andypops

Blimey…it’s been a nause reading all of this retailer bashing, mostly completely off topic! FWIW I am hugely grateful for what Ben and the team at revolution are doing, not just with this model but across the piece. Pushing standards up and giving us new models that the box-shifting big players don’t want to touch (probably because they don’t want the development costs). It’s amazing to think back just ten or so years, when all “current day” layouts looked the same because of 90% of the models were made by 2 large retailers. (However I do admit to missing the prices - when I could pick up 8 MBAs for £72 or 8 VDAs for £64!) Back onto the topic - I’m hugely looking forward to these stalwarts arriving. Having lived in and around South Wales and the Marches these are the main gap in rolling stock from the last 10-15 years. They’ve served us well, and I will miss them. I have a question for Ben or the Revolution team - when do you envisage the book closing? I am desperate to put my order in (well, to increase it 😉) but with this time of year and other family priorities I’m still saving. as you recognise, this is a non-essential luxury spend and family has to come first. I hope it won’t be for a few months yet, but as much notice as possible for the book closing would be a huge help to those of us budgeting. Cheers

Quick note with Vallejo - they have a special ingredient in their thinner formulation which I’ve found by trial and error is critical to the paint stability, if you use water or IPA (or mixes thereof) you will very likely get some precipitation of solids which blocks the airbrush and leaves a horrid surface finish. This doesn’t seem to be the case with other paints (eg Tamiya) which I regularly thin with water-IPA. The specific formulation Vallejo use can be made at home, but for anyone who isn’t a chemist (and even those who are!) it’s far easier to just buy their proprietary thinners - I grudgingly resorted to this as a final sanity test after having to repaint a Sea King model four times, and can say with conviction that using their acrylic thinners is absolutely critical to get a decent finish. Oddly some colours (e.g. pink) weren’t that badly affected using just IPA or water, but I consistently found that yellow was terrible when water / IPA was added - it went clumpy very quickly, like when gone-off milk is added to tea. (no connection to Vallejo, just a customer who was initially very angry with their paints, couldn’t understand why other modellers raved about them then worked out where I was going wrong and started enjoying them!)

Used to See Myfanwy and Tom Jones bobbing up and down the valleys, sure I saw them together at some point heading up past Cathays C&W works.

Thanks for the update Charlie - as everyone has mentioned I can’t wait to get my hands on some (I have a couple of your ATW 143s which are superb).

It could be anything to be honest so long as it’s in gauge! Warflats - Land Rovers (110 and 90, plus wolf from early 2000s), also Forward Controls in 1990s. Saxons, CVR(T) light tanks in either period. Also FV432s. Warwells - warriors (should be on cradles, all in the same direction and with turrets angled a little to the one side to stay in loading gauge), Bedford trucks (with dropped canopies), Saxon / 432 with Peak turrets, or engineering plant - both periods. biggest differences I’d suggest is the state and paint of them - 1990s almost everything was green and black, whereas from early 2000s almost everything lost the black (applied at units) and reverted to one-colour green. So that would be my biggest indicator of time period. always remember rule 1 though

Also looking at it - are you sure that wasn’t just the date the photo was uploaded to Flickr? I’m sure Fox was loooong gone by then. Their dates have caught me out a few times when researching - I saw some BR blue 08s based at Hereford which were apparently from 2015 the other day

Most of our Saxon got sold to Ukraine quite quickly after withdrawal...several press releases around about it. A very small number did make it to Afghanistan (esp near Kabul) in the early days but didn’t have much use. I think that was their swansong - I can barely recall them from mid 2000s. Remember their primary role was to get a large body of troops quickly from U.K. to BAOR in the case of mad antics at the IGB - that’s why so many were in War Maintenance Reserve but also why a lot were issued to TA regiments. Even a lot of the publicity bumf in 1980s-90s used to call them “battlefield taxis”. Although strangely there are hundreds of photos of them on warflats. Perhaps movers just seemed to like booking them, or felt they were a good training opportunity (being quite heavy and close to gauge - would test the people loading them!) However, the perennial problem - there are very few models of them around in our scale. There’s a white metal kit (BW Models) but they’re rarer than unicorn hair and about 100g each - so too heavy for a rake. Resin ones can be found from some suppliers (perhaps Matador models?) but are pricey. I think I saw on eBay a while ago there was a convincing Saxon model in a close scale that was branded up for the HK Police force - I think they were about £6 per - and could be a cheapish way to get a good number if you don’t mind some repainting. Sadly I can’t find the link now.

CMSC (Continental Model Supply Company) were a military vehicle kit manufacturer, mostly 1/76 but some 1/72 and 1/87. Most kits were resin with detail parts in resin or white metal. They made a huge range of vehicles, mostly British military covering light and heavy armour, soft skin vehicles (land rovers, trucks) from the 1950s to early 2000s, focussing on the BAOR era. They also made stowage, bridges etc. A massive range! They closed in the early 2000s after the proprietor passed away - their masters & moulds were sold to a few other suppliers such as Friendship Models and Kingfisher Miniatures, and some have been lost but other kits (such as the CVRTs) live on. Again, it’s a problem with so much of this being done by a cottage industry, rather than having any big suppliers in this area - I guess they’ve always seen it as too niche? The CMSC kits were incredibly well made and everything fitted well, crisp details and with very little flash - but these days they’re rarer than a rare thing! I’ve seen some of their kits go for > £100 on eBay over the last few years - not exactly affordable to stock a load of wagons! But they can be very effective for some small points of interest in a wider scene - this is exactly what I’m planning to do with mine. I’m happy to answer anything else but I’m conscious I’ve derailed this thread about the fantastic KFAs...if anyone else wants to ping me a PM I’ll answer, or if a mod wants to split this thread out I can continue it without detracting from the main theme

I agree with the poster above - they are just long enough but (a) don’t be tempted to trim too much off and (b) they need strong superglue or ideally heat sealing with a soldering iron tip. There are some aftermarket white metal tracks available from somewhere - possibly Matador Models? - but I’ve only bought from them at shows. I tend to leave the tracks off until after painting (esp if painting a camouflaged scheme) and do them last. Another tip is to put the ugly join in the middle underneath - it hides the join and you can sand it flat so nobody knows it’s there.

Yes, as far as I know - I spoke to the proprietor last month via email and they sent me an updated price list the same evening. The website isn’t the greatest but it seems that most mil modelling manufacturers are better to reach using direct comms. As an indicator of their other CVR(T) kits, this is an Alvis Stormer - an elongated chassis with an extra wheel, used as transport, or modified for AA or as a flatbed mine scatterer (sadly the mine scattering systems are now out of service but were definitely interesting to watch on exercise!) (placed next to the Sabre for comparison) Again, no link to them other than as a satisfied customer. Would be happy to answer any other mil vehicle modelling questions if I have the answers!

Here are some side by sides of the Scimitar from Airfix and the CMSC / Wee Friends Sabres. I’ve gone for a very plain Scimitar without any scratchbuilt additions to show what you get from the box - hopefully you can see they don’t give the right overall impression of CVR(T)s. The Sabre is much more (correctly) “squat” and has plenty of stowage hanging off it! a slightly lower angle to try to show the turret ring mod on the Sabre - it might not look readily apparent in the picture but it’s very pronounced (correctly) IRL. These are some individual shots of them both for comparison. Forgive the clumsy headlight painting on the Scimitar - at the point I painted these I had just build 8 and was losing patience!! I considered modifying them to early 2000 spec (eg changed light clusters, added stowage, potentially dieselification) but as they’re just going to be loads on moving wagons O didn’t see much point. In summary, the CMSC / Wee friends vehicles are much better as loads for these wagons, or for placing around the scene if you want other dioramas. The S and S are very good but do get very heavy on a long train (I have 12 white metal war wells and war flats, so only the most powerful locos can pull them!). But the Airfix Scimitar is a fair enough representation and light enough to be a good load.

See my message above?? They’re a bona fide manufacturer of mil vehicles at this scale, but I was referring to S and S and have qualified this above. If you would rather not have contributions from someone knowledgeable about military modelling then I will of course happily withdraw.

They are a genuine firm I promise! https://www.scalemates.com/brands/sandm-models--1924 However you were of course correct and I was thinking of S and S for the 432s etc. S and M models produced a lot of aircraft kits and also a kit of the Alvis Stalwart which I’ve heard mixed things about, but would be much better as a load than the much heavier BW Models Stalwarts. (If we’re on dodgy names, don’t search for that one on eBay either ;-) ) Sadly, so many of these kit manufacturers have gone out of business over the last 10-15 years. BW Models ceased about 8 years ago, and the proprietor of S and M models sadly passed away earlier this year. It was online until recently, but it seems their website is no longer online.

The Sabre used to be produced by the infamous CMSC range. Sadly these are long gone and are like rocking horse excrement to find on eBay - but thankfully most of the CVR(T) range have been taken on and reproduced by Ian at Friendship Models as part of their “Wee friends” or “Braille Scale” range. They have I think all of the CVR(T) range including Sabre (including I think the BATUS variants such as Sturgeon and Salamander) in resin / white metal. A little fiddlier to build but *much* more accurate. And the tracks are white metal so will actually close, unlike airfix! Most importantly - Ian is very fast and responsive to email questions, and the kits are about £15 per which is similar / slightly cheaper than the horrid plastic kits on eBay. No brainer to me! I have no connection to them other than being a very satisfied customer - and after receiving these I will likely be ordering even more! If anyone would like I can post some pictures of the sabre and airfix scimitar later for comparison. I can also second recommendations for the S&M models (unfortunate name!!) FV432s and some other of their kits including Sampson, Spartan and Samaritan, but I don’t think their Scimitars are as good as Wee Friends.

I unfortunately can go one better - they’re at my local sorting office as we didn’t hear the postman!! Really looking forward to collecting them in the morning though - the pictures I’ve seen posted look great.