RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Thank you Raminator,

Continuing with the Boxer build.

Received my metal gears that allow replacement of the last plastic ones.
The gears are now finalized and ready for field test.
Now that the suspension modules are finalized, its time to close the ugly holes on the lower hull sides i did during construction. Templates are mades for both sides that are identical.
Overview of the lower hull with the suspension holes filled and optimized to reduce their sizes for the look and prevent dust and residue getting inside as much as possible. Much more square and clean looking than before. This vehicle is not amphibious.
Starting construction of the upper hull. Notice the plasticard residue added to all gaps, to be later sanded smooth and flush. The Boxer frontal armor configuration is quite complicated. There is no way to fully represent it with accuracy in scratch as the thickness of the plasticard is too heavy.
This is the headlight solution.
The Lugwigs front lower hull assembled as per instructions did not look like the reference pictures i was comparing it to. I had to redesign and extend the front glacis at the front tip, including the integration with the light panel.
The ordered metal rims have arrived. I was eager to see if they fit the wheels i have for them.
A bit tight but they do fit, it is a load off. Boxer solution for 8 metal rims, metal mounts and rubber tires add up to only $80 total, shipping included.
They come with larger axle Hex mounts that advantageously replace the older smaller ones in plastic, shown for comparison. This will provide a lot more strength to the ride with the larger diameter tires.
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Like with any RC tank when you mount the roadwheels and tracks, depositing the tank down on its own legs for the first time is a major and exciting event, even if the model is still under heavy construction.
The Boxer 3D printed rims can be made to fit the metal rims.
Overview of the Boxer with its wheels on. Adjustment for directions and pitch still need to be seriously performed for alignment before the first field trial.
Do you like my new sexy sport car

This vehicle is as big as a Leopard II.
The tires are pretty good for the price. The tread is not totally like the real ones but close. What is most important with width and diameter, which are perfect according to my calculations based on extrapolating the 1/35 kit and eyeballing pictures.
Frontal lower hull still WIP. Roadwheels look sharp and compare well to the real thing. I am happy with the results so far.
This is the model as it stands today. Construction work on the hull can continue. But i am tempted by an early field test...
Regards, Louis

More sorcery! Time for the Spanish Inquisition!

Jimster wrote:More sorcery! Time for the Spanish Inquisition!

I agree!

Very nicely done Louis.

Barry

Thank you Jimster and Barry, Its just a big elaborate puzzle to put together...

Continuing with the heavy construction.

The back of the Boxer allow the armies to change the configuration using the same chassis. It is a concept that is Interesting in peace time to adapt a chassis to a UN mission, it makes me wonder how practical this would really be during a war when units are in a dynamic front. I can already see the poor unit maintenance team unable to move its Command modules in store at the depot before their capture by the enemy. Below is the APC Boxer module, raised by a crane.

The Ludwig design allows replacement of the rear module. Chris has another module on sale for the Boxer, looks like the heavy gun version for the Australian Army. Although interesting, the gun kit is so basic and missing so many components that i opted to keep to the simpler APC version.
The Ludwig kit is not designed to operate the rear ramp, it does not even include any of the complex hinge mechanism. But the main panel part can be easily cut to separate the door. Then pretty much everything else need to be scratch built from that point.
The rear ramp of the Boxer, the opening mechanism is quite complicated. I need to work on the design.
The main parts are installed. I can see some dimensional issues with the part. I can see that the area for the tail lights is too wide, and therefore the section next to it is too narrow. I'll investigate further if it is worth addressing.
Ludwig is having the whole rear module removable by design. Although interesting in concept, this is actually not practical at all for us considering the electronics inside which need to use the module space. I therefore selected to glue the module parts in place on the hull, and have access to the electronics through the two main roof sections that will remain removable. This is aslo making construction a lot more easier.
View of the Boxer driver's hatch. Notice the various layers of plates and add on armor that need to be replicated when possible, also on top and sides of the hatch.
The hatch can be raised to provide the driver with a better view. I opted not to repro this as i do not think it looks good, its a bit weird and unusual.
Ludwig does not provide much parts for the driver's hatch. It contain a periscope part as shown, the bottom and a panel on the right side, and the add-on armored plate that goes on top (not shown). The actual hatch core itself needs to be scratch build, from scratch..
Using the add-on armored plate as a stencil, the hatch top and sides are created in 1mm plasticard.
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This is the core of the driver's hatch before further detailing. Moving on to other areas for now.
A base for the roof top to sit on was created. These also keep the armor strait.

From this angle, you can notice a vague family resemblance with the Sd.Kfz.251 Ausf D half track of WW2.
The model as it stands today.
Regards, Louis

Hi,

Continuing with the construction.

The front glacis has raised areas, including an air intake grill on the upper right that must be reproduced. No details for it are provided in the basic kit. Most of the engraved lines on the Ludwig kit glacis are in the wrong position when compared to pictures, which complicate things. There is also the Boxer versions that introduces some changes between the A0, A1, A2 and A3 versions. The Boxer is a complicated vehicle. There is no way i will redo everything on this kit, so i will live with their positioning.
This is the air intake for the engine. Markers have been determined for the add-on armor attachment points to be added later.
Raised elements. The kit provided only the part on the lower right.
The Boxer exhaust is unusual.
Questionable engraved lines are also provided on the left side under it.
The is the kit part for the exhaust. It is to be discarded because it has wrong size, shapes and details. The exhaust should not have attachment points for add-on armor either.
Even the 1/35 Hobby Boss kit has proven mostly useless as reference for this build. It has simplifications, wrong details and shapes as well.
New basic parts are created of the right size with the right engraved hole patterns.
The newly created exhaust module (top) compared to the kit parts (bottom).
Exhaust module is installed. Not perfect visually because the engraved lines of the model do not align with it, but this is better than expected.
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Overview with the new exhaust
Continuing with the rear ramp. It would be simpler to represent the ramp glued in a completely closed position but on a APC, this would be just wrong and it is not my style.
Main parts are prepared, including the two main parts for the hinge mechanism that need to be fully scratch built.
The interior side need to be beefed-up to represent the armor thickness, look and feel of the real thing.
With great difficulty, holes need to be made on the lower bottom to design and create he opening mechanism on a best effort basis.
The exterior of the rear ramp. Notice the two large and long brackets for the opening mechanism and the way they are mounted.
The plastic strip under the ramp is removed from the hull to position a brass rod inside it to work with the hinges.
The ramp is positioned. It is set higher than in reference pictures but this is the best i could do because there is no way to reproduce the complex hinge mechanism of the real Boxer. Well, not within the few hours i am willing to put on it...
The small door is given some details as seen in pictures. Lack of close up reference pictures is a problem with the Boxer. Most references mostly show the same angles and always at a distance, which give troubles for the builder to make out details. The hinges are made functional and are made a bit thicker than normal in order to be more resistant.
Small door is installed.
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A simple opening/closing mechanism is created with a servo and a push rod connected to the bottom of the ramp. Not authentic but it is the best that can be achieved with a simple process, and it works well.
The small door is made to open and close manually.
The interior of the ramp is given some details. Because of the suspension towers and gear mechanism, there is no way for me to create interior details for the Boxer. It would have required a different design. But the Boxer interior is far more complex than in a M113 or BMP, so i will not attempt creating an interior. However, i want to create something interesting to look at when the ramp is down.
A picture of a real Boxer interior viewed from outside the rear ramp is copied, resized, printed and cut to fit the model.
The plan is to position the picture in a permanent basis on a flat plate at the end of the build. Some interior lighting can likely improve the look further when viewed at night.
Ok when viewed directly in front of the ramp, but not ideal when viewed from the side. But it is much better than to see the electronics, gearbox, etc.
That's it for now.

Regards, Louis

Continuing the build at a fast pace with the commander's hatch. I am not getting bugged down anywhere or designing complicated solution that others cannot replicate. As the Boxer is soon to enter Australian and UK service in coming years, more interest on the Boxer will likely grow as they ramp up some operations and they are seen speeding and getting around slowmos on highways...

The Boxer is equipped with a sliding windshield with wipers. As this vehicle can run at speeds higher than 100km/h, i assume this is very useful for the commander in bad weather. The shield offers no ballistic protection.
Overview of the complex hatch from the rear. It can be equipped with various external electronics and screens.
These are the parts that i figured are for the commander's hatch, sold on a separate sprue for an extra 9 Euros, also has the parts for the rear camera (not shown). There are no instructions for it.
The Ludwig website has one picture on the catalog that gives an indications on how things we're meant to be.
First task is to build and install the hatch itself, just like the other four on the roof.
Made to be operable.
Main task is to assemble the periscope as per picture. Added parts from plasticard residue need to be put on to fill the various holes.
Then everything is sanded smooth, using superglue mixed with the sanded plasticard dust as filler. The trick is to sand the parts while the superglue is not yet dry, and add some superglue as needed for more filling. Best putty available and it dries in seconds. As per references i have seen, the larger periscope need to be cut down and made exactly like the others.
The provided ring is not exactly as it should be in order to position the periscope as per reference. I did cut it in order to position the periscopes correctly with the spacing seen between them and the hatch hole.
Main parts are installed.
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