AK Land Rover Bodywork

Working away at the bodywork for the land rover and now have the inner wings, front grill and bonnet in place. Nothing difficult here with a test fit all is good and once the inner wings are in place the body feels rock solid. The front grill needs the lights added and here you will need to file the recess of each hole in the grill slightly for the lights, part D6 to fit correctly. The etched grill is very nice with a good weaved appearance.

Next I checked the fit of the front indicator/side light parts, W17. These are clear parts which are a very accurate representation of Land Rover light lenses. They fitted perfectly so can be left off until final assembly. 

The rear lights, W19, however need each hole enlarged as they just will not fit. Also they have another overly complicated fitting in the cargo bed including a etched part. I currently mulling over the best way to fit them for painting purposes. My first choice might be to separate the lenses from the rear portion, fit that and the other parts in the cargo bed then once the model is painted fit the lenses in the holes. 

AK Land Rover Progress

Now that the chassis is built up things are moving slightly faster. The final fiddly and tricky bits have been added here in the form of the steering assembly and the exhaust pipe. As you can see I've partially built up the engine and transmission as I won't be having the bonnet open on this build. What I have assembled looks very nice with lovely detail though.

The front and rear bumpers went on next with the front needing some clean up of seam lines. They both look good once attached to the chassis. The body of the vehicle is made up of multiple parts so some test fitting was required to check for a good fit before gluing. 

Everything lines up pretty well with only the bulkhead, B9, needing some trimming for a good fit. I still have to add the inner wings but so far it looks good. The canvas top fits well and the doors seem to line up correctly too.

  

AK Land Rover series IIA Build Begins

Made a start on the model with the chassis and suspension parts getting sorted. The chassis has some seam lines that need removing which I did but not too neatly as it really won't be seen on the finished model. The leaf springs are next and for some reason these are in two parts which need to be glued together leaving a seam line down the middle that needs sanding. A lot of work for no visible benefit. The location points for the springs on the chassis are not the best so make sure that the springs are all level.

The front and rear axles are next to go on followed by the wheels brake assemblies. the rears are straightforward but the fronts are made up of three parts that don't fit that well. Test fitting before glue is a must. Again this is over complicated especially when there is no option to pose the wheels in anything apart from straight on and you won't see it on the finished piece. The wheels hubs look good but annoyingly have a ejector pin right in the recess on the rear that gets fitted to the axles. Careful clean up here again so that the wheels will actually fit. The rubber tyres look good and have a nice pattern but I expect some nice resin aftermarket wheels will be available very soon.

I'm probably going to glue the wheel hubs to the axles minus the tyres just so I can get a good solid and level chassis before paint. To get to this stage has taken some time mostly due to over complication of parts that will not be seen. Very bronco so far this kit.

AK Land Rover 88 Series IIA Kit Review

Check out my reviews section for a new review on the latest AK kit to hit my bench, the Land Rover Series IIA.

Tamiya Me 262 Finished!

Well the project is now finished, almost did not get there but in the end I'm very pleased with the end result. I've always liked the lines & looks of the 262, it has a certain flow to it that is really attractive to the eye. In this particular colour scheme as well it really does look different.

Me 262 Kettenkrad & Figures

I've now turned my attention to the kettenkrad & figures. The krad had a good spray of tamiya XF 60 dark yellow followed by detail painting and a pin wash. Just enough to pick out the details but not too much to swamp the look of the model. The figures were painted with various vallejo shades and i think they look pretty good. 

Everything has just had a matt coat so tomorrow I hope to finish off the project with the addition of the cockpit canopy and the figure. 

Me 262 Another Disaster!

Well I really don't know what's the matter with me at the moment. I seem to be having setback after setback especially when it comes to glazing on models. All was going really well, the model received an oil wash to pick out the details followed by a matt coat. On removing the masking on the canopy front section I saw it had broken. Probably when it fell off the stand earlier in the build. 

To say I was pissed off would be an understatement, the model was very nearly launched into the wall. Totally gutted I decided to have a think about how I could fix it whilst cleaning my airbrush. Of course there was something wrong with that on reassembly. Turns out I have a split nozzle so that's fucking £20 to fix! Not a good day yesterday I can tell you.

However I decided to add a tarp to the canopy as I have the little kettenkrad set with the figures and thought this could work as a maintenance scene. A little bit of tissue and diluted white glue did the trick & once painted a contrasting colour looks just fine. So now back on track with a saved model, I really could not face another failure!

Me 262 Stickers On!

Decals have now gone on over a good gloss coat & very nice they look too. Very happy with how this is turning out. The eagle eyed among you will notice I have managed to break the nose gear! Lucky it's an easy fix, I'm so ham fisted at times!

  

Me 262 More Painting

I've now sprayed the tail band and also the striped camo pattern. A lot of careful masking here to get it looking right. I'm very pleased with the result, it's certainly very different. Next I'll finish off the demarcation line between the upper and lower colours with a final spray of light blue then add a touch more fading here & there. 

Me 262 Primer & Paint

Now onto the fun bit with a good coat of primer followed by the pale blue for the undersides and the first lighter green for the upper surfaces. This was followed by a bit of fading with a good slug of tamiya flat flesh added to the green. A touch more will be done once the darker green has gone on. 

Me 262 Coming Together

Work is starting to speed up on the build now with the cockpit and gun bay added to the fuselage and  everything closed up. Once any seam lines where dealt with the wings went on with no issues at all. The fit of parts is excellent with minimal sanding needed. 

All other parts have now been cleaned up and are ready for washing before primer. I've also sprayed the engine ends in their respective metallic shades before fitting.