Right side of the turret showing added plastic fillet behind
the TOGS box and relocated jerrycan holder.
Turret
Above Detailed TOGS box and rebuilt smoke grenade mounts.
The scratchbuilt TISH it looks the part but probably isnt accurate
Turret
Above The rebuilt forward stowage basket and added side basket.
Right Detail of the rear bin, with added AFV Club stowage box.
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fillet behind the TOGS box. This was
recreated using 20x60 thou strip.
Tamiya provide the TOGS box with a
separate door but no internal detail. I
decided to portray the TOGS box open, so
I needed to build the TISH (Thermal Imager
Sensor Head). With no real information to
work from, other than a few photos of the
front end, I cobbled together a TISH using
thick plastic strip and card. The sensor mentioning that the entire box sits too low
head itself had me foxed for a while until I
found a suitable clear lens of 4mm
diameter. The French company Tarmac
(who specialise in 1/48 scale vehicles) offer
a selection of clear and coloured lenses for
aircraft models. It was slightly more
rounded than I wanted and was clear, but
neither problem was major.
Although not essential, I decided to rebuild
the forward stowage basket from scratch.
Using the kit part as a guide. Instead of
using the kit-supplied flexible mesh I
looked around for a better way of
portraying the rectangular mesh on the
actual vehicle. Aber came to my rescue
with a small fret of this style of mesh (S 13
in their listings). Over the top of the bin I
added the nylon cover from thin pewter
foil. The Ferret stowage bin (so-called
because it originally comes from a Ferret
armoured car) on the right side of the
turret needs a bit of extra detailing. I
sanded off the bin lid and added a new
one from scratch. The edges of the bin
closest to the turret had thin lips added.
Behind this bin is the radio box. The kit
offers two versions the recommended
one with the location sockets for the
jerrycan holder (part D43) and the earlier
version (part B7) without these features. I
used the earlier version. The reason for this
is that on many vehicles (and my reference
vehicle was no exception), the holder is
fitted vertically, rather than at an angle as
shown on part D43. Whilst were working
with this part of the kit, its worth
mesh as the other bins, I was frustrated by
on the side of the turret. I removed the
locating lugs on the bottom of the box,
filled in the holes in the turret wall, and
then mounted the radio box just slightly
below the top edge of the turret. I also
added a thin fillet along the front edge of
the box, to cover a narrow slot behind the
hinges.
The jerrycan holder on the turret was
originally designed to carry a jerrycan on
its side, however, it was modified when
fitted to the turret so that the jerrycan sat
vertically. A metal bar was therefore added
across the base of the holder. Note that it
also sits higher up than portrayed on the
kit (although this can vary from vehicle to
vehicle).
The kit provides two choices of stowage
bin for the left side of the turret. Neither
was suitable for this project. More
common on Challenger 1s by the late
1990s, was a slimmer, open mesh bin.
Using the same Aber rectangular mesh, I
fabricated a new mesh bin 45mm long,
12mm high and 5m in width. The front end
is curved and is solid. This was achieved
by simply gluinging a small piece of 001
thou brass sheet round the front part of the
mesh.
Forward of this bin is another mesh bin,
carried in the wrong place on the turret. It
is more commonly seen on the other side,
in place of the Ferret bin. To confuse
matters further, it is attached on its side.
Although it should be made from the same
the flimsiness of the Aber mesh and
resorted to some fine 'square' mesh from
Accurate Armour that was much sturdier.
The bin in it's normal orientation is 12mm
long, 15mm high and 5mm wide
(remember I fitted it on its side). Once
again, the curved 'front' end was covered
with some 001 thou brass sheet
The stowage bins on the rear corners of
the turret benefit from additional detail.
Both had a 10x40 thou strip added to the
inside edge, detailed with bolt heads. This
retains a nylon cover on each bin that I
recreated using thin pewter foil. but
contains little or no lead. Straps were
added using masking tape and etched
buckles.
Fitted to the rear of the bin on the right
side was small extra box. This is yet
another type of box 'rescued' from old
Chieftain tanks and my example came
from an old AFV Club Scorpion kit
(although Accurate Armour offer a
selection of modern British stowage bins in
resin). The fitting of this bin requires the
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