1/35 Scale Turkish Armed Forces Light Infantry Vehicle/Armored Personnel Carrier Otokar Cobra

  In line with the mechanization Land Forces, the demand for wheeled armoured vehicles has increased in all armies around the world. Otokar's design and manufacturing team has developed the best solution for wheeled armoured vehicles, COBRA which offers superior mobility, ballistic protection and adaptability for various roles and missions.

The body design allows flexibility for mounting of various weapon systems and mission related equipment. COBRA's multi-mission capabilitiy is reflected by its derivatives.

 

 

 

 

Cobra Personnel Carrier

 Suspension structure, rapid ingress and egress capability provided by the wide doors of Cobra vehicle ensure safe transfer and easy interference of the personnel. Vehicle's monocoque body and its wide wall angles are designed to provide higher ballistic and mine protection and due to its low profile, it is not an easy target to detect. By means of 7,62 or 12,7mm. machine guns automatic cannons up to 30 mm. that are mountable on 360º rotating turret, personnel can safely be transferred to battle area in safety conditions. Otokar designed closed turret, enhances Cobra's effectiveness in day and night conditions during missions such as border control, road and strategic area protection and fire support to the teams in combat area.  

CONSTRUCTION

 Well, I decided to build a large diorama with a friend of mine , of course topic is Turkish Armed Forces. And Otokar Cobra is a must, so I decided to build a model of it . As actual vehicle, I’ve used an Hummer chassis , seats, tyres from Italeri kit and scratch build everything else.

 First of all, I have to find some scale drawings, but I couldn’t find any. I e-mailed otokar several times but nobody answered me. So, I scanned Italeri plan drawing, enlarged to 1/35 scale and I put 4 view photos I’ve took at IDEF 2003 fair. Also, I skeewed those photos according to 1/35 of actual dimensions at Cobra catalogue. I’ve  drew new scale drawings at Photoshop .  Thanks to technical school education , I’ve begun to find actual 1/35 dimensions from printed copy of drawings by drawings tool such as compass,templates etc. and I made new drawing of actual kit parts. I’ve scaned this drawings and convert them to vector images, then re-print them. Then I’ve glued them to Evergreen sytrene sheets by re-stickable glue. I’ve cut each parts from sheet sytrene and the hardest part is over.

 Costruction was not so difficult. I’ve used CA and regular liquid glue. After everthing is OK, I’ve filled all gaps with CA and sand them and make all joints smooth with Tamiya putty diluated by liquid glue,Tamiya Super Thin cement.I’ve scribed doors, hatches by Squadron tool. Roof hatches were made from 20 thou sytrene sheet. Also, I’ve poured quick setting PU resin to inside of the model for added strength.

 I have no photo of interior of actual vehilce, so I’ve glued Hummer steering Wheel, insruments panel and seats hypotethically. Several parts such as side view mirors, signal and stop lights, door handles etc came from my huge spare part yard. All hinges were made from Evergreen sheets and strips. Some U handles and stop lights protectors were made from brass wire. For glass areas, I’ve used 40 thou clear Vivak from Bayer.

 For turret, I’ve used same technics as body. Gun is from spare parts yard and smoke launchers were made from Evergreen rods.

COLORS & MARKINGS

 After masking all clear areas with Tamiya masking tapes, I’ve opened all small Windows and add raised rivet details to front part. Paints are from Humbrol and Model Master range, Interior Black, Dark Green and German Red Brown mixed with Dark Tan. And applied freehand with Iwata Eclipse airbrush.  A matt top coat from spray can applied for an even sheen an drybrushed with several shades of tan, Brown, green and grey. Detail parts painted with a fine point brush.

 

FINAL CONSTRUCTION

 After everything was dried overnight, I’ve glued all small details with CA and touched up joints with matt varnish. I’ve glued MV lenses for main lights and painted signal and painted stop lights first chrome silver then Tamiya clear orange and red. Antennas were made from stretched clear sprue and left unpainted for a natural mettalic shine. Small indow openings were filled with MicroScale Cristal Kleer.

CONCLUSIONS

 Well, the model took aprox. 35 hours to finish , 5 hours for drawings, 10 hours for cuting, gluing etc, 10 hours for sanding and adding small details, 5 hours for painting and additional 5 hours or final touchs.

 I hope yo like it.

A.Cagri Acikgoz

Ankara/Turkey

July 2004

REFERENCES

 Text about tech. spec. of Cobra was from www.otokar.com.tr