FV4201 Chieftain

[commissarmoody]

I believe he does.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

I believe he does.

More importantly he does all of our ultra moderns so its a good fit 

[Rich H]

Bloody lumpy cast turrets

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Bloody lumpy cast turrets

With or without StillBrew?

[Rich H]

Without at the moment.  More lumpyness to follow I guess....

[SABOT]

Trust me in real life Stillbrew was an even bigger pain in the arse  !

[Rich H]

 

What mark would be most common?

[Rich H]

going to take a bit of post print fettling on the turret...

[SABOT]

The fleet in BFG ( we never called ourselves BAOR) was always updated as a complete  package so would pretty much all be the same version. The wagons that were still in UK were older , being mostly for training and demo at Bovington/Lulworth and Warminster.

We never knew what Mark  we were crewing. It meant nothing to us. As a guideline we picked out distinctive features like the change of NBC pack from the ‘chicken coup’ type to the full rectangular NBC pack around 1979/80.  Also in 1982 the MRS muzzle shroud appeared on the main armament. There were few outward indications of change/upgrade until Stillbrew and/or TOGS was fitted around 1987 . I say and/or because in my regiment we had both fitted together in base workshops in Germany but you can also see just Stillbrew wagons in Germany and of course in Berlin.

[Rich H]

Cool thanks

The drawing I have has the dog kennel and no MRS I guess it' an early one.
I'll go with that for now then add bits to change the mark.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Needs to be an early 1980's to start with. Say 82.

[SABOT]

Roger that.

 In which case then you are well on course.

  Don’t forget the splash plate on the upper glaciis  as  everyone else seems to do in other scales. These were never missing and gave a distinctive appearance to the old wagon. In between the double headlights, not single headlight as in earlier Marks.

If you miss off the MRS Mirror Shroud  then be careful to also not have the small MRS  light source unit ....  a small box to the left of the Gunners sight hold ( when calling left or right it is always viewed from the rear of the  AFV). Again this is a common mistake on some other models. 👍

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Is it worth doing a barrel with and without the shroud?

[SABOT]

I would say yes as it defines the time period of its use and extends the time period into which the model can be used ...... i.e. 1980 to 1987. 

If you go this way then I would point out that it might be worth considering that the fume extractor changed too. So , in basic terms it’s the earlier L11 main armament with no MRS shroud with a bulkier fume extractor and with MRS fitted a thinner fume extractor.  The change of fume extractor was not connected to the MRS just a small upgrade that happened to coincide. I can supply photos if it helps.

Also, just one small detail. With the thermal sleeve .... to be fitted correctly there is an asbestos strip on one side of the sleeve .  The thermal sleeve should be fitted so that the asbestos strip runs parallel with the Co-Ax. This was for when the .50 Ranging Gun was fitted to protect the thermal sleeve. Even after the .50 was removed we retained the same thermal sleeve. The Britannia 20mm has it correct , but then goes on to spoil the model as the two tow ropes are way too short.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Excellent detail