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Can you believe that over the
years I've NEVER built a jeep kit? That doesn't mean I don't
have any, (have 16 un-built) just that for some reason I've
never actually put one together. I looked around for a way to
paint one besides olive drab (I have a whole shelf full of OD
vehicles), and this is what I found. Well here goes…
Construction:
Started by putting the chassis / suspension together. Engine is
provided - I didn't add any detail to it since I was closing the
hood. The frame is molded in one piece, and has the usual
parting lines and mold circles that need to be removed and
filled in. I filed out the insides of the bumperettes so they
were a more realistic thickness. The suspension components all
went together without any headaches. I drilled out the end of
the exhaust, but did not attach the muffler exhaust to the
chassis yet.
The wheels were assembled next. I
sanded down the tread a bit, as it seems too
"aggressive". .015 holes were drilled in the rim, and
valve stems were added to the wheels from stretched sprue. These
are 1.5mm long from the edge of the rim.
The body tub has a number of
molding circles on the underside that need to be filled in.
Tamiya provides a molded on accelerator pedal, but no brake or
clutch pedals. The accelerator of cut away, and all 3 pedals
were cut from thin plastic, mounted on rod and installed. The
round part molded next to the accelerator should not be removed.
The rest of the interior was
built per the instructions. The seats were left out until after
painting. The fire extinguisher (B42) was also left off until
after painting, as were the shift levers (I know I'll break them
off while painting.) I didn't use part A26 under the passenger
seat.
Curiously, Tamiya omits the hood
and windshield hold down latches, not even providing mold-on
ones. I replicated these using pieces of stretched sprue, with
small pieces of .010 plastic for the bases. The rifle rack
mounts were removed from the inside of the windshield. The inner
area of the windshield braces (B44 and B45) was carved out.
The top bow braces were removed
from the Tamiya parts, and hollowed out. New bows were bent from
.025 plastic rod, and installed in the "up" position.
The canvas came from the Italeri Jeep kit, and fit with no
problems.
Painting:
I sprayed the parts with Non-Specular Sea Grey. Model Master
paint was used (Intermediate Blue FS35164). When dry, it was
sealed with Glosscoat, and then a black wash applied. This was
followed by dry brushing with the base color and a lighter shade
of gray (base color mixed with some white).
The tires were painted black,
with dark gray dry-brushed over them. The canvas parts were
painted and dry brushed with dark olive drab. Other details were
painted as needed.
The decals were taken from my
scrap pile. The "USN" was cut from the words "USS
ENTERPRISE" left over from Hasegawa's 1/72 S-3 Viking, and
the 62072 was cut from the BU number left over from Italeri's
1/72 AV-8B.
After a covering of Dullcoat was
applied, I finished off the MB by gluing on the few remaining
small parts, and the canvas top. As a last touch, the reflectors
and taillights were painted dark red. |
