Hobby Boss Land Rover WMIK with Milan ATGM

[James B]

Land Rover WMIK with Milan ATGM

by Hobby Boss

I wanted to do something that fitted with my current hobby theme of Operation Telic, but wanted something that would put all the kits into scale perspective. So with this in mind I went for a good old Land Rover. I've read great reviews about the Hobby Boss kit, and as my skills are somewhat lacking, a good OOB is what I need.

I'm trying to paint more things in sub-assemblies as that appears to be what all of you pros seem to do. I'm struggling to work out which parts to do when though, so we'll see how it goes as I don't want to paint too much of the base coats by hand if I can avoid it.

Edited February 18, 2016 by James B

[Wagtail]

I'm a sucker for anything Land Rover so I'll be watching this one. That's off to a great start and nothing lacking in the skills department from your work so far!

[phildagreek]

This is a good kit, I built it a while ago along with the version that has the .50 mounted on top. My only problem was I couldn't get the front wings to meet the "A" post, they touched at the top but left a gap, trying to force them left it all sitting at a ridiculous angle. I glued them at the top and used a spirit level to keep everything nice and square. I filled the gap then sanded and painted, looks okay.

I used some products from Accurate Armour, resin tyres/wheels, some stowage and British infantry bergens/bedrolls etc. The builds are on here called "Afghan patrol" if you want a shufty.

Crack on!

[James B]

@Wagtail, thank you for the kind words.

This is a good kit, I built it a while ago along with the version that has the .50 mounted on top. My only problem was I couldn't get the front wings to meet the "A" post, they touched at the top but left a gap, trying to force them left it all sitting at a ridiculous angle. I glued them at the top and used a spirit level to keep everything nice and square. I filled the gap then sanded and painted, looks okay.

I used some products from Accurate Armour, resin tyres/wheels, some stowage and British infantry bergens/bedrolls etc. The builds are on here called "Afghan patrol" if you want a shufty.

Crack on!

Thanks for the heads up @phildagreek, I'll definitely keep an eye on that "A" post join. I was looking at the Acurate Armour stuff, but couldn't justify the cost after the crappy exchange rate and postage to the other side of the world. Although after seeing your models, I'm wondering if I should have. They look really stunning, and all that added baggage really adds serious character.

Another thread I saw, someone had commented that for the Military Land Rovers is black, but OD would also be ok. Should I repaint the frame OD, or NATO green, or leave black? I think I'll undercoat the model NATO green and then apply copious amounts of the AK chipping effect before the sand colour. I'm assuming they were painted the same way the armour was, and it all chipped off/got sand blasted off?

I've got the frame attached to the engine and all the steering racks etc on and rusted up the exhaust a fair bit, as on all my cars this has always been the 1st to go.

Edited February 18, 2016 by James B

[FrancisGL]

A nice start, good job, cheers

[phildagreek]

Certainly looks the bizz!

[James B]

Does anyone know if I'd be better off painting this up in NATO green? There seems to be as many shots on the web of it in Op Telic as green as there are Sand? I quite like the idea of doing it green, simply because it will show the sand pigments so much more.

[SeanM]

...... and as my skills are somewhat lacking,......

Well there's no evidence of that so far! Very nice job to date....

I think doing in the green would be different and as you say show up the sand pigments/weathering better.

So far I've done 3 of these HB LRs and the difficult bit is lining up the frame, engine, wings and hood. It is a bit tricky but then a friend, who's a LR aficionado, said one day there are 3 man-made objects visible from space: the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Egypt and the gaps on a Landrover

[phildagreek]

Do it whatever colour you like. A couple of mine have green wheel hubs, if you're up yo the challenge, undercoat in green then sand on top, using the various methods of weathering you could have bits of green showing through. Many were painted sand at unit level by bored squaddies with brushes, no training in painting and no interest!

It's yours, go your own way.

[James B]

I've had this photo sitting, waiting for me to get some time to upload it. Not a huge amount of progress over the last few weeks as have started a new job and the age old problem of having to adult keeps getting in the way!

I took this pic at the end of a long session. The MILAN ammo boxes are 3 pieces per box and there's 12 boxes :banged: Nearly drove me insane!

Since taking this pic, I've finished all the sub assemblies and prepped them for painting.

Edited February 18, 2016 by James B

[Alpha Delta 210]

Great progress James. If you want any general Land Rover weathering tips, take a look at Parabat's excellent walkaround:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234928621-land-rover-wolf-weapons-mount-installation-kit-wmik/

If you want more visual interest, I have seen pictures of vehicles with odd-coloured wheels. (3 sand and one black for example.) As you can see in Parabat's pictures there are vehicles with odd-coloured bumpers, bonnets and wings, so anything is possible!!

If you would like to see my interpretation of Parabat's reference pictures on my Airfix Op Herrick collection, take a look here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234961702-my-airfix-148-operation-herrick-collection/?hl=rwmik#entry1645611

I will be following your WiP with interest.

[Yeoman1942]

A lot of vehicles arrived in Kuwait green, having come direct from units or storage in the UK or Germany. There was a spray bay back at the port where every thing got a once over in acrylic sand. This paint wore very quickly giving the distinctive green chipping showing through that you see.

I think the WIMIK was only issued to light infantry battalions so you would be building a 16 AA Bde or 3 Cdo Bde vehicle. A Para wagon is your best bet if you want to go green as the Marines had been on Saif Saria in Oman prior to arrival so we're already sand by February.

Hope this helps

Very tidy build by the way

[John_W]

My Nephew was REME attached to the Scots Dogs. They had issues with the paint as the vehicles were done in the UK prior to deployment and the paint didn't cure properly in the cold.

[James B]

@Yeoman1942 and @John_W Thank you for your advice, it's truely great, and extremely helpful. Based on what you've said I've followed the same path as my warrior, but tried to go a bit heavier on the chipping. Not sure it's as effective, and I'm not sure about the front grill, as I think this may have been black like the chassis, rather than green? If you can shed more light on this, or whether it chipped the same as the other paintwork I'd be hugely grateful.

On with the update... I had a rather productive session and got a lot of the base painting done. I need to weather it, run some wash over it and add some streaks, dirt and sand as well as the bit I hate most, painting the dull, time consuming details like the weapons, gear stick etc.

Edited February 18, 2016 by James B

[Yeoman1942]

James B your chipping looks good to me. Your chips should go where people climb and pull kit on and off the vehicle. I think the WIMIK grills were green, but I don't have any photos to back that up. As far as the weapon systems go GPMGs were black and I am not sure about a sand Milan firing post and missile. They were pretty sensitive bits of kit and being free with the paint would do them no good at all. The missile tube was a consumable item and exited stage left when the missile was fired. They were not around long enough to get painted. If you think of it like painting big expensive rounds of ammunition and then firing them you get the idea.

If you are adding stowage you can put some PLCE webbing around the TUAAM (the antenna base on the drivers side wing) as that was a common place to stow your belt kit as it is a pain to wear in a vehicle and you need it as soon as you step off.

Hope this helps

[James B]

I don't want to infringe any copyrights, and hopefully posting links to images isn't against forum policy (I had a quick search, but couldn't find anything).

Anyhow, yet again I'm eternally grateful for the assistance and direction as I was stuck on the launcher colour. There are not a lot of images on the net that I could find that clearly show the MILAN, but I did find these:

Green MILAN - even the large mounting ring on the frame of the WMIK appears to be green, but it's hard to tell.

UK stone MILAN - I can't tell if the tube on the side of the WMIK is a MILAN ammo thingy (technical term )

Some sort of desert colour MILAN - I'm not sure about this one. The colour of the WMIK seems wrong for the UK desert scheme, but it seems to be a UK plate, and Brit desert DPM uniform, and I'm not sure if anyone else uses the WMIK?

Basically, after all this searching I'm more confused. It looks like the tube/ammo should be green, no matter what. As for the rest... help! What Yeoman has said makes the most sense to me, so I think that's the safest route to follow. I'm just wondering, could it be that they started making them in sand/stone later in the conflict, thus making an early MILAN green?

[viper-30]

Enjoying your build mate ..all the land rovers you have shown are uk ..the sand on the last one is a later sand version as in later sand paint not early gulf war stuff.hope that makes sence ..

Terry

[Yeoman1942]

Looking at your photos it looks like you have them in chronological order. Your green Milan is a 3 PARA vehicle, the green dz flash is the best reference, so was from the 2003 invasion period. The middle one looks like a later tour of Iraq. The bottom one looks like Afghan to me, but that is based on the colour and the scenery rather than having done a tour.

MILAN went out of service not long after 2003 and was replaced by Javlin as the UK ATGM system. I doubt they made any new firing posts, but they could have done base mod in the UK for later

So green tubes are correct for all eras and you can take your pick for the firing post. If you are doing the invasion period then I would go for green, but it's your choice. I guess that's the fun of this hobby, digging around in history and turning it into a physical record.

Your doing a cracking job of the build, and that I have helped rather than raised more questions

[Parabat]

MILAN posts were regularly repainted at unit level as part of maintenance. I would say it would depend on time frame and unit as to whether it was painted (left?) green or sand. It could be a green iasue store paint or a down town purchase sandy colour paint, anything 'could' be used.

Id say pick a photo of a WMIK and build accordingly.

[James B]

I'm getting (perhaps have gotten) to a final piece. Following all the excellent guidance, I have gone for a green MILAN and post as I'm loosely trying to base everything around the initial Afghanistan years.

Please tell me what I've missed, what I need to improve and anything else you have. For those interested, the sand is Vallejo Desert Dust, mixed with White Spirit to make a paste and painted on. Once dry, I ran a soft brush over any bits didn't look right, or were too thick.

[Parabat]

That's looking great, really excellent work on the patchy paint. One thing that immediately stands out is the cupola ring should be black (weathered by dust in keepong with your finish) not green.

[Alpha Delta 210]

Wow! You have done a great job on this one. I'm really impressed with the paint finish.

The only thing that you might want to consider is to apply some dust to the topside of the vehicle and the seats.

[Yeoman1942]

Looks the business. I would go with Alpha Delta 210, bit of dust on the seats and the upper works and you'll have a real cracker

[phildagreek]

Looks good! The only thing I would say is to repeat what was pointed out to me, the wheel arch/covers/thingies are black plastic/rubber flexible so won't show damage or dents and are normally black. Obviously they could be painted over in sand, but if they chipped it would be black not green underneath.

Unless of course the black had previously been painted green!

I may of course be wrong, I am no expert.

[James B]

Thank you everyone for all your advice and direction. I'm really stoked with how it turned out in the end. Still lots I'd probably do differently next time, certainly more research to start with. I've tried to implement all your advice regarding the weathering, black cupola ring and wheel arches etc and have posted the finished article over in the RFI thread.

Thanks again all.