diablo rsv

Very nice build Darryl. I have the Miniart one to start on and yours has definitely whetted my appetite. The figures give a real sense of the height of these tanks. Wayne

That looks very good indeed. I was intending to build one of these when I had completed their Military Omnibus that is currently in WIP. but I think I may need a simpler build next as the cleaning up of the parts on the bus has really been quite draining. Wayne

That looks really good Nenad. I've generally stayed away from full interior kits just because it there seems to be so much work that will never be seen. I may attempt a cutaway one day though. Wayne

Very nice work John. I've been using a desktop cutting plotter to make vinyl masks in place of decals where possible. those turret numbers would be pushing it's limits though. Wayne

Very nicely done!

Excellent work Bish, I especially like the way you have done the weathering it looks very authentic. Wayne PS. I just noticed your just up the road from me, I'm in Haverhill.

Thank you very much! @Biggu I've made a start on the lower deck and it's really nice to work with some less finicky parts. I painted the floor boards and benches with a mix of deck tan and a touch of grey. A coat of the red/brown body colour was applied over this and then gently sanded away to simulate areas of wear. I know these vehicles in their civilian life were repainted regularly so I imagine the paint would have been fairly thick but considering the conditions they faced in military use I would have thought some wear would have been inevitable. I will add washes and plenty of dirt and grime at a latter stage. The body parts fit together pretty well but there is quite a seem where the front and rear ends meet the sides. Most of the builds that I have seen of these kits have left these seams but looking at images of the original and London transport's restoration they really need to be filled. I stuck the kits plastic window parts onto some tape and then used these to mask off the interior. Cutting the tape slightly oversize allowed the window to be just pressed into place. Next up is the upper deck, hopefully I can get started on that in the next few days. Wayne

It's quite a step up from the old Airfix kit, the level of detail is excellent. They do have the civilian version as well which is certainly a lot more colourful than this one. Thanks for the tip re the glass. I would imagine the tempered glass covers would be virtually impossible to cut though. I am intending to use microscope slide cover-slips they are exceptionally thin but can be cut. The intention is to show a couple of broken windows and the rest will be boarded up. Apparently soldiers frequently broke the windows with their rifles and equipment so in the end they just removed the glass and placed wooden boards on the outside. I guess it also afforded them a little protection from stray shellfire.

Thank you gentlemen.

Great idea for a diorama and excellently accomplished.

Excellent work Fabrice!

I'm pretty much there now with the chassis. I have added a little wear and tear but most of the mud, dust and dirt will be applied once I have completed the body. This kit very much feels like two models in one with the body building up as a separate part to be mated with the chassis at the end of the build. I find taking photos a great help for finding faults that were missed during the build process and I have amended a couple of things but feel free to point out anything I may not have spotted. I have really enjoyed this build so far but it is really time consuming so I don't think I will be rushing to build the lorry version as I had been planning, ( unless they decide to release the anti-aircraft version). Not sure if you've started yours yet @GerryW but are you still planning on building three of these? Now to see what challenges the body brings.

Thanks Ed.

The Cromwell is on my to do list so I shall watch your progress with interest. Wayne

Very nice model Bruce and I agree with the others the weathering looks really good.

That looks really good and nicely presented as well.

Excellent work as usual John, love your attention to detail. Wayne.

Things are moving along nicely with the chassis but I have found another small issue with my kit. Both of the rear brackets for the front mud guards have either not moulded properly or a piece has broken off, annoying but not the end of the world. A little plastic card strip solves the problem. I needed to make a decision at this point as to which of the options to build so that the correct number could be applied to the bonnet. The numbers are supplied as a photo-etched plate. The only CA glue that I had available is VMS's Flexy thin type which gives no option for adjusting the part once fitted so I used some masking tape to help me align them. Pretty much every part of the original bus seems to have been replicated in the kit even though much of it will never be seen. Apart from the lights, mudguards and a couple of other parts the chassis is pretty much there. Apparently a number of these buses went to France still in their LGOC red livery and after a few weeks they were painted in a more suitable colour by their crews. It seems likely that this was a khaki-green although contemporary witness accounts describe a wide variety of colours. It was also observed that quite often the khaki paint would be chipped and worn through and the old red colour would show through bringing back memories of when these buses had travelled London's busy streets in happier days. To replicate this I have painted parts of the model in it's civilian colours and using hairspray I will chip and wear through the Khaki top coat. The engine covers and wheels aren't fixed yet I was just keen to see how it will look. The 'correct' Khaki or service colour from WW1 is often debated and I don't think there really is an exact colour so I shall go with what I think looks right. In this case for a base colour I am using AK's Real Colors Khaki Green No3 with some gloss added to get a satin sheen. These busses saw hard service so I imagine the paintwork would often be touched up as parts were added or replaced so I will show some variation.

That's turned out very nicely indeed Nenad. Glad to be of help on the photography front. Wayne

Another display of excellent modelling skills Fabrice and nicely presented. Wayne

Excellent work Fabrice!

Very nicely done. Wayne

Thanks John, yes I used Albion Alloy's tubes, they're very useful. Wayne

I started to make some more progress but as is normal with me it's a case of one step forwards and the two steps back. The hand break linkage was slightly bent and there were just too many attachment points to clean up so I decided to replace the shaft with some brass rod. I also replaced the cable with a piece of wire whilst I was at it. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. After priming the firewall I noticed an annoying sink mark and even after sanding I wasn't happy with it so I decided to strip the primer off. As I had used Mr Hobby's primer I decided to up the airbrush pressure and remove it with Mr Levelling Thinner, a process I have used successfully in the past. Unfortunately I picked up the wrong bottle and blasted it with ordinary Lacquer ( Cellulose) thinner which promptly melted the plastic. So after trying to remove a slight blemish that would hardly of noticed I was now faced with the task of repairing one of the most visible parts of the model. Fortunately the most difficult to replace detail is on the other side and was undamaged. I have manged to get rid of most of the damage by sanding and the replacing the details with plastic card. It's not perfect but it's a good job this is the military version and some carefully placed weathering will have to come to my rescue. The engine has now been assembled and painted. A little fiddly in parts but it's worth the effort and I'm pretty happy with way it has turned out. These phone photos aren't great but hopefully they give an idea of the detail. I toyed with the idea of replacing the valve springs as @Roy vd M. has done in his build but as I have already lost enough time on this build I decided to leave them be. I made the ignition wires from some lead wire and glued them directly to the spark plugs with some CA glue rather than use the photo etched parts that MiniArt supplied as they seemed over scale to me. The engine block was painted with Alclad Dark aluminium and the cylinder heads with a very dark grey. The fly-wheel and a few details are MRP steel although the difference is barely noticeable in these photos. I dirtied it all up a bit with some oil washes. Next step will be to install the engine etc onto the chassis. So far despite the few hiccups I'm enjoying this build and once the chassis is complete I will feel like I'm making progress. Good idea Ozzy. So far so good but there are some tricky parts coming up so I may well try that. Thank you all for your interest, I'm alway's happy to receive any ideas and tips that you can give. Please feel free to critique as well as that was really the point of me doing a work in progress. It's all too easy for me to miss obvious flaws and it would be a lot easier to rectify anything you spot as the build progresses. Wayne

When I started this WIP I failed to notice that @Roy vd M. was making an excellent job of the civilian version in the Vehicle Modelling (non military) section of the forum. As most of the build phase is identical in both versions I will try not to repeat too much of what Roy has done. Although I have spent a fair few hours on this kit already there really isn't much to show at the moment. Most of the time has been spent removing parts from sprues and cleaning up seams and a multitude of sprue gates. Many of the parts are very delicate and need to be removed very carefully. Unfortunately my new cutters are yet to make an appearance so I am soldiering on with my old Xurons. By not cutting close to the part I haven't had any issues so far. I recently invested in some high quality files and they are already proving their worth on this build. The quality of the moulding on many of the parts is excellent but you really need to study the plans very carefully as it would be very easy to remove details by accident. Also in a couple of places there are what appear to be seam lines but they are actually meant to be there. This is typical of the clean up required, This link was just wasn't worth the effort of trying to clean up especially as it was already slightly bent on the sprue so I replaced the centre section with some brass rod. I love the detail of this kit and I have had no issues with fit so far. This is where I'm at the moment. The chassis and a few sub assemblies are built so hopefully this weekend I can get it all primed and get the painting underway. Thank you for your interest guys, I think this one may take awhile. Thanks for the heads up Graeme, I have been trying to think ahead but I expect there will be a few hiccups along the way. Wayne