Piranha PWI-GR

Main hull parts put together, with a new roof from 1 mm plastic card (still loose) and the AFV Club YPR turret ring (also still loose) to show where the turret will go. 

I was looking for a conical riser for the turret, and ended up with a 40 mm Games Workshop wargames base, into which I cut a hole for the turret (including bayonet fitting) and from which I filed off the texture. 

Suspension added, which wasn’t too easy because the part with the suspension arms for the front two axles doesn’t fit too well. I think it would have been easier if I hadn’t glued the hull halves together first. The turret is only the main parts, I still need to add the details. 

On the rear roof, I built the basic shape of two passenger hatches, 0.5mm plastic card cut to 15.5 mm wide and 33 mm long. These dimensions come from the instructions for the Trumpeter Grizzly, available here on Scalemates — I just zoomed in on them on my iPad’s screen so that the hull width in the drawing was the same as that of my model and measured them up. 

It was pointed out to me that the riser I built wasn’t as tall as on the trials vehicle. After finding a picture of the real turret with its internal bits, I decided to remove what I had from the model and add a second base under it — this one from the defunct Rackham, for its AT-43 wargame. 

After reaming out the inside of the GW base, it fits nicely over the Rackham one. They’re still loose here, but I will glue them together and putty the seam before fitting it onto the hull. 

To make the vertical armour below the turret riser, I first scratched a line into the hull side by putting the riser in place and holding my knife vertically as I pulled it along the curve of the riser. I then drilled a bunch of holes just above that line. 

Next, I connected the holes with the knife and then scraped, cut and filed the inside of the opening to get it vertical. 

Finally, I cut a piece of plastic card to fit inside the hole. I filled the seam with putty after taking this photo. 

Basic shape of commander’s hatch added (behind that for the driver), as well as basic shapes of vision blocks for the passengers and some details to turret and hull. 

Tyres temporarily on (they come off easily), but the wheels are glued to the axles now — I had to drill them out to 3 mm to fit, though, and cut off the stubs on the insides of the wheels. 

More details also added to the model as a whole, including finished periscopes and mounts for the antennas at the rear. I also moved the lifting eyes because Piranhas have them in different places than LAVs do. 

Headlights from a Hobby Boss Leopard 2 with mountings made from plastic card and punched discs in the style of the Canadian AVGP. 

Hinges for the rear hatches made, after dimensions taken from Trumpeter’s AVGP instructions available here on Scalemates. 

Dutch Army antenna base made from plastic card, after dimensions from a YPR kit part. 

Front hull hatches finished. The commander’s is really just a copy of the one on the AVGP Grizzly from Trumpeter. 

I made the firing port covers and the rooftop ventilator using a large-size punch-and-die set (4–20 mm), both with a 6 mm punch. The ports are 0.25 mm thick, the ventilator is 1.5 mm and the disc filed so its sides are sloping. 

Smoke grenade launchers made from plastic rod, card and strip. They still need a brush guard over them, but I’m debating which shape to make that. 

Some missing details added to the inside of the turret hatch. 

Brushguard from plastic strip, and mirrors from the old Verlinden Piranha 4×4 kit (4x4 Mowag "Piranha" (Trophy Models 20010, 1:35)) on supports from brass wire and plastic rod — which were very tricky to build. 

I also added a rack with two jerrycans from the YPR kit, and feel I’m done building the model now. 

 

 

 

 

One more photo before painting after all, because it was pointed out to me that the real vehicle would have had field telephone connectors (the three white rectangles at the top of the rear plate) and a cable reel. 

Though I said it was finished, somebody pointed out that it would probably have had mesh over the grilles, so I added some from old Tamiya mesh. Despite what it looks like, it is actually flat 🙂 

And then I sprayed the whole model with Mr. Aqueous H78 Olive Drab (1), which is a very good match for the RAL6014 that the Dutch Army used until the 1990s. 

Highlights sprayed into the panels to de-monotonise the paint job 🙂