No Progress & Something New!

Well it's been very warm her in the UK over the last week or so which means it's not the best conditions to paint the rest of the Land Rover. Tried last night but the paint was drying out very quickly. So I will pencil in a painting session over the weekend in the evenings.  

Something new landed on the doormat today from down under, this rather smashing conversion set by Black Ops Models for an Australian Abrams. A vehicle that has long been on my hit list of must build models. A quick look in the box and I'm very very impressed with the contents. I will do a small review very soon. Now all I need to do is track down a Dragon M1A2 SEP No 3536 kit. These are pretty scarce at the moment but fingers crossed I can hunt one down for a decent price!

AK Land Rover First Colour!

Well my paints arrived today, so fast I was suprised. So obviously being a slightly impatient modeller I just had to get the first colour down. As I am painting this as an Aden vehicle I have chosen the same colours I used for the Saladin build back in 2015. The first colour is mr hobby H313 yellow with a couple of drops of tamiya X2 white. Thinned with Mr color levelling thinner and a couple of drops of VMS slow-mo extender this sprayed very nicely indeed. 

Now, although the instructions call for the chassis to be painted black I blew some of the yellow over the undersides as it's going to be very dusty later on. Also almost nothing will be seen of it on the finished model anyway. Next was the canvas cover and here the paint callout is deck tan which I found was too pale so instead used mr hobby H336 hemp. Finally the bottom and rears of the front seats were painted using mr hobby H36 dark green. This will be the second colour to go onto the body of the model later. 

I must say a big thanks to Terry Taylor for quickly answering my question regarding internal colours for Aden Landys. 

AK Land Rover Primed

The model has now had a blast of Mr finishing surfacer 1500 black primer. It's really popped the detail on the kit and it also shows no flaws that I need to correct. A slight pause now as yet again I have had to order paint. I really should start checking before I begin building to make sure I have the correct colours in stock! 

 

Land Rover Almost Done

Quickly made some progress on the model with a lot of small fiddly bits added. Also decided not to add the tools to the rear of the model basically so I can show off the lovely markings later. So some spare straps with buckles where found and added in place of the tools. 

Final bits to do are the rear of the canvas cover and making new wing mirrors as the kit ones are pretty poor. A test fit of the major parts shows it all lines up very well which is a relief! 

AK Land Rover Slow Progress

I'm plodding along with the build but with the superb weather currently enjoyed by the UK at the moment I'm spending more time in the garden sunning myself! First up are the rear lights and here in the end I just fitted the clear parts before adding the plastic section behind them and finally finishing off with the small etch cover. I'll just mask the lights before primer.

The rear bench seats went in next followed by the body and chassis glued together. This was done as the fit is not the best and the location areas are vague so for a strong bond it's been glued now. Some filling of sink marks on the doors and canvas is taking place & the rear tailgate and bumper area are being worked on at the moment.

IPMS Salisbury Model Show

Today myself and Brian visited the IPMS Salisbury model show. I have not been for a while so we decided to go as punters for an hour or two before going off for a pub lunch. Held at the usual venue in Laverstock it all had a very familiar feel as we stepped in the door. However we soon discovered that now two halls are used as well as a nice outside covered area for snacks, teas & coffee. 

The main hall was packed with exhibitors and traders and I must say from the off I was very impressed with the quality of the models on display. There was also a good variety of traders although I went with no wish list and did not intend to buy anything. Whilst perusing the displays it was great to have a chat with friends and followers of the blog.

The second hall was smaller but still packed in plenty to see. This was where Salisbury had their main display and very impressive it was too. Off from the main entrance was a small room set aside for the competitions, something Salisbury have always done well. This was filling up and the standard here was very high indeed.

After a couple of hours it was time for some refreshment so we hot footed it to Enford and the Swan pub. A very pleasant pint of three daggers brewery daggers edge beer and a steak & beer pie went down a treat whilst we talked all things modelling and a lot of bollocks!