Shortly after assembling my Sherman Dozer from S&S Models, my next conversion kit arrived, the Small Box Girder (SBG) bridge with extra side fittings that were used to hold the various attachments for the Funnies. Having travelled a few thousand km it held up well with no damage to any of the parts. The bridge is made up of four resin parts that go together to make the bridge surface and then two metal parts that become the cross beams. Impatiently, I assembled and painted up my Warlord/Italeri Churchill AVRE with the additional parts no problem at all… only to forget one key… and when I mean key I mean VERY KEY step.
Turns out the bridge is pretty heavy when its attached to the front of the AVRE, and I had thought about putting weights in the hull before fully assembling it to counter that, but in my rush I forgot. Assembly and painting of the bridge went without a hitch as well, it came together nicely.
Now for some engineering… the A frame on the SBG is a softer metal but I figured with the forces pulling from the SBG and the ARVE it would keep it fairly straight and with some cutting of string I was able to get the bridge to stay up… until I removed the support and it lifted the ARVE up, doh.
Off to the local hardware store I went and picked up an obscene number of fishing weights. I dropped as many as I could fit down the turret hole and used some blue tack to hold them in place. SBG hooked up for Round 2, and with a crash it was SBG 2 AVRE 0. I ended up super-gluing a few bigger weights to the underside of the hull and presto the AVRE was able to hold up the SBG. All in all, I definitely recommend this kit, it adds little something extra and interesting to a force and I hope to put it into play sometime soon.
