Revells little Biber in Gentlemens scale

Revells bridge laying tank Beaver (Biber) is the only game in town and out for quite a while already. It can be build into a nice model OOB but I wanted some more. One of the main features I want to construct is the unloaded suspension when the Biber puts its brigde down. To achieve this most of the suspension arms have to be sawed off the side of the chassis and glued back after repositioning. 

The bridge guiding arm was modified in such a way that the guiding parts of both sides were connected via a rod and are movable. Some minor sink marks at unpleasant places had to be filled. 

I have had my issues with Revells way of doing tracks, so I went for the ones from OKB Grigorov. Detail is definitely much nicer there. They are easy to remove from the casting blocks. Lets see how I can handle them. 

Not being happy with Revells roadwheels either, I looked out for OKB Grigorov here too. Unfortunatley they turned out to be a rather mixed bag. While detail is good they do have their downsides too. First the hole where they connect to the suspension does not fit. This sounds like an easy fix, but due to the fact, that the connecting pins at the suspension arm are cone shaped just drilling them bigger still leaves you with difficulties when it come to alignment. Next issue is that all the wheels at my set had casting imperfections where they are connected to the casting block. Sanding them of leaves you with a untrue wheel. So material has to be added before sanding which is quite a pain to do. And last when glueing the two halfs of the wheel together, rims are not exactly parallel. To sand the contact areas to perfection is quite a task. So although I really like their detail I cannot recommend them wholeheartedly. 

Of cause some PE has to go into this Projekt. Some of which you can see here. Meant for a Leo 1 some parts can be used to improve the Biber too, as it is based on a Leo 1. Later I became aware that Hauler offers a PE set specifically designed for the Biber and added it to the build. More on that later. 

For the idea to display the Biber with the bridge fully extended I need a lot of counterweight. Unfortunately I decided to use Tamiya putty to fix it. Its solvent distorted the hull quote a bit. So, some need for sanding refilling and sanding and... 

First steps at the top of the hill. All tools scraped of, some sink hole filled and a new engine grill installed. 

Basic construction of the bridge completed. The connecting rods need some reinforcement as contact areas are pretty small. 

My old Biber. After 25 years and several moves in a pretty sorry state.
Was the first modell I bought when reentering the hobby. OOB, brushpainted. Still like it.
Now repaired again 🙂