Pages

DISCLAIMER:
The publication of any images or informations related to nazism, fascism or any other totalitarian regimes must be understood as the reproduction of historical accuracy and not as apology to these regimes, leaders or symbols.
ATENÇÃO:
A publicação de qualquer imagem ou informação referentes ao nazismo, fascismo ou quaisquer outros regimes totalitários deve ser entendida como reprodução do rigor histórico e não como apologia a estes regimes, líderes ou símbolos.

Beaverette Mk III - case report

Lads !!!
      Let's see this little girl with a funny name, product of the desperate days of the dawn of World War II, when Britain was in the imminence of a Nazi invasion: Beaverette Mk III!!!
Beaverettes Mk III in maneuvers
History:
      The Standard Car 4x2, or Car Armoured Light Standard, better known as the Beaverette, was a British armoured car produced during World War II.
    The first version of the vehicle was built in 1940 by Standard Motor Company at the instigation of Lord Beaverbrook, then Minister of Aircraft Production (hence the name Beaverette).
Lord Beaverbrook
      It was based on commercial car chassis, on which a simple riveted armoured hull was mounted. The 11mm of steel was backed by 3 inch thick oak planks. The hull was open at the top and at the rear. The armament consisted of Bren light machine gun which could be fired through a slot in the glacis armour (Beaverette Mk I).

Beaverettes Mk II with Bren MG
Beaverettes Mk II in training...Gents, start your engines !!!
   
       Subsequent versions received all-around protection and a machine gun turret - an enclosed one with Bren MG...
Beaverette Mk III with enclosed turret...

Bren machine gun

      ...or an open-topped one with twin Vickers K Mk I machine guns.
Beaverette Mk III with open turret and two Vicvkers K .303 MG
Vickers K - Mk I - .303 MG
      Some vehicles also carried Boys anti-tank rifles.
Anti-Tank, Rifle .55in, Boys

     Some had No. 11 or No. 19 radio set. The production was stopped in 1942. About 2,800 units were delivered.
      The Beaverette was used by the British Army and Royal Air Force for home defence service and training. The vehicle is said to have suffered from excessive weight and to be hard to handle.

Variants:
  • Mk I - original version.
Beaverette Mk I - notice the radiator with vertical grill
  • Mk II - had all-around armour and the radiator grill was changed from a vertical bars to a horizontal.
  • Mk III - Beaverbug - had shortened chassis, redesigned hull without curved front wings fenders, with top armour and a machine gun turret.
Beaverette Mk III with Vickers turret
Beaverette Mk III with Vickers turret
Notice the improvised airstrip cleaner device adapted in his nose
England, 1944.
Beaverette Mk III with Bren turret
Turret with four .303 Brownings MG in the
Boulton-Paul Defiant two seater fighter

Beaverette Mk III AA with four .303 Browning MG
  • Mk IV - glacis armour was redesigned to improve visibility.
Beaverette Mk IV - notice the glacis armour in step and in angle

      A similar vehicle, known as Beaverette (NZ), was produced in New Zealand Railways workshops, Hutt Valley. The car used a Ford 3/4 or 1-ton truck chassis and plate salvaged from the ships Port Bowen and Mokoia for armour. They had a crew of 4 and 208 units were built.
LP2 New Zealand Beaverette
This particular one is the prototype with plate over the top, and additional
armour at the front (both removed later on, and the
standard Beaverette slat type grille added. font: Rob Mooar, in Missing-Lynx
      After the WWII, many Beaverettes continued to be used in several functions, like policing in risky areas:
Beavarette Mk IV turretless in the conflicts of Ireland
...and other different duties;
A gutted Beaverette without armour used as tractor for gliders, in post-war.
Survivors:
      A Mark III Beaverette is displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

Beaverette Mk III (Bren) in the Imperial War Museum - Duxford
      Another Mark III is in the Cobbaton Combat Collection, a private collection of military vehicles in Umberleigh, Devon in the United Kingdom.
Beaverette Mk III with a Lewis (?) MG in the turret
Cobbaton Combat Collection
      A Mark IV Beaverette is displayed at the Museum Bevrijdende Vleugels in the Netherlands.
Beaverette Mk IV - Museum Bevrijdende Vleugels - Netherlands
font: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Beaverette
Specs:
Standard Car 4x2 Beaverette
TypeLight armoured car
Place of origin                     United Kingdom
Production history
ManufacturerStandard Motor Company
Specifications
WeightMk III: 2.6 tonnes 
LengthMk III: 3.10 m 
WidthMk III: 1.73 m 
HeightMk III: 2.16 m 
Crew3

ArmourMk III: up to 9 mm
Mk IV: up to 12 mm 
Main armament
0.303 (7.7 mm) Bren MG
or twin Vickers K MG
EngineStandard 4-cylinder
petrol engine
46 hp (34 kW)
Power/weight17-23 hp/tonne
Suspension4x2 wheel, leaf spring
Operational range
Mk III: 300 km
SpeedMk III: 38 km/h
The kit:
      I used the IMA Beavarette Mk III model kit in resin (IMA 00935). The kit comes packaged in an interesting rigid plastic box, nicely packed in styrofoam and bubbles-plastic.
The IMA kit : the rigid box and instructions sheet (very spartan...)
The resin kit: parts very well casting (no bubbles)
metal wire and two turrets
(you choice the Bren or Vickers)
No decals or guns in the kit.

The casting is superb...
Amazing casting...
       I started by the wheels, strengthening the small shafts with dental acrylic, to prevent fractures...
Prevention is better than repair!!!
The front suspension. The alignment is crucial in this step...
So cute !!!
Eyes right !!!
      Inspecting the kit, I found that the joints of the plates are recessed in the kit, but they are weld beads, in the original model. See the arrow, below:
Hull in dry-run: notice the recessed panel lines. Wrong !!!
       The real thing:
weld beads
asymmetry typically English, by Jove!!
Again, the wrong weld joints...
       Another mistake: the flat plane in the vehicle floor:

      The correct is above: a box for the rear axle (red arrow). I'll have to do in scratch these and other details, such as the protector of the drive shaft and gearbox (green arrow), a fuel tank (blue arrow) and the turret structure (yellow arrow):
Beaverete Mk III - internal view - real vehicle.
      Scratch time: the rear axle box:

Rear boxe done...
       The front firewall is complete, closing the below area of the front hull:

Firewall done...
       Gear box and the drive shaft tunnel:

Instruments panel
The  base of the rotatory device of the turret (red arrow)
Fuel tank, instruments panel and the stering wheel in position...
Driver's position
       As the kit don't provides the gun, I'll use the Bren MG from Italeri:
Italeri's accessories...
The seat of the  gunner's turret. Notice the coils...
The parking-brake
       And the girl ready for paint. Notice the weld beams make with sprue and eletronic welder. I think it's amazing an armoured car does not present a spare wheel.
      I imagined a field adaptation to solve this flaw: a piece of metal and a welding apparatus to solve this fault ....
Ready for paint... Notice the spare wheel...
Internal view

The hull...
The spare wheel rack...
...and the wheel in position. Notice the lock lever of the door, modified...
New profile, with spare wheel.
Turret for the Bren gun
Side view of the turret

               Dry run: next step: paint and marks...






Continuing with the painting of Beaverette: First of all, primer.
Surface primer Vallejo (white)
Colors in the interior
Adding dirty...
External colors: greens
Shadows and lights in green...
       I print the instruments for the Beaverette:
I made the instruments of Beaverette in decal.
In position...
Almost ready for closing the body...
Cammo patern: green and black
The inspiration...
Almost there !!!
      Next step, close the body...



      I applied a coat of Future,to prevent silvering in the decals... While the Future dried, I did the decals ...
The decals: white and transparent film...RAF markings...
First of all, the white backgrounds: front
white backgrounds: rear
Colors in place : front ( the E2 mark was made with white pen)
rear view
Pretty girl !!!
And the little girl was ready...
Beaverette Mk III - Royal Air Force - England, 1941.
Beaverette Mk III - Royal Air Force - front view

Beaverette Mk III - Royal Air Force - right side

Beaverette Mk III - Royal Air Force - rear view
Eyes right !!!

Beaverette Mk III - Royal Air Force - left side


Beaverette Mk III with Kojak, for size proportion

Beaverette Mk III - Royal Air Force - bird view

Guy "Ant" 4x2 15cwt GS  and  Beaverette Mk III
Royal Air Force girls

See you soon, Gents !!!!  Bye !!!