Accurate Armour 1/35th Snatch Land Rover Completed

Resin is really cool, but I find the clean up needed to begin assembly and paint work is a huge PITA. Sometimes its the only way to get a subject. This one is pretty cool and not something you see everyday. Watching.

BK

Thanks BK.

This one hasn't be to bad. Ashide from cleaning up the attachment points to the pour block, there has not been much else. A couple of small air holes needed filling, but thats about it. I did wash this kit, which is a first for me.

The Snatch is coming on slowly but its now ready to get some primer on. I am doing all of the inside before putting it all togther and then i will paint the outside. Its a pity there is no equipment to go on the inside. The mounting plate behind the front seats should hold ECM equipment (not a radio as the instructions say). I might try and scratch build something as the type of equipment that fitted there was just a metal box with a couple of switches.

The mesh over the rear lights is rather nice. It is attached to the plate that glues to the vehicle and can be folded to shape but left open so the lights can be added later. No need for masking.

I have fitted the mesh on the side doors, the glass goes in from the inside and can be fitted later.

And the same goes for the front wingscreen, the mesh is movable which is handy.

Now time to prime and try and mix up some paint to get the right shade of green.

OOP's, i seem to have forgotten somthing, the figure. Modern British army figures are pretty thin on the ground and seem to mainly aimed at Iraq and Afghanistan. Accurate Armour does have a range of 80's and 90's figures but i only found one which would fit N Ireland. Its not completly accurate as it seems to have body armour over the jacket when it should be underneath and is missing the ceramic plates on the front and back that covered the vital organs. But it does have the correct chest rig and an SA 80 so its close enough. Not the best resin figures i have seen but not to bad. The right arm is not a good fit, the pouches are molded to allow for the rifle which is nice but the arm does not fit to the shoulder, so needed some filling at the back. The muzzle on the SA 80 has come off but i managed to save it and will attch later.

It's amazing how many WWII and Modern figures you can find, but nothing from the cold war years. I've been working on figures now to expand my range. Your work so far looks very nice.

BK

Thanks BK. And yes, that period does seem to have been very over looked.

Finally got a chance to get in an update. Been a bit of a struggle with parts fit, buts its getting there.

Got the insids painted with some light wear. The instructions say to paint NATO green, but from my memory and pics i could find, these were darker than that. On the Airfix forum in an old thread about British Army colours, some one claimed that vehicles in Ireland were painted darker to distinguish ones used for internal security duties from conventional warfare. Not sure if this is true, but they were certainly darker. I made my own mix useing Tamiya's NATO green, Dark Green and a touch of NATO black. Seems pretty good to my eye. I addd some wear to the flor, mainly where the top cover would stand as well as in the front foot wells.

The upper body was also painted and just got a light dry brush.

Then the seats and belts were fitted. I also added a bergan on the ECM frame. Someone on Britmodeller mentioned that they used to put there ECM in vehicles like this and that remindd me that we did as well. easier than trying to scratch a bit of kit. Also addd a set of rocket pouches. I went for the early 90's single colour packs rather than the DPM ones introduced later. I added some wire from the ECM pack which will be run up to the roof. This shows the colour much better than the previous pic.

I then got the roof on being careful not to completly fill in the join.

And the front of the cab with decals added.

With all that, the body was fitted to the chassis, followed the the forward bulkhead, after front wind screns were added, and then the front of the body. Fit was tight, had to do some sanding, bending and clamping, but it got there.

Got a bit of clean up to do before masking and painting.

Got the snatch painted up. Took a few goes until i was happy with the colour. After painted, it got a couple of coats of Alclad aqua gloss.

And then the decals. These went on well, first time i have used AA decals. These were followed by some more Aqua gloss to protect the decals.

Next up some weathering and detail painting.

I got the Snatch wrapped up mid week and got the pics done today. It was finished off with some light oil filters and green streaking from AK. Eith that i gave it a matt coat and fitted all the final parts. I used the supplied wire for the windscreen grill and made a handle thats in the cab. The antenna's are carbon rod from Accurate Armour from where i also got the stop sign. This is PE painted aluminium and with a decal on one side. The figure came out ok. Its not Alpine Miniatures standard, but given the options it does the job. I don't normally add figures to my British armour builds mainly because of the lack of them, but i made an exception on this.

So here are the final pics.

I really enjoyed this. Makes a change not to do something with tracks, and even in the UK we don't see subjects from the Troubles. I already have AA's resin Humber Pig lined up in my shopping basket. Not the easiest kits, but worth the effort.

Very nice finish Bish to a not often seen subject. 

Thanks Est.