|
Construction
of the 1/35 scale Tamiya Quad Gun Tractor. I was fishing for a
Ford to build for the upcoming club contest and discovered this
beast is actually a FORD! (Doesn’t look like one). They were
made by FORD Canada for the Canadian and British forces in WW2.
I
began with the wheels. They had a seam in the tread as usual so
that took some sanding. Then
I airbrushed them my super secret rubber tire color. It
is a blend of various greys and blacks and it’s so secret even
I can’t remember how it was made so when this is used up I’m
in trouble. I used Testor’s model masters thinned with mineral
spirits in an IWATA airbrush. After they were painted I used a
simple circle template to mask off the center section. I
just laid this over the tire and sprayed on the Tamiya Desert
Yellow.
This
of course leaves some over spray on the rubber area. To fix that
I think way down some more of the super secret rubber color and
using a small brush apply it around the rims of the wheels. This
leaves a nice crisp line between the wheel and tire. The paint
has to be thin so it will flow around the rim. If one coat will
not cover the yellow then do more.
I
then started on the frame, It had a lot of gaps and
imperfections which needed fixing up. I used Squadron grey
putty.
I
then assembled the axles with the wheels. The axles and frame
were also sprayed in Tamiya Desert Yellow and the engine Tamiya
metallic gray.
Before
installing the engine in the frame I used a black ink wash on it
to give it a dirty used effect.
One
trick I like to use is toothpicks. I build on ceiling tiles so I
can stick things into the tile. This is a left over from my
radio control airplane era so I just adapted it to plastics. I
use this trick on small parts like seats, engines, axles, etc.
Just stick a toothpick into a hole in the part and you have an
instant handle. It also provides a means to hold the part up
while the paint dries. The picture below shows the seats.
Here
is a shot of all the lower sections assembled including the
driver.
You
can see the weathered engine. I also did a watered down ink wash
on the wheels. They will get some more weathering later. I used
some pastel chalks to dirty up the floorboard areas and a silver
pencil to add chipped paint and skuff marks in the appropriate
areas. I also
weathered the seat covers to make them look used and abused. All
paint used was Tamiya colors except for the super secret tire
black. Decals are also applied here. I gloss coated with Future
( at least 5 coats) then dull coated after the decals dried with
the Testors acryl which I really like by the way!!! After the
Dullcoat came a spray of darker brown on the undersides
and in the recessed areas. Just a light effect to look like dirt
build up.
Now
came time for the cab. It was sprayed in desert yellow also.
Before
it was sprayed in the yellow base color I sprayed a dark brown
in all the seams and recesses. Then when I applied the yellow I
tried to let some of the dark bleed through. After the yellow
dried I lightened up some of the yellow with white and then
applied a very light coat of this in the center of the panels to
give it a washed out look.
Then
the windows went in with basically a strong white glue (easy to
clean off when you mess up!!) The final vehicle gets a heavy
dose of pastel browns and blacks to give it a very used and
dirty look.
I
also masked a wiper pattern on the drivers windscreen and
sprayed a very very light coast of white to give the windows a
hazed effect.
And
here is a side shot of the final (OK the mirrors are not on yet
but close enough). I enjoyed building this and it’s the second
British desert vehicle I have done. I’m starting to get the
feel for this color scheme.
Hope you got something from this write up. Please contact
me if you have questions and happy modeling. Remember…If you
like the way it looks then you have been successful….don’t
worry about the rest of it!!
|
