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Back In The Hills

Introduction

I never expected to get the response from this project that I have. In the beginning I simply set out to do an entry for the Move It Campaign. My plan was to complete the kit and submit it. Nothing but a simple build to get my first completed model. However, it gradualy developed into what you see now.

The Kit

To start, I chose a AMT 1/25th Beverly Hillbillies Truck. I thought this would be a great first build. But OH MY, what a place for a beginner to start. This kit was a 2 in 1 kit. I had the choice of building the traditional T.V. version, or the less traditional Hot Rod version. (so lots of parts). The sprues on this kit had no part numbers. Therefore, simply finding what part I needed was a nightmare, as the illustrations were not very good either. Once I found the parts, fitting them together was another issue altogether. There was a lot of flash, and parts just would not fit where they were suppose to go. So with a little help from Kevin (my fiancée’ ) telling me what parts should go where, I was able to assemble the kit. And then the fun started.

Painting the Truck

I started out the painting process by priming the truck with Krylon gray automotive primer. I followed this with an airbrushing of MM flat black enamel. After letting this dry, I gave it a dry brush with some craft acrylic paint called Earth Brown. I followed that with another lighter dry brushing of a mix of Vallejo white, black, and German camo pale brown. The wooden bed of the truck was terrible. I tried to paint it, pastel it, but all was for naught. It was just useless. Instead of indented panel lines and wood grain, it had a raised texture. So, I rebuilt the bed of the truck using balsa wood strips. This was accomplished simply by laying the balsa wood strips over the existing bed. The other plastic wooden parts, such as the sideboards, the floorboards in the driver compartment, the wheels, and granny’s bench, were painted with MM RLM79 Sandgelb as a basecoat. This was followed with washes of burnt sienna oil paint and then another wash of raw umber oil paint. The wooden part of the bed (the deck that I rebuilt) was aged using a highly thinned light gray India Ink solution. Leaving this on the wood until the color I wanted was achieved, the excess was wiped away with a paper towel. This was also followed with washes of the oil colors previously mentioned in order to further bring out the wood grain. The raw umber oil paint was also used in the form of a pin wash on the black part of the truck body. The seat of the vehicle was painted with Vallejo brown leather paint and then lightly dry brushed with Khaki tan acrylic craft paint, with the aforementioned pin wash used to add shadow in the creases of the seat. Accessories: The jugs, wooden barrels, tool boxes, and the red tail lamps all came with the kit. I positioned these where I felt was right, but decided to add a few extra things. One item that I chose was a pewter charm bracelet Bible piece bought from Hobby Lobby from the jewelry making aisle. This had beautiful engraved detail. So after it was primed, I painted it with a gold paint then dry brushed black on the bible, and red on the bookmark to achieve the effect you see. I placed this on the bench next to a couple of bottles of “granny’s medicine”. The back of the truck still looked bare, and I did not have a lot of items to add in 1/25th scale, so ..I decided that a rug from The Faust Collection, would look great laying on the back of the truck bed…Thanks Robert!!!! Instead of printing this on standard paper, the rug was printed on iron on transfer paper. After cutting the pattern it was ironed onto a white t-shirt, and then cut out. Laying this rug flat in the back of the truck, did not seem to go with the overall scheme of the “hillbilly truck”. So I decided to create a fold in the rug and make it appear to be blowing from the rear of the truck. To accomplish this, the underside of the rug, the non decal side, was coated with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Then it was folded and set into place on the bed of the truck. However this alone did not hold the rug in place. So in the areas that were not adhering, CA glue and accelerator were used.

Final Weathering:

Various colors of pastels were lightly brushed over the areas of the truck and accessories. I used colors such as dark brown, black, gray, and ochre, applying them from dark to light to achieve the desired effect. Also, at various points on the “metal” parts of the truck I applied homemade rust to finalize the old worn, weathered appearance.

The Base

For the base, I used an old craft plaque that I had laying around the house. This was sanded and then given a few coats of varnish. Once dried, I mixed up celluclay. To this I added a generous amount of Elmers white glue. This was applied to the base creating the illusion of a road lane by pressing groves into the celluclay with my fingertips. After this, a healthy dusting of fine beach sand was sprinkled over the celluclay and gently pressed into it. Adding the sand was to give it a texture that would greatly simulate real dirt. I placed this underneath a work lamp and allowed it to dry. Once dry, I painted it with Dark Earth craft paint. This was followed by a layer of thinned Khaki brown craft paint. Which was followed with washes of burnt sienna oil paint and more washes of raw umber oil paint. Once dry, the ground was dry brushed with the same Khaki brown craft paint that was used to paint the ground before. Now for the grass.
For the grass I started with two different types of static grass. I used WS burnt static grass and Verlinden summer static grass . I started a thin coat of white Elmer’s glue to all the places that I wanted the short grass to be. I sprinkled the short grasses into place. After that…I turned the base over holding it above a newspaper to catch the excess grass, and gently blew across the grass to allow the grass to stand up. Next, when this was dry, I got out the Heike wild grass. I tore little pieces of it, and glued it in place using more elmers glue. I then set the base aside to dry. Other vegetation: I decided that I wanted some tree stumps to simulate what you might see in the country. My fiancée’ Kevin, was so kind as to sculpt these for me using Sculpey. I primed the stumps in gray. Then I gave them an oil wash of burnt umber, followed by an acrylic wash of light earth brown. After the washes set, I dry brushed them with ochre and another dry brushing of gray.
Among the grass I planted various weeds and flowers. Materials I used were dried flowers such as baby’s-breath and candytuft, WS field grass, and various Bragdon Enterprises miniature plants.
Around the tree stumps I wanted to create the illusion of a bramble patch. For this I used Rubberized horsehair that was painted with an airbrush of green paint. I picked it apart and placed it around and over the log to my satisfaction. Among the horsehair, I placed single pieces of dried flowers to add a little color and contrast. To tie the whole scene together, the whole diorama was given a dusting of light colored pastels.

In Conclusion

This project for me was so much fun. I started in the beginning saying over and over again how I can’t do this, and how everything is looking so terrible, to the point in the end that I couldn’t wait to start on my next project. Reminds me of riding that scary roller coaster for the first time. Your scared to death, but once you get that first ride under your belt, you can’t wait to ride again.

Special Thanks

I would like to say a special thank you to all the wonderful members of Armorama for all their kind words and help. A special thank you to Mr. Roo aka Cliff…who encouraged me to use this truck as an entry for the Move It Campaign, A thank you once again to Faust aka Robert Blokker for the Rug, A thank you to Major Goose aka Costas for his technique on painting the wood, and last but not least, A big thank you to Jackhammer81 aka Kevin Gardner aka my fiancée’ for making the stumps for me..and for helping me with and teaching me all the techniques that I used for creating this diorama. I love you Kevin.
Mary Langley aka Tankysgal1