Work in Progress

1/76 Bedford OXA armoured car (Airfix conversion)

Posted by huib on 18 Apr 2019, 20:02

Bedford OXA

The Bedford OXA was an armoured car built on the chassis of the Bedford OX medium truck.

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Bedford OXA with Boys anti-tank rifle during excersises in the UK, early WW2.

The OXA was an emergency stopgap measure, designed and built to defend the British Isles against a threatening German invasion after de evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. The vehicle in fact was nothing else then the chassis of the popular Bedford OX medium military truck, built up with armoured box-like structures. The OXA was meant as an anti-tank vehicle and for that purpose armed with one or several Boys anti-tank rifles.

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Bedford OXA's in production.

Almost a thousand OXA's were built in 1940-41. They were only used in the UK, and put out of service in 1942 when sufficient real tanks and anti-tank guns became available. The OXA crews can be happy that they never had to use their armoured cars against real German tanks. They would have been no match, even for the lightest German tanks, because of their thin armour, lack of fire power, lack of cross-country mobility and their high profile.

The Airfix Bedford OX
Airfix recently issued the Bedford OX in two versions in their Bomber resupply set. But already in 1972 Airfix issued a Bedford OXC in their 1/76 RAF Recovery Set as a tractor for the Queen Mary trailer:

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My 1994 boxing of the Airfix RAF Recovery Set. The Bedford OXC is the vehicle in the back.

Two years ago I built the Thorneycroft Amazon from this kit. I have other plans wity the Queen Mary trailer. So the Bedford is a leftover. When searching the web for inspiration what to do with the Bedford, I discovered the OXA. So thats what its going to be. A Bedford OXA armoured car, using the chassis, wheels and suspension of the old Airfix kit.

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The parts for the Bedford OXC from the Airfix kit.

So, let's start!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 18 Apr 2019, 20:06

First start

Building the model starts with removing some supefluous parts of the chassis.

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The chassis with mudguards from the kit.

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After removal of the mudguards.

Now let's start to build something.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 19 Apr 2019, 05:27

What fun! You never choose easy projects for yourself. Well, what would be the challenge in that?
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by huib on 26 Apr 2019, 18:50

Body construction

Progress is slow, due to limited time, and doubts about the way to proceed. But here is where I am now.

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Chassis, radiator and bonnet glued together. All original Airfix parts.

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Scratchbuilt armoured drivers cab, made of 0,5mm plastic card.

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Scratchbuilt truckbed, made of 1,0mm plastic card.

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A dryfit of these parts.

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Now working on the armoured fighting compartment. My biggest challenge is how to represent the conspicious rivets. All possible approaches are labour intensive!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Jaques on 26 Apr 2019, 20:56

Interesting and original work. :thumbup:
I would like to know what technique you will use to make the rivets.
I do mine one at a time, using epoxy paste and then sealing with spray varnish to stay fixed. It's a monster job. :(

Regards.
Jaques  Brazil
 
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 26 Apr 2019, 21:53

I once saw someone building a model of a Flower class corvette and he used glitter to make his rivets. He would dip each one in cyano-acrylate and apply it to the model. My only concern was whether the glitter pieces were too irregularly shaped to be good as rivets, but it's a suggestion.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by huib on 27 Apr 2019, 18:26

Fighting compartment, first attempt

I made an attempt to build the fighting compartment, including the rivetting. But I am not happy with the result. So I will build a second one, trying a slightly different approach but based on the same principle.

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My idea was to build the compartment using 0,5mm plastic card for the basic construction, and cover that with sheets of very thin 0,1mm plastic card, in which I pressed the rivets from the backside with a pinvice.

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During the build I discovered that my order of work was not the best one. Because now I cannot sand the edges flush without damaging the rivets. So in my second attempt I will build the basic structure first, sand everything flush, and then cover it with the rivetted thin card.

At least that is my plan.

Furthermore I found it very difficult to cut the loopholes exactly rectangular in this very tiny scale. On the other hand I think the rivetting technique is quite effective this way. So, on to the second attempt.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 27 Apr 2019, 20:03

I was in a sshop called The Range today, and their glitter is actually tiny discs. I can get some for you if you wishand send them to you to have a look.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by huib on 03 May 2019, 17:30

Thanks very much for your offer, Steve! But I think I did the job using my approach already!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 03 May 2019, 17:52

Fighting compartment, second attempt

With some lessons learned from the first attempt, I made a second attempt to build the fighting compartment.

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Now I decided to build the basic structure of the fighting compartment first, sand it flush, and then add the rivetted sheets of plastic.

To make it more complicated, the side wall of the fighting compartment was in reality made of one very long piece of armour plate, that was bent around three corners, while the ends were rivetted together at the fourth corner. This results in three rounded corners, and one sharp corner front right.

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Side wall sheet with rivets pressed in from the back with a pin vise.

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The result on the front side.

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Fighting compartment and drivers compartment fully rivetted.

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A dryfit of the main parts. It's quite a small vehicle actually.

Now I will continue to add the suspension and drivetrain, and add details.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 08 May 2019, 20:35

Detailing the chassis

A bit of progress on the Bedford, where I added some scratchbuilt parts and details to the chassis and bonnet.

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Mudguards, front bumper with lights and bridge classification sign, and armoured radiator protector.

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Steering wheel and fuel tanks addded. Scratchbuild sideboard with ammunition boxes.

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Drivetrain and suspension in position. Filled the hollow fuel tanks from below. And added an exhaust pipe with muffler, which is not included in the kit.

Now to continue detailing the drivers compartment.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 09 May 2019, 20:38

Detailing the drivers cab

I continued with the drivers cab, which was not a lot of work.

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Some rivetted anti-deflection strips glued to the roof of the drivers cab.

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A very sparse interior, with a chair from the kit and a gear box lever from iron wire and CA glue.

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A dry fit of the cab.

Now to continue with the truckbed, which is a bit more complicated!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Beano Boy on 09 May 2019, 23:03

Fantastic Work in Progress. I missed seeing this topic but now I`ve caught up with it.
Well Done on your conversion so far. :thumbup:

1/76 , HO OO Railway Scale suited my layout rather well. BB
Beano Boy  England
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Posted by huib on 12 May 2019, 16:05

Detailing the truckbed

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The truckbed started its life as a quite simple piece of plastic. But after adding all the parts attached to it, it became the most complicated subassembly of this build, as it interconnects with all the other parts.

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From above.

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From below, which is showing its complexity.

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Attached to the chassis, showing all the interconnections with the chassis, fuel tanks, wheels and drivers cab.

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Close up of the right hand side.

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Close up from behind.

Now to continue with the fighting compartment.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 16 May 2019, 17:45

Detailing the fighting compartment

The last subassembly is the fighting compartment.

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The floor got some wooden planking with the help of a scriber. Some simple wooden benches for the crew were added.

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The loopholes got shutters, some of them opened, some of them closed.

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And the roof got some rivetted profiles. (Lot's of rivet counting on this model :mrgreen: )

And now for some last parts....
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 17 May 2019, 16:40

Last parts

Today I fixed some last parts:

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The armoured backdoor, with loopholes, hinges, shutters and rivets.

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And the Airfix wheels, which I flattened a bit on the underside to suggest the weight of the vehicle. They are a bit too small and too narrow, but I'll use them.

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A dryfit of all the parts together.

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And a view from the other side.

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Taken apart again. Ready for some paint.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 17 May 2019, 17:48

Great project once again. Are there any surviving examples of this conversion left in the world?
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by huib on 22 May 2019, 21:35

Painting

Last week I went through all the painting stages:

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The vehicle will be camouflaged in the typical 1940 scheme of Khaki green no.3 and Dark Green no.4. As there are no exact equivalents in the Humbrol and Revell ranges I tried several combinations already. This time I settled for:
Humbrol 118 for Dark Green no.4
Revell SM362 for Khaki Green no.3

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Wheels painted.

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Underside of the chassis.

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Steering wheel and dashboard.

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Interior of the drivers cab.

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All parts together. The camouflage pattern was part copied from the few original pictures available and for the rest improvised.

Now for a gloss coat and some decals.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 22 May 2019, 21:37

Bluefalchion wrote:Are there any surviving examples of this conversion left in the world?


As far as I know not. Nothing has come up in extensive Google searches. There are anyway only a few historical pictures of this vehicle existing.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 25 May 2019, 12:32

Decals

Looting my sparebox provided some decals for purely fictional markings of my Bedford OXA. Fictional, but inspired by the markings of OXA's on contemporary pictures, especially this one:

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The decal sheet of an Airfix Churchill tank provided the red square squadron sign. The letter E is from an Airfix Liberator bomber serial number.

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Two decals from the old Airfix Churchill sheet. The unit number and the suggestion of a divisional sign were painted on by hand.

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The armoured radiator cover.

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Serial on the bonnet sides, and a hand drawn 7 on the bridge classification plate.

Now for weathering.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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