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Modeller Build Logs
Converting a Trumpeter Challenger 2 |
| By Leo Lee |
| Started: | Oct 6, 2003 | | Updated: | May 7, 2004 |
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I have been taking a "break" from building models for some years. This March, during the SARS outbreak, I stayed at home most of the time. One day I came across some Trumpeter kits in a model shop. They are around $8-9 each. It was the first time I heard about Trumpeter. I saw that the moulding quality was not bad, much better than I would have expected from a Chinese manufacturer.
I bought 3 of them, namely the S-tank, the AS-90 and the Challenger 2. Among them, the S-tank went quite good. But the 2 others are bitches to build. Parts just couldn't get together, and some of the parts just didn't make any sense to me. Remember, I was grown up in a plastic factory literally, I don't understand why some parts of the models were to be divided like that, and some of the parts were quite good, while some others were so bad.
Later I know the reason, after talking to some dealers.
Among them, the Challenger 2 gave me most problems. It took me a few days to get the turret done.
Then I finished the whole thing, and spray it with sand colour. I thought it would be good to turn it into a Op Telic versions I saw on the news.
Then I worked on some other projects. Last month I learn that AA has launched an Op Telic upgrade for this kit. I have done a review on this set. Then I started to work on it.
At first I was thinking about getting a new Challenger 2 kit, as it only cost US$9 here.
But I remember how many days I have spent on the turret along, and I don't want to go through that again. So I decided to take the finished one apart, and do the upgrade on this finished one. |
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| Chapter 9 - Finishing the Rear Hull Modifications | May 7, 2004 |
| Now I moved on to the "rear hull surgery". In Fig.1, the blue rectangle indicates the area I cut away from the lower hull. Then I glued the hull rear to the top of the upper hull. I only applied glue along the upper edge, so when the glue dried, the real hull can be "swing" in and out. I push the lower... more |
| Chapter 8 - Hull and Suspension Step 3 | Mar 27, 2004 |
| The drive sprockets are 5mm too far back because Trumpeter got the size and shape of the rear hull wrong, the lower corner is something like 3mm away from where it should be. Look at the Fig. A to see the original position of the sprocket housing base plate, this is the faint line in the centre of the... more |
| Chapter 7 - Hull and Suspension Step 2 | Oct 21, 2003 |
| Now I added the AA resin tracks and sproket to the hull, using the boiling water tricks. The inner side of the track, where it does not touch the ground, I hid the bad connectors. These had been removed and replaced with the "good ones" I cut from the spare tracks. It looks good? Not so fast... It is... more |
| Chapter 4 - Turret Correction - step 2 | Oct 20, 2003 |
| Now I glued the TOGS side panels D22 and D23 to the turret. Then the turret received some epoxy. I did it with several layers. First a thick coating to make the front armour bigger, then I sculpted it to roughly the correct shape. Then I applied a finer grain putty over it, and sanded it into shape.... more |
| Chapter 6 - Hull and Suspension Step 1 | Oct 20, 2003 |
| Now I consider the "major surgery" to the turret is done. the only remaining work is to add the AA replacment parts (quite a number of them, I tell you), which is more or less straight forward. So I moved on the the correction needed for the hull. First thing is correction to AA parts(well, everyone... more |
| Chapter 5 - Turret Correction Step 3 | Oct 16, 2003 |
After the cement is dried, I added the TOGS front and top panels. Some putty work to fill small gaps and bring out the shape. Then I added the AA front CIP panels and the base plates of the smoke chargers.
1. The handle on the housing top is scrath built with plastic and brass rods, and part of the... more |
| Chapter 3 - Turret Correction - step 1 | Oct 10, 2003 |
| First I rework the TOGS housing on the turret. The front panel, part D24 is widen by gluing 2 small plastic strips to both side. Then used a new X-acto blade to cut out the tapering shape. Notice I lowered the opening by 2mm, by using some epoxy to fill to upper part of the opening, and enlarge it at... more |
| Chapter 2 - Correction To Turret | Oct 7, 2003 |
I spent an evening taking this model apart, and used Gunze thinner to clean the paint. The first thing I want to do is some correction to the turrect. Looking at the comparison with a blow-up section of a photo of the real vehicle, I decided 2 things have to be done:
1. reproduce that portuding edge... more |
| Chapter 1 - The Old One | Oct 6, 2003 |
| This is the finished Challenger 2 OOTB |
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