TERRAPIN Mk.I BUILD FINISHED - PIC'S UPLOADED TAKE A LOOK

Hello All;

Well I can finally let the cat out of the bag. I had briefly mentioned a build I was working on for the WELLCOME 10 (Wellington County Modellers Exhibition) in Guelph this past weekend
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/content/history/secondwar/belgium/images/PA_114754.jpg

The above link will give you an idea of what it looks like. It is an 8 wheeled amphibian used by 79th Armoured to ferry Canadians across the Scheldt Estuary in Belgium. I will post photos of my build later once I get them loaded to photobucket.

The build did garner a Silver in the Scratchbuilt Armour 1/35 and larger at the show so I was pleased with that.

More later.

Cheers;

Gregory

I look forward to seeing the build. Please post the photos soon.

Grant

Hello Again All!

I took some basic pics with the only available digi-cam in the house (sorry for the quality of the pics)

As I previously mentioned this is in the beginning stages of completion. The build was made from two photos I found on a pamphlet from Veterans Affairs Canada and an article in Military Modelling. 98% of the project is Evergreen styrene sheet, rod, half round, channel, and square stock. The “roll cage” is brass rod. Along the rubbing strakes (you can barely make out in the pics) are 42 tie downs. Each was hand folded from florist wire ** NOTE: Santa didn’t bring me a Grabhandler!!!** So these were formed the old fashioned way with Time Effort and Pliers. The eight tractor tires required a lengthy search to find ones of the right type and correct scale size. I turned up the necessary pieces with a trip to Toys R’ Us in the discount bin. So if anyone needs 4 John Deere tractors minus the front wheels let me know. I made the 8 replacement hubs with the help of a compass cutter from sheet styrene. Then came the FUN part!!! (NEVER AGAIN) on each wheel there are 20 individually stamped round bolt heads made with jeweller’s beading tools and a hockey puck from copper shim stock. You need a good set of tweezers and magnifiers to add this kind of thing to a kit. I must have stamped out 200 to get the 160 required.

I entered this past weekend at the WELLCOME and as I said the Terrapin was awarded a Silver Medallion for Scratchbuilt 1/35 Armour category. It felt great for two reasons 1. My first scratchbuild completed. 2. My first competition entry.

Let me know what you all think.

Cheers;

Gregory

Grant;

I and my Terrapin will be at BUFFCON on the 9th…Picked up the flyer at the Guelph show. Hope you like the pics. Hopefully it does as well at BUFFCON or better.

Cheers;

Gregory

It’s an odd-looking built but a really nice job none-the-less.

See you at BUFFCON, and I hope that I won’t have to compete against you…for my own sake.

Keep the pictures coming.

Grant

Grant;

You’re correct it is an odd looking vehicle. Until I read the account of the Battle of the Scheldt I actually thought the only amphibians used in Northwest Europe were the DUKW and the Buffalo variants.

As soon as I saw the photo in the article though, I just had to build it for two reasons. First because it’s one of those little oddities that you know there will not be a kit made any time soon and even if there were it would be a really pricey resin and photoetch kit. The second was I just really wanted to challenge myself for my first entry into a competition and my first scratchbuild.

As far as competing…I am not a threat to anyone trust me. The funny part is until I completed this my attendance at shows was just that, attendance. I enjoyed viewing the work of others like Bob Collignon from your area but never entered anything.

Thanks for the boost to the ego. See you at the show. It should be a good one as usual.

Cheers;

Gregory

Interesting subject. I’ve never seen one of these. Excellent scratch building. [tup]

Cool never seen one of these before, looks very modern, congrats on the silver.

Regards,

Terry.

Thanks Matthew!

It was my first attempt at a full scratchbuild. It just takes time and the right tools and anything is possible. It also helps that there were a lot of right angles in the build.

Like you I had never seen one of these before. I don’t think any survived after the war to be put into museums, which is unfortunate. (Believe me I’ve hunted for other references than what I found.)

I’ll post more photos once the weathering and such is finished.

Cheers;

Gregory

Thanks Terry!

Like I wrote above I too had never seen one of these before. It reminds me of the LAV 25’s of today with the large tractor tires.

With the little bit of information I could find on the Terrapin I think the reason this size of tires were used was 1. That’s what was available and 2. The size and style of the tires removed the requirement for shock absorbers. As well I think the tire size aided in floatation during crossing.

I’ll post more photos once the weathering and such is finished.

Cheers;

Gregory

Oh Mannnnnn, I can’t believe I missed the Guelph show AGAIN this year. This is twice now.

A fantastic project, and a well deserved win.

Thanks Zokissima!

It is a great show, although this year there were not as many entries in some of the categories. Figures/Busts was really light this year and dioramas I think there were only 4 entries.

Mark these dates on your calendar so you won’t forget.

Niagara Frontier Chapter IPMS USA - BUFFCON 23 - Sunday April 9th 2006 - Knights of Columbus Club 2735 Union Road, at William St. Cheektowaga (Buffalo) New York

AMPS 2006 - 28-29 April 2006 - Hubbard OH

Canadian International Military Show - 2006 Scale Military Model Contest - May 6/7 2006 - International Centre Hall # 6

Canadian Warplane Heritage-Hamilton Modellers Club - HERITAGECON - First Annual Model Contest and Display - 25 February 2007 - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Thanks for the comments, it’s a shame you missed the show it was great as usual. I picked up some great buys from the vendors. I have almost completed all of my issues of RANDOM THOUGHTS from IPMS Canada. I was really surprised to find two complete decal sheets in two seperate issues. One was the complete set of markings for the CF-18 and the other was the D-Day series of Aircraft and AFV markings that IPMS Canada put together. A great surprise considering I paid 50 cents an issue and these were inside and no longer available from IPMS Canada! Sweet!

Hopefully you can make it to one of the shows above. Make an effort to come out next year for the WellCoMe 11 show and really try to make the CWH-Hamilton Modellers Club show it’s their first and should be a great show too.

Cheers;

Gregory

Grant:

BUFFCON 23 was fantastic. Great to meet people from the forum face to face too. I hope the club will post pics of the work that was on display. There was a lot of great work on the tables, right down to the Junior and Bantam categories.

Cheers;

Gregory

Gregory,

It looks better in real life, and it was cool to see people from the forums. The detail on your kit is very cool. How many people from Canada were at the show? The Great White North was very well represented. You mentioned two hobby shops in TO for armor…what were they again? What town is the armor museum again? I’m starting to lay out vacation plans for this June.

Grant

Grant;

Thanks for the comments. I was happy with the build and really happy with the recognition it gained at both shows. Not bad for a first ever entry. A Gold at BUFFCON and Silver at WELLCOME. Now I have to come up with something new for next years.

You’re right about the number of Canadian entries at the BUFFCON show. By my count there were at least 25 or so competitors from the various clubs in the area.

Here are the links to the Worthington Tank Museum at Canadian Forces Base Borden

http://www.borden.forces.gc.ca/cfb_borden/english/museum/vehicle_e.asp

For armour shopping

Check out these two

http://www.militaryhobbies.ca/

http://business.superpages.ca/listings.jsp?SRC=411&STYPE=S&PG=L&CB=&R=N&C=&N=keith's+hobby&T=&S=ON&PS=15&search=Find+It

As well look in the back of FSM under the hobby shop directory and locate the shops closest to the area.

If you need any small tools check this website out as well. I picked up some goodies from them. High Speed Steel Micro-Drill bits for $5.00 CDN sizes 61-80…sweet deal.

www.leevalley.com

They have 3 stores in and around Toronto.

Another place to check out is Model Builders Supply

www.modelbuilderssupply.com

And last but not least if you really want to make a trek to find reference material for armour.

http://www.vanwell.com/

They carry all the Osprey, and other great reference books from around the world. Call and order a catalogue and you’ll see what I mean.

If you need anything else. Let me know. I am hoping to make it up to QUINCON. There is another show coming up in May that you might want to check out too. www.militaryshow.ca

Cheers;

Gregory

Gregory,

There were more Canadian modelers there than Rochester ones for sure. The few of us who brought entries (as opposed to buying future entries) did well with the judging. I took two golds in the OOB categories, so I didn’t go home empty handed.

Thanks for the information. I’ll be making a few trips when I’m up in Peterborough in June. Lance from Quincon has set me up well with information on that show. I’ll see you there.

Grant

Grant:

Congratulations on your Golds that’s great. One show I forgot to mention that is next year is this one

http://www.warplane.com/Planetalk/Model_Event.html so mark this on your calendar or print off the flyer.

This is a new club that I am going to join (very close to home) and supports the Warplane Heritage as well.

Quincon this year would be a first attendance for me. I have to get permission from the Boss first though. Although it should not be too hard considering the results I have had at the last two shows.

See you there (I hope)

Cheers;

Gregory

Hello All

I forgot to add the completed project pictures when I was done painting and decaling.

Enjoy.

Cheers;

Gregory