries are fitted between the gennies & plumbed in using both red & black 1/2mm cable. Cradle test fitted which can be slid out either side. Even under the rear of the genny (see picture of real genny above) the mesh is in place, which can't be seen on the model when finished. Gennies are finished & even the fuel lines are plumbed in & securing door for the fuel cans are in place.

Near side rear of box body, under hinged door. This is where you have the: 28v output, Don10, SHF, RF meter & HF quad cables connects to the vehicle. Again, evergreen was used with various thicknesses of wire & rod. The box body is doubled skinned to allow for depth of the connections from the outside.

If you look at the pic of the wagon (above) you'll see where the coax sits, behind the cage. Here's the close up of the coax drums. The hub is the small tube, everything connects to that. The 'u' shaped pieces connect one ring to another, the 6 small bars connect 3 of the 'u' pieces to the hub. The 3 semi circle pieces are bent over at the ends & are connected to the inside of the 'u' pieces at every 2nd one, these divide the drum into 2 for the 2 coaxs. Hopefully this is helpful? I will be making another pair of coax drums in the not too distant future for my next project. I will take close up pictures of that in stages. Tony

Believe me, I'm still asking 'novice' questions & still struggle with stuff, so I think you'd better go back to 'train spotting' lol I wouldn't say it was 'award winning', didn't even get in the top 5 at the IPMS show this year, but thanks for the compliments anyway. At times doing this project was mind numbing to say the least, especially the repetitive stuff & god only knows how many small pieces I lost picking them up with tweezers to hear that infamous 'ping' to realise I'd lost the piece, to then make new one. My next project is even more of a challenge, I haven't seen one in the flesh. Some of the radio equipment is the same, so I'm just going to redo them (hopefully better), the rest, I might end up boiling my head? Tony

Coax There are 3 drums of coax & they are made from brass & soldered together & there is 20 parts to one drum. Each drum holds 2 coaxes & these are ½mm Kynar Insulated Wire wrapping wire.

The spray job.... I used Halford's spray primer on everything. I spent more time cleaning the spray gun than actually using it & it was only 2 weeks prior to finishing the project that I found out that acrylic paint was water based (not like enamel), so I could've cleaned everything with water rather than acrylic thinners (that I used sparingly) lol. But then again, I was sold acrylic thinners when I first started & if you don't know otherwise? & no doubt......I've still a lot to learn?

Triffid Radio Banks (Triffid plant has 3 leaves, Radio banks has 3 Radio Freq heads per bank, hence the name Triffid). All the sections of the three Triffid radio banks could all be removed, however, when the inner skin of the box body was installed, I put the radio banks in to test fit them to then realise that I’d made them 1mm too wide (each radio bank) so I had to remake all three radio banks so they were 3mm overall narrower in width.

People may not believe it was my first build, but anyone can eat an elephant…….in small pieces. That’s all I done, built each bit, one step at a time, then put it all together, not realising how big a job I took on? I got the idea for the paint job from one of the lads in the Sqn. We lined all the wagons up, masked them up & as he was a professional paint sprayer, he came along & sprayed the whole fleet & it looked better than hand painted jobs. Mast The masts are Scam 12 (12 meters high) fully extended. The main body of the mast is made from evergreen square tubing but when I tried to use the round tubing for the sections that extend, I found that the plastic was too thick & I couldn’t put the required 7 sections together. I then turned to brass & because the brass tubes are thinner, I was able to slide 7 sections together & slide the larger section into the square evergreen tube. Spacers were put into 2 of the sections so the mast is posed with two sections raised. In reality, the mast would have been extended to full height then ‘height & gains’ would be carried out to reduce the height of the mast for concealment whilst keeping the strongest signal. The holding brackets for the vehicle mounted mast were fabricated prior to fitting to the back of the box body. Next project……Ptarmigan Triffid/Radio Relay FV439. KFS is bringing out the FV432 next year, I’m researching the FV439 at mo as we never dealt with the armoured side & the 432 will be converted (hopefully?). Tony

To get more info on the Ptarmigan Comms wagon (not just from memory & a couple of photos) a 400 mile round trip to MOD Sales, Witham was the order of the day & with over 200 photos, various measurments & KFS's 1/24 scale Bedford MK, I had everything I needed to start Project P, which was started prior to IPMS 2010 & finished the day before IPMS 2012. I started with the Bedford's flat bed first as the prime mover was from instructions & all the rest of the model was going to be scratch built & this was prominently made from Evergreen products, with a few other bits & pieces.