Challenger 2 by Andrew Judson (Trumpeter and Accurate Armour 1/35)

Trumpeter + Accurate Armour 1/35 scale
Challenger 2

by Andrew Judson

Challenger 2
Royal Scots' Dragoon Guards

images by Brett Green

Trumpeter's 1/35 scale Challenger 2 is available online from Squadron

Construction

This kit has been in the works for a while, but the end results were worth the work.

I spent a lot of time looking at photos of this specific vehicle in an issue of Military Modelling magazine to ensure that I got the colours correct, and also to accurately duplicate the markings and the weathering.

The project was based on the Trumpeter 1/35 scale Challenger 2 with the addition of Accurate Armour's update sets and decals.

Everything went together quite well, but I did have lots of fun (not!) gluing the track sections in place. These start out as straight resin pieces, and need to be persuaded to conform to the tight curves of the drive sprockets and idlers.

Painting and Markings

With the kit built I could concentrate on my favourite part - painting.

As usual, I used my Testor Aztek A470 airbrush to apply the freehand camouflage pattern. Paints were Tamiya acrylics.

As mentioned earlier, I studied photos of the real vehicle. These showed that the tank was heavily weathered.

I was happy with the end result, and to me th kit looks the part.

This vehicle depicts one of the first batch to be handed over to the Royal Scots, and being tested on Firing Range No.9 at Bergen Hohne in northern Germany. This range is close to where the unit was based at the time.

I really enjoyed this project and look forward to building an Operation Telic Chally at some time in the future!

Thanks to Rob Cole, for whom this model was commissioned.