Trumpeter British Challenger II

A Mini Build Review By Bob Walls

After completing the Tamiya M60A3 tank from the 1970’s and enjoying the rather simple build, I decided I was ready for
a little more “challenge”. So the Trumpeter Challenger II kit with a bulldozer blade looked like a good choice. I had
found pictures the Challenger with the British Berlin Brigade Camouflage pattern. Since the kit was originally released in
2004 and my kit had been reboxed in 2011 I was expecting a relatively easy build. Wrong!

To start off the hull was multi part and the parts all went about 5 degrees in differing directions. The road wheels would
not stay on the axles which had Tamiya like vinyl caps in the road wheels and the front return wheels were a skew as
the axles were way to short and the diameter was too small. Luckily, the dozer blade hides some of that. I had to use
three clamps, move then when dry and then clamp again. There were many issues with part fit and I decided NOT to do
the camouflage as the kit did not justify the effort.

The kit’s vinyl tracks , while detailed, where extremely thin and broke in several places. Luckily the top run of tracks
can’t be seen and the repairs were hidden under the side skirt armor!

Unlike the Tamiya kit, Trumpeter was forced due to molding expertise to have the modeler put together 4-5 parts to
make up one part. Tamiya would have cast it as two pieces. The worst offender were the hinges on the rear deck. There
are fourteen of them and you can sit 3 on the back of a flea’s butt. Plus they have flash and large sprue connecting
points. Dry scraping the seam line off these puppies. I used Tamiya thin and kind of “ melted and brushed” the seam
lines away. I applied the small “brick a brack” parts after the tank was painted and they touched that up with several
thin coats of the Vallejo. Makes masking easier.
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Tamiya would have molded them on the deck. After you cut these off, you had to position them just right in the small
rectangle spaces on the rear deck.

I finished the tank using Vallejo Primer Panzer Gray for the Nato Black and the Vallejo Primer Nato Green. I added a
little yellow and white to lighten the Nato Green. I sprayed the whole tank green and then masked the areas that would
be green with Thera Putty. It is like silly putty but not as thick and it adheres to the model a little better. It does flow
more so you have to apply, paint and remove. It won’t pull off small parts and really works into crooks and crannies. The
fuel tanks on the rear were brush painted with Mission Models acrylic. Tracks were painted with AK acrylic Polymer
Track Primer and the rubber pads painted with Vallejo Black Primer. I tired a new method of recreating the look of the
flashing turret roof beacon found on European Union tanks. I painted the base Nato green, then used a liquid chrome
pen to paint the beacon. When that was dry, I painted several coats Tamiya X-26 clear orange.

The model is 100% NOT complete and is waiting on 3 antenna, machine guns, a pry bar and decals. Then the final stage
is weathering which I find to be the fun part of building tanks. I am glade the build part is almost over.

I would not recommend this kit unless you like a “challenge”. It builds up into a decent model of the Challenger II and
comes with parts for two versions plus the bulldozer blade. All pluses, but the high part count of tiny details, poor fit of
the hull and turret, poor fit of the wheels and drive sprocket and poor tracks makes me give this kit a D+ grade.
Buildable, but far from enjoyable. I would expect the new Rye Fields kit of the newest versions of the Challenger or
even the older Tamiya Challenger to be a better alternative unless you just have to have a damn Bulldozer Blade!
The orange warning beacon is circled in red. Behind are the putty I used for masking and some of the paints.
You can just see how the tracks and return roller is a little pigeon toed. The return roller axle needed to be 3/8’s an inch
longer to hold the return roller straight. The tracks were so fragile I decided not to take them off to try and fix this.
The Version I wanted to build but it would be too much masking for the effort. Like lipstick on a pig.