Hi all,

just a few pics of a commission I'm working on at the moment. It's Accurate Armour's SAS 110 DPV with the 40mm grenade launcher. A very nice kit, very involved, but with outstanding detail. This one has the new, one piece resin chassis, which is soooo much better than the original white metal multi part affair.

Any way, I am undecided on the colour. in the overhead shot, the dashboard area is a different colour to the rest. Which one do you think looks better? Consider that this will be finished as a 'clean(ish) vehicle', at the start of Op'Telic, rather than severely weathered ( one of those will follow later, trust me.. )







Cheers
Henk

Looking good Henk I think the lighter colour on the dash looks better. I would like to know what paints & colours you are using. It is a bit difficult though because with different lighting & exposures etc. it´s hard to judge, anyway your photography is better than mine that´s why I haven´t done many photos to send in of my SCUD.

Thanks Mike,
I'm leaning towards the lighter colour myself. These are Lifecolour Dunkelgelb (the darker colour) and Vallejo Dark Sand (70847).

I agree with Mike. The ligher colour looks better for one of the later DPVs, although it may be a bit too bright. Some weathering may however tone it down a bit.

I assume you have a seen the article in Military Machines International September 2007.

It would be good to read your thoughts of the kit. I have started the model, but as it is my first large multi-media kit I am finding it a bit challenging.

On the stowage side, I think the GPMG ammunition containers between the seats should be brown not green. The green painted bergans, etc also look a bit bright at this stage. I presume these will be 'tweaked' when you paint the rest of the stowage.

yep ! dark brown GPMG tins .

Thanks for your input Tony and Andrew.

I realise that the ammo boxes need to be brown (service-brown even.. ), I'm still trying to find a good colour for them. the green was only a 'try' out of something I mixed up. Obviously not quite there yet.. .
yes, the Bergans and other stowage will be different. The bergans will be in DPM, and the other bags and packs in various shades of green, and some black. All suitably weathered, but not to heavily.




No, I have not read that article, but I'll have a look for it.
This is the second Land Rover from AA that I'm building, and it is indeed not for the 'occasional' builder. The key to the AA kits (as indeed for most Multi media kits) is to take your time studying the instructions, the parts, and to do plenty of dry fitting. Inevitably a number of the parts will be warped, this is easy to fix, the resin needs little heat to become soft enough to gently bring back to shape. Don't get hung up with the suspension springs, most people I spoken with replace them with copper wire ones, or cut the supplied ones to lenght. Some of the parts are a very, very close fit, esspecialy the engine/gearbox., and the drive train. You must decide before hand if you want these parts to be part of the 'display', especially the engine, because you can save yourself a lot of hard work if you are going to glue the bonnet down anyway. Most of the engine periphials don't fit very well, and the engine/gearbox need a lot of trimming to fit straight in the chassis. If you mount the vihicle on a base, total accuracy here won't be neccessary. Some call that cheating, some call that common sense. The choice is yours.. . I look at it this way, the customer wants the bonnet fixed down, so I can use that time better elsewhere.
The new Resin chassis is a huge improvement over the old metal one.
The instruction have also improved.
Work it step be step, and recheck the instructions all the time. Take your time, and all will be well. Don't hesitate to ask questions, here or via a PM.

Henk

Have found an old article on the AS90 by John Murphy who suggests using Humbrol enamel 170 brown bess for service brown. I have used this on GPMG tins for the Tamiya Land Rover and think it works well.

Thanks for the advice on the kit. Yes the suspension is a bit of a s*d. I had great difficulty in glueing the shock absorbers due to the spinginess of the springs. It's a little messy, so might rebuilt it. Ironically, after posting last night I had another look at the kit, particularly the engine bay. I think I might take your advice and leave out the engine, but scratchbuild a sump and clutch housing (i.e. a bracket) for the gearbox to peak out from under the chassis. The model will probably end up on a small base.

Henk,,,,,,,, are you going to put any figs in your rover ,,,,?

Probably not. It's not up to me to decide with this one, and I don't think my customer is to concerned with 'animation'.. He likes Land Rovers (he owns a few real ones), and wants some models for on the shelf. I have another 4 waiting to be done

With regards to those figures for this kit, I have only seen the pics in the instructions, but they look a touch heavy and cumbersome... I would have to see them in the flesh before I would decide on these.

Are you including SAS troopers too?

No troopers with this one, but maybe the next...

Just about finished, all it needs is an overall matt varnish, and a little tweaking of the base. Another great Accurate Armour kit, made more enjoyable in no small way by the 'new' one piece resin chassis, which replaces the earlier multi part metal chassis.

Base colour Vallejo 'Dark Sand' (which is surprisingly light... )
Tyres are a mix of Tamiya 'Nato Black' and Vallejo 'Panzer Grey' and 'German Grey'
Spare wheel cover is Tamiya 'Dunkelgelb' with Vallejo 'German Camouflage Orange Ochre' for the camouflage.
Stowage is a mix of most of the Greens I have, mostly Vallejo. 'Russian Green' is a particularly satisfying shade for faded and worn or dirty green bags etc.
Weapons are Vallejo 'Black' with a small amount of 'Gunmetal Grey' mixed in, to give the black just that little hint of metallic sparkle.
The Bergans and backpacks are painted in Woodland DPM, using the aformentioned grens, as well as various black and brown colours. Use different colours for different packs etc, to vary the impression of wear and tear. Finished these with a heavy wash of Vallejo 'German Grey' .








Cheers
Henk

This one recently came up for sale, they rarely do..Anyway, nice for detail work and comparisons..Keith.



My attempt..

Well Henk
It looks like to clean for an SF used ?? need more paint chips and lot and lot of dust
And weather more the bags.

Good model but to clean for me, my 2 cts

Cheers
Seb

Excellent job Henk! Very, very nice!!!

Thanks for the pics Keith, I was looking at those the other night with Darren, and incidentally that is the sister vehicle of the one depicted in the kit. According to the Accurate Armour instructions the layout of the stowage is as it was on 24KD39 (presumably from a photograph), the registration of course only being one digit out from the one in your pictures. Some interesting point to note, the completely different stowage box on the rear, the spare wheel mount on the side behind the driver, and what looks like a second oil can rack against the side, behind the passenger.
Nice work on your Land Rover, and the crew too. Just one thing I would add to yours, a short piece of ammo belt to go from the ammo box to the GPMG. I can't believe that AA missed that.

Thanks Seb.
Yep, this one is clean, the next one will be very, very battered indeed. I promise..

Henk

Something Henk and I noticed in the ref photos was the 2 speedo's,we couldn't work out the reason for 2 speedos one on each side, anyone know the reason/answer to that one.

Note where the GPS mount is positioned, not where AA have it on the kit.

The second calibrated speedo was for navigation aid, speed, time and distance. The commander of the vehicle cannot see the one in front of the driver without a lot of effort.

This way he can do what he needs to and stay in his own position.

I do believe the spare wheel mount was added after the vehicle returned to the UK, too clean (shiny mounting bolt heads) to have been original.

The 'Mother' ship (vehicle) normally a Unimog, carried other spares (wheels) for the Rovers and Bikes.

Keith.

Brilliant! I like the anti tank weapon by the side...

Killer job Henk.
Looks the part.
Great finish.
So what did you use for the sand base looks real good.

Turned out looking great Henk.

Thanks Kieth, Damn Henk won again

Darren, Ask Henk, what is (or supposed to be) holding his Stinger missile box to the rear of his Rover?

Keith.

Darren, tell Keith it's mounted to two small brackets attached to the roll cage...

(and if he mentions the missing straps, they will be added... )

Henk

Henk. The missile container box support brackets are mounted on the quarter panels and the roll cage..
The Stinger boxes are dumped after opening or used for storage/stowage after use.
On replen./resupp. (replenishment/resupply) the new missile comes as a complete unit including the container box and the whole thing is placed in the traveling/stowage location on the L brackets above the tailgate and yes, you got it >> strapped in place using the straps attached to the brackets..

They do not waste time unboxing Stingers and transfer them to other containers.

The box seen in the pictures are just newer style containers.

Keith.

Henk, you've turned out a really nice model. I think the paint colour is spot on.

Keith's model makes a good contrast with the weathered finish.

You have both inspired me to get on with my model again.