evilbobthebob

Bit of a break in posting due to busy times at work, but I have a holiday for the next week that means I can make some progress. I have primed and painted most of the parts from my last post, and did some further assembly. The lack of decals for the instrument panel is annoying, but at least it will be mostly hidden once the doors and windscreen are fitted. I'm not completely happy with the wooden planking so I will probably revisit that at least for the rear section.

Beautiful. I recently picked this up and plan to do the Martlet scheme. Hopefully I can approach the quality of this build!

A productive weekend. Almost all the major assembly work is now complete, barring the rear wheels. The outboard fuel tank needs a bit of filler and a replacement cap because I lost the PE part. I chose to make some alternate front wheels, because the only reference for an R100 having the more road-wheel type front tyres is a restored vehicle. All the other images I've seen show consistent tyre tread front to back, with the heavier "off road" style. The instructions mention decals for the instrument panel, but none came with my kit. If anybody else has the same kit, might be worth looking to see if you have them. I will probably try my hand at some painting or scour my leftover decal sheets.

Very nice! My Dingo has the toolbox on upside down because I didn't look closely enough at the hinges

Don't worry, no concerns here, just a desire to learn how it should be! Now I just need to get the cradle unstuck because apparently during weathering and with a layer or two of paint it is rather wedged in its current position.

Made some more progress today. I've got the chassis essentially complete except for parts that need to wait for a complete body of some kind to align them. I started on the cab, and discovered 1) the passenger seating supports are extremely fragile, and I broke them in a few places 2) the gear level support attachment doesn't really make any sense, so I've gone with what it seems it should be from reference images and how the parts fit. The passenger seat is separate (and the seat cushions separate too) so that I can do some weathering on the wood floor of the cab. References seem to show this was painted the external camo colour, but it would wear quite differently to the sheet metal parts. Ideally I would do that before the gear lever(s) are attached, but I want to have the photoetch primed properly, so this is the only order that makes sense to me.

Thanks for the extensive information! The gun is dry-fitted to the cradle, but everything else is cemented. I was planning on it being in travel lock and hooked up to the back of the Pioneer. I built it as such (though the instructions definitely do NOT tell you which is which, and default to the travel lock being applied). I'm not surprised the gun sights should be stored separately in transit, but I hope to eventually cover the whole rear part of the gun in a (removable) tarp as per various photos I have seen of this and similar guns in tow. I think my only question is where in the recoil travel should the gun be located when towed? I assumed at full recoil (and if it's currently beyond that, I will blame the instructions and lack of reference ).

Love this result. I want to get a Mk I and Mk II done eventually, and this is a great example. Impressive piles of stowage!

The chassis continues! Some parts were okay, but there were a number of parts with very small connection points that were hard to locate, the air reservoir mounts snapping on the sprue (before I even snipped them off), and the very fiddly gearbox connection to the winch. Thunder Model did a smart thing by making the drive shaft 2 piece so it can be fed through to the connector, and the connectors themselves have plenty of slop if they aren't cemented. Still, some swearing occurred. Thankfully the engine can be easily dropped in and taken out (just like the real thing).

Lovely scene, I especially like the pilot leaning back on the rolled tarp.

Thanks for the compliments @echen@vaoinas! Finally plucked up the courage to move on to the chassis. I typically have issues with squaring them up leading to my Dingo having a slight lean. Thankfully both the front and rear axles can be attached unglued and pivoting so I should be able to resolve any mistakes I make getting it square. The beginning:

Very nice scratch building! I also found the suspension a bit difficult on this kit so my wheels ended up less than level. I plan to hide that with a diorama base eventually.

Great result, enjoyed following this one! I hope we get a less fiddly and much more available kit of this tank in the future.

Continuing chassis avoidance: left to right, chain drive transfer box, rear differential, winch drive mechanism, and another bit of the winch. I have also added some pipes to the engine that were more conspicuous and had both ends present in plastic. There are many more I am leaving off.

Next up, some miscellany as I avoid having to square up the chassis. From left to right, gearbox, rear guide rollers, and the front suspension and steering. Some fiddly bits, some weak connections, and the front plate of the gearbox was a nightmare to align because it had no pins to do so. The results are nice though.