Friday 4 July 2014

Big BMP bodging

One of the joys - for me at least - of the Little Cold Wars project is the need hunt down, adapt and ultimately bodge many of the AFVs required.  One such is the BMP - without which no Cold War Commie army would be properly equipped.
A couple of months ago I happened to spot on the Castles of Tin blog a card model of a BMP in 1/48 scale.  I speculated the required $1.99 and received the pdf of BMPs in both sand and green finishes.  Card models, however, are not really my thing being much too fiddly to build and fragile when completed.  Following my recent outbreak of shipbuilding I had a flash of inspiration and chopped up more foam and balsa to make the basic BMP shape round which I then wrapped parts of the pdf printed onto white 100gsm card.  The turret was more of a challenge but I eventually resorted to the lid from on old pot of Humbrol acrylic with a gun barrel made from part of a bamboo skewer and Sagger from a cut down 1/144 aircraft missile.  The ensemble was finished off with a good blast of matt spray varnish.  I think they look OK.  The die cast T-55 is included for scale and to add tone...
Oh, and if you have a few spare lids from the original Humbrol acrylic pots I can probably find them some work....

14 comments:

Martin Rapier said...

They look really good Tim, the existing detail printed onto the card lifts them and hides the underlying simple shape.

Certainly a much easier approach than that awful card model Schneider CA-1 I built!

Tim Gow said...

Martin Rapier
Thanks. In fairness to your Schneider the real one doesn't look any better than the real one!

Peter Douglas said...

Tim
These are great! You are the master of bogging. What's next from the workbench of warped ness?
Cheers
PD

Tim Gow said...

Peter Douglas
Coming soon - MT-LB and Shilka!

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

Tim,

Very impressive! Such a simple and very effective solution.

All the best,

Bob

Don M said...

Brilliant bit of bogging there sir! Well done indeed!

Tim Gow said...

Bob Cordery
I like 'em - and you'll soon have the chance to see them in action!

Tim Gow said...

Don M
They look OK - but can they fight?

Archduke Piccolo said...

Impressive bodging, all right!

Pete. said...

Ah so that's what the turret was made out of. I was trying to work it out when I saw them. They looked great on the table too.

Cheers,

Pete.

Paul Foster said...

Stunned mullet piece of bodge.

You really are the master of this sort of carry on.

Tim Gow said...

Archduke Piccolo
And cheap too at less then £1 each...

Tim Gow said...

Pete
I was pleased by how well they fitted in with the 'real' diecast toys.

Tim Gow said...

Paul Foster
Either that or I have no sense of shame.