John Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 I bought one of these recently. It's a nice little kit: Vaux2 by John Walker, on Flickr Vaux1 by John Walker, on Flickr Vaux3 by John Walker, on Flickr Vaux4 by John Walker, on Flickr Vaux6 by John Walker, on Flickr Vaux5 by John Walker, on Flickr Very neat indeed. I do wonder if Battleship Grey might be a more common colour for WW1 ambulances than khaki? I'll also have to think about how to display the interior, as the kit is designed to be built buttoned up. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 The perfect GB for this is coming up: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013021-eleventh-hour-gb-1918-2018-commemorating-the-end-of-wwl/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 A friend has this kit and it does seem very nice indeed. Cant help with colours though sadly Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancunian airman Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 ooOOh I shall look forward to seeing this being built . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Why grey? Early tanks were grey but that was a hang-over from engineering practice of "factory grey". Motor industry wouldn't have followed that practice. A khaki-ish green seems more plausible. If the vehicle was destined for home use only then it might well have been a semi-gloss finish and more green than khaki - a "factory" colour. Period photos of ambulances in the UK clearly show some quite dark shiny finishes on the metal bodywork. The rear body here was doped canvas over a wood frame, very possibly an RFC colour as this would have been readily available, and would have been a different colour from the bodywork as the box art shows. However there is certainly one photo of a grey ambulance, possibly another Vauxhall model, but this is most likely a posed photo of a prototype or first production model. Grey showed up well on film of the time: railway locomotives were always painted grey for roll-out PR photos before being colour-painted. There is a picture of an RN Sunbeam ambulance, and even that isn't grey: looks dark enough to be navy blue. I don't believe that British Red Cross operated across the Channel. That was FANY territory, although they also operated in the UK. FANY had a wide range of vehicles, but I haven't seen any of this type of Vauxhall. An overall matt khaki green would be appropriate in France: photos suggest that brasswork wasn't painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted April 18, 2018 Author Share Posted April 18, 2018 On 16/04/2018 at 10:47 PM, Das Abteilung said: Why grey? Because I'm reasonably sure that the horse-drawn ambulance that was on display in the RAMC Museum was grey. I could be wrong about that though. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Gunthwaite Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 I have the ambulance, the staff car and the NH etch set (for the ambulance). They look to be very nice kits. The intention is to build the car as a civilian Prince Henry to place with my WW1 RAF pilots. The sticking point is getting around to building wire wheels to replace those in the kits. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcrfan Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 OK thats the toy one but where is the real scale one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 On 4/18/2018 at 12:50 PM, John said: Because I'm reasonably sure that the horse-drawn ambulance that was on display in the RAMC Museum was grey. I could be wrong about that though. John You're not wrong at all. It is indeed a middle grey with a beige/off-white canopy. IIRC horse-drawn wagons had long been grey pre-war, probably dating back to the Napoleonic wars if not earlier. But its paint scheme would have reflected its status as a wagon rather than as an ambulance, stand fast the red crosses on the canopy. But as motorised transport and other mechanical equipment became commonplace in greater numbers and the need for at least basic camouflage colouring became obvious, "service colour" - generally accepted to be a khaki green - became the official colour. As I said, I had a quick google surf the other day and I only found 1 pic of a motor ambulance that was clearly grey - and I believe it to have been the PR photo of the prototype or first production vehicle in keeping with the industrial traditions of the time. No other photos that I found were the right tone to be grey: too dark. But the exact colouring of much WW1 equipment remains uncertain for a whole range of reasons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 Interesting stuff, thanks. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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