MMK Models Bedford OXA

[Kingsman]

With all the WIP WW1 models packed up in the expectation of moving house and not yet having got my hands on a CSM Lanchester or Roden Holt, I though I might have a go at starting this stash queen.  I got it for under £40 inc shipping from a Czech store a while back: the RRP is €68 + shipping.  It will be my first all-resin military kit.

 

It's an interesting oddity from the desperate home defence days after Dunkirk, intended as an anti-tank vehicle: I kid you not!  A Bedford OXD 30cwt 4x2 truck armed with up to half a dozen Boys AT rifles and very lightly (9mm plate) armoured.  Officially the "Lorry, 30cwt, Anti-Tank".  At least it was armour plate and not pebbles between 2 planks like the Armadillos!  I don't think we need much imagination to predict how effective they would have been and how many would have been lost.  Despite this almost 1,000 were built in 1940-41 and they stayed in Home Guard service until 1942.  I think they were built/converted by Birmingham Carriage and Wagon Co.  None survived.

  

 

  

 

There were a few minor variations, like the addition of cover flaps over the fuel filler caps.  All the vehicles in these photos have only one square and riveted join in the rear body, at the front right corner behind the cab.  The other 3 corners are rounded, so the whole rear body side was formed from a single plate by bending - which is quite impressive.  The MMK kit has this wrong, having 4 square riveted corners.  That will take a bit of correcting as the radius is greater than the thickness of resin there.  There are very few photos of the OXA, and none show 4 riveted corners.

Here's what's in the box.  A fair few parts, all quite nicely cast, but with a bit of thin flash and a few rough edges as you can see, and some etch.  The chassis and main body have large casting blocks or skirts to be removed.  The one-piece chassis itself with cast-in springs is nice.  Front wheels seem to be pose-able for steering.  There are no decals, but the markings are simple enough to find or make.  Some parts and details might be best replaced with plastic or metal, such as the splash strips.  The few stowage items and the Boys rifles are re-casts of Italeri items, which I will replace.  I have several of the original Italeri Boys, which are rather nice.  One of the Boys and the propshaft were broken.

 

As candidate extras I dug these bits out of my bits box.  Some Panzer Art resin rifle & Bren ammo boxes and a whole pack of Add On Parts Boys ammo boxes (it did carry up to 6 rifles!).  Some Italeri and Tamiya No3 rifles, a couple of Thompsons, a Sten MkII and some other bits.  There would need to be stowed personal weapons for 6 in the back.  Plus the afore-mentioned Italeri Boys rifles to replace the kit copies.  I thought I might swap at least 1 rifle for a Bren or Lewis, possibly a Bren in a front loophole and a Lewis on a bar across the roof opening for AA.  I have a pack of the nice MasterClub Lewis guns. Italeri's Bren is a Mk1 with the drum sight, which is age-appropriate.  The Thompsons are M1s, so need a little bit of work to backdate to the M1928 as used by British forces.  Sadly I don't have any of the nice TMD M1928s with drum mags.   Not shown are some Panzer Art 2 gallon cans to replace the solid block of 3 provided. 

 

Here's an MMK website shot of a completed model.  The inside could potentially be Sky or white.  Outside is more of a conundrum.  Despite appearances, the website model is probably supposed to be Greens G3 and G4 and not brown and green.  Their G3 is somewhat too light.  However, after corresponding with Mike Starmer about possible colors he reckons that at least some were probably painted Dark Tarmac over SCC2 Brown.  Some 1940 production might still have been green/green, but 1941 would almost certainly have been tarmac/brown.

 

[Kingsman]

Having said they could carry up to 6 Boys rifles, photos never seem to show more than 2.  I don't imagine there were 6,000 Boys rifles available in those days just for these trucks!  Many/most of our light and improvised AFVs of the time carried one.  So I think I'll go for 2 Boys plus a Bren and a Lewis.  I've not found any photos showing any MGs mounted, but it seems entirely plausible that 1 would have been carried to increase firepower.  User units, even Home Guard, would have been scaled for LMG of some sort.  Hmmm.......  what about a Home Guard stripped Lewis with skeleton stock?  That would need one of the Gas Patch Lewis without barrel shroud as a basis.  Or a .303 BAR with curved mag........

 

There's no evidence of any support or mounting device at each loophole for the weapons, and the front Boys is usually shown pushed fully forward and resting on the cab roof.  The Bren wouldn't do that as it was breech-heavy and the magazine stopped it going far enough out to tip forward.  It wouldn't have been difficult to produce a simple swiveling and elevating mounting that attached to the bipod point, but this doesn't seem to have been done.  I suppose it would have limited the ability to move weapons between loopholes and dismount them, and perhaps that was the thinking.  And there was a considerable recoil force on the Boys.  But from the modelling perspective that means the side loopholes can only have weapons in place if there is a crew member holding them.

 

Despite being effectively armoured cars, these trucks retained their original "L" truck serials.

[Kingsman]

So I had a go at cleaning up the rear body shell, thinking this might be problematic and having read some very variable reviews of MMK kits.  Tick, correct!  The resin webs across the apertures were very variable in thickness, and the resin used is very hard and crisp.  The web across the rear door opening needed a circular saw to get through it and turned out to be 3mm thick, followed by rough cleanup to the edge lines with a rasp: yes, a rasp......  I'd have been there for days with a normal file.  The loophole webs on one side were also a couple of mm thick and I ended up spalling the outside when chopping them out.  The loophole apertures are all irregularly sized and shaped, and will need a lot of filing, and probably some filling too.

 

The roof aperture has thin edge strips on 2 sides and very thick ones on the other 2, and they broke during cutting out the web.  They might all be best replaced, but the roof aperture needs opening out by a couple of mm on 2 sides where the thick sides make it too small and off-centre.  Some rivets will likely be lost in the process, but some are missing anyway in various places, and the roof strips have no visible means of attachment: I imagine they were L-section riveted on rather than welded strip: nothing else seems to be welded here.

 

But I'll lose more rivets dealing with the corner issue.  Looking at the resin thickness, I think I can round off the 3 round corners enough without resorting to chasing in some plastic tubing cut to 1/4-round.  But I've left the casting block "skirt" in place as reinforcement in case I do.  The top will need some attention to remove and replace rivets and remove gusset plates.

 

Looks like I've got a bigger job on than I might have wanted ...........

 

BTW, I put a small torch inside the shell to light up the thin (or not so thin!) areas to be cut out.

 

  

 

  

 

[Kingsman]

Better, methinks.

 

 

 

After much scraping, drilling, sawing, filing, filling and making deep inroads into my diminishing stock of Grandt Line rivet heads.  I'm using those up before switching to EDM's products.  Although the Grandt Line moulds have been bought by another company who intends to continue production, their quality has fallen off a lot.

 

Unless MMK had access to unpublished research or there were very significant production variations between vehicles built in the same factory, it isn't very accurate.  A lot of details are off.  There's an awful lot of missing rivets and the rear door hinges provided are bogus: and the door should fit flush and probably have 2 loopholes.  One of the end supports under the body floor was not moulded: maybe that was the one with the correct detail......  I made a new one (not pictured).  There are other visibly missing bits under the floor and other small details that will need to be made.  I did round off the 3 body corners that should be rounded and not square.

 

I haven't done the body interior yet, which is basically 2 long resin benches with loads of flash and some etched brass shutters for the loopholes.  It will need rifle racks, fire extinguishers and ammo boxes.  Thinking of the AA Lewis gun idea, I found a pedestal mount which I'm thinking of using instead of a bar across the roof opening.

 

The driver's cab had a massive thick (6mm!) casting block on the roof, with wafer-thin attachment at the edges.  So that had to go.  Hence the plastic card roof and yet more rivets.  It looks to me as if MMK meant to provide a separate roof piece but forgot: there is no way the casting block could be cut off to leave a satisfactory roof plate.  The bottom edge of the rear body was poorly defined from its casting "skirt" and took some careful marking and cutting.  The body sides are hugely thick for thin plate, as you can see through the loopholes.  The roof on the other hand is thin and fragile.  The cab sides are commendably thin.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

That's a humongous improvement, beautifully done. 

[Kingsman]

Did a bit more work on the body floor.  But in order to do that I needed to understand where it fitted on the chassis: there are no positive locations.  And in order to do that I needed to work from the front back, as the only definite location indication is the position of the bonnet front face 5mm from the front bumper face.  Talk about vague...........  Of course I could always have worked in the instructions' sequence from the get go...............

 

So, cleaned up the various casting blocks and assembled the 3-pieces of the basic bonnet/cab floor and the etched brass bumper and frontal armour.  Bent and dented the bumper a bit.  The rivets on the front armour are just depicted as etched dimples, so more drilling and Grandt Line.  I drilled rivet/bolt holes in the front wing attachment flanges while I was at it. They're brass too.

 

Having fitted that to the chassis I had my reference for the rear body location.  The bearers between body and chassis have small locations, and needed both reinforcement and adjustment to fit the chassis.  Something is still askew somewhere as with all 4 springs flat on the bench the bearers don't meet the chassis in 1 corner.

 

You can see the new lower rear I made for the body floor deck to replace mis-moulded and overlooked parts.  The chassis itself needs extending all the way to the back once I've got these bits together, and the tow hook omitted.  MMK have simply used the standard chassis from their OXD truck kit without understanding that it was apparently altered.  This is a 30cwt truck: a ton and a half payload.  I bet that armour weighed more than a ton and a half, even allowing for the cab shell and body sides being removed.  Having the body overhanging the chassis by nearly a couple of feet at the back probably wasn't sensible.  I wonder if any parts from the 3-ton OY were substituted, like axles and suspension?  They would be a direct swap AFAIK and handle at least another ton and a half.  The kit depicts double rear springs, which the 30cwt probably wouldn't have but the 3-tonner might.  But unless I'm much mistaken, MMK have just used the springs from the Tamiya LRDG Chevy, complete with awkward ejector pin mark!  So, potentially bogus then.

 

The wheels are mediocre at best.  No sidewall detail and one of the rear hubs is a bit malformed.  But no-one else does the right wheel and hub pattern, so replacing them isn't an option.  On the plus side, these are the only parts so far with any sign of mould shift!  I sanded small flats where the casting blocks had been, scuffed up the treads and some of the sidewalls with a rasp and added the air valves from brass wire.  There is a spare provided, but I can't see that the OXA carried one.  There are various bits for the chassis still to add.

 

[Kingsman]

Looking a bit more like the complete thing.  Just interior and lower rear body parts to do.  The major parts aren't glued yet, just dry-fitted.  The cab and body interiors will need to be painted and apertures masked before final assembly.  The front mudguards/wings/fenders were only very light sheet metal, so I've distressed them a bit.

 

[Kris B]

Interesting vehicle. Your improvements looks good. 

[Kingsman]

Right, I think I'm calling this one "done" from the constructional standpoint.  Partly 'cos I'm fed up with the damn thing and can't be bothered with it any more.......

 

I thought it might be easier to list the parts that actually did fit.  Nope - can't think of any.

 

I actually built the whole rear under body following the very vague instructions and locations only to find that the wheel boxes were 5-6mm too far back when offered up to the chassis.  So off it all came again.  I could only make it work by shortening the fuel tanks back to one mounting bracket.  They also needed plastic card packing pieces on the chassis rails to get the correct width spacing.  The rear stowage box is visibly too long and the etched face is the wrong pattern, so that had to be modified.  The fuel can rack provided is a hopeless blob so I used 3 Panzer Art 2-gal cans and some bits of etch fret to make a new one.  As mentioned earlier, the chassis rails needed to be extended about 10mm at the rear.

 

Inside was equally hard work.  There's no floor detail: I assume it was the standard planked deck as a metal deck would be a skating rink in hobnailed boots and mine blast was probably not high on the survivability list.  I found some planked effect plastic - the difference in height doesn't show inside - and made new edge flanges with rivet heads.  The benches are garbage and I should probably have scratchbuilt new, but I persevered with rescuing the kit parts.  I shortened the left bench at the back to give room for a rifle rack, and shortened the right one at the front to give better access to the driver's cab.  I wondered if they actually folded up or down in action as they must really get in the way of fighting the vehicle.  The steering wheel was garbage too, so found one in the bits box.

 

I found a couple of Pyrene-type extinguishers in the bits box too and fitted 1 in the cab and 1 by the back door.  For stowage lying about there are 4 tin hats, 2 large and 2 small packs, 2 Bren magazine boxes, 6 Boys magazine boxes and a spare mag, 2 wooden 303 ammo boxes, another wooden box posing as a Lewis magazine box and a shovel.

 

Weapons are 2 Boys, a Bren and a Lewis.  I eventually used Tamiya Boys with added sights as the Italeri ones just looked too slender.  The Bren is Italeri.  Rather than use the Masterclub Lewis I found a spade-grip Lewis from a Takom WW1 tank, to which I added a skeleton stock and improved the muzzle end.  The skeleton-stock Lewis usually had the barrel cooling jacket removed, but what the heck.......  The pedestal is a TMD item with a scratchbuilt top half.  I found 4 No3 rifles which already had rack clips moulded on (from Tamiya LRDG??) to make the rear rack to the left of the rear door (so on the right on the way out, for majority right-handers).  That will be fixed once the body and floor are joined.

 

Main parts are just dry-fitted here again for photos.  But even once assembled it's going to be very fragile.  I'm wondering whether to peg the wheels and permanently base it.

 

Overall, this is not a kit I would recommend to anyone.  State Of The Ark rather than State Of The Art.  In which respect I'm glad I only paid £38 for it and not the thick end of £60 - otherwise I'd be very grumpy.  OK, grumpier than usual.........

 

 

 

 

[Kingsman]

Gave the interior areas a blast with an old but well-shaken rattle can of Vallejo White Primer.  Never used it before.  BAD MISTAKE!  It dried to a gritty chalky finish and for some reason it crazed on the plastic areas, but not on the resin - where it hasn't adhered strongly.  The interior was rescued (mostly) with a light coat of Humbrol rattle can white, but the overspray on outside parts needed rubbing down. 

 

That can now resides in the bin, although the unexpected textured finish did prove useful over a layer of stucco paste on what will hopefully become a passable chalk downland track base.

[Kingsman]

I think I'm calling the interior "done" after the primer disaster, scruffing-up the interior to look lived-in and painting the stowage items.  Time to mask off the apertures and close it all up.  I imagine that will take a bit of fiddling to get right, especially the cab/body join and getting the body to fit the chassis.  The guns are still shiny as the oily wash hasn't dried yet and they need some drybrushing.  Note the afore-mentioned primer crazing on the plastic roof of the cab, the worst place.  Fortunately that won't be seen.  I've only just now noticed that the driver's seat is crooked.  Fortunately also hard to see once closed up and mostly hidden.

 

The base is a cheap picture frame, which can be really useful for making bases.  Glass recycled.  MDF backing sheet here covered with Liquitex stucco textured to look like ruts across downland and sprayed over with the naff chalky Vallejo primer.  Then washed over with a brown wash.  Chalky soil is usually a grey-brown colour, getting paler with depth.  The grass areas will be covered with grass flock of some sort with some loose pigment dust and stones on the tracks.

 

I am worried about the fragility of this model when finished.  None of the chassis joins are strong, all relying on adhesive with no mechanical connection.  I added some wire to the rear axle to help support the wheels which otherwise rely on just a 3mm dia butt join.  The front wheels have good locations to the hubs, but the axle structure is flimsy.  I've tried using screws through the base into wheels before and had problems with eventual stress cracking, even with pre-drilled holes.  Securing nuts into the wheels square and firmly isn't simple.  So on this one I think I'm going to insert plastic pegs in the wheels, drill holes in the base, fit plastic collars to the pegs under the base then heat-mushroom the ends over,

 

 

[Bullbasket]

Reading through this, it sounds like the second cousin of the A30 that I'm building. Been tempted to allow it to come into contact with the wall at a great rate of knots a few times. Well done for sticking with it.

 

John. 

[Kingsman]

Hey, there's still plenty of time for a resin vs brick contest..................  And yes, it has been something of a trial and I have been tempted to that contest.  If I still had an air rifle I might have been even more tempted......  Axis, 10m, enemy truck, 5 rounds deliberate, in your own time go on!

 

SKPs A30??  I've heard Bad Things about SKP resin kits.  On this sample of 1 I'm not in any way tempted to explore any more of MMKs products.  I was interested in their Suzuki Quad, Springer ATMP and Panther CLV.  But not any more.  And that's a pity because they've just announced a WW1 Tatra 4-tonne truck as used by Austria-Hungary and IIRC Germany.

[Kingsman]

So now I have the whole thing actually glued together for the first time, minus wheels for now.  And primed.

 

As expected, it didn't go according to plan.  Even with all my relocation of the wheel arches and fuel tank shortening the rear wheel arches were still in the wrong place such that the front of the wheels fouled the boxes - although they looked right.  Clearly there is something very wrong with the basic dimensions of this kit.  At this stage my only alternative is to drill new axle locations towards the front edges of the brake drums.  Pegging the wheels to the base is probably even more necessary now: pegs fitted.

 

Looking again at the few available photos I realised I'd goofed the cab-body joins on the nearside and top.  They should have external riveted flanges whereas the kit parts just show rivets for internal flanges, which I'd replicated.  That worked in my favour as it provided a ready-made means of disguising the poor fit here.  The offside join needed some filler: I couldn't get this to fit flush without a small step.  Ho hum.

 

I also realised I'd missed the bracket on the lower front armour for the Arm of Service plate, which is completely missing from the kit. Easily made from a couple of bent pieces of the etch fret frame.

 

The question now is colour.  The few photos all show disruptive schemes, so overall SCC2 Brown or Green G3 are out.  That leaves 2-tone greens G4 over G3 or Nobels Dark Tarmac over SCC2.  Mike Starmer believes that both are possible, although it's unclear if the tail end of OXA production continued after the switch from G3 to SCC2 in 1942 or whether the factory already had enough green paint to finish the whole run.  So although the short-lived Tarmac over brown scheme is appealing, the balance of probability is for G3/G4. 

 

I've got the allegedly-right colours from the oft-maligned Hataka, and also from the now-closed-down DOA. These latter are a nice thin consistency and so might spray nicely, unlike the criticism of the Hataka product.  My only use of Hataka to date on my Tortoise did necessitate a 0.5mm nozzle.  I did splash out on about 20 of the new AKI "real" colors, but took one look inside the bottles and sold them on.  Decidedly dodgy.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by Das Abteilung
image resizing

[Kingsman]

Rummaging through my paint drawers I could not find the bottle of DOA Green G3 that my inventory list said I had.  But I did find an unlisted 2nd bottle of their Tyre Black, so I can only assume that they sent me a wrong colour and I failed to notice.  Too late to do anything about that now.  Rather annoyingly towards the end of their time they switched to screw-top glass bottles from plastic dropper bottles, and the diameter and thread size don't match anyone else's dropper tops.  Pipettes it is, then.

 

The Hataka colours are decidedly off.  Their G3 is too green and too pale: it's much more like the little-seen G5 - in fact it's almost a direct match to DOA's G5.  G3 should have a browninsh tint - it is khaki green - which is completely lacking in the Hataka colour.  Their G4 is far too dark, more like Luftwaffe Schwarzgrun and darker even than Deep Bronze Green.

 

I found a bottle of Model Air G3 which looks more promising, with DOAs G4 as the contra colour.

 

The kit calls out Humbrol enamel and Agama (Czech) acrylic colours.  I have a fair few Agama colours but not the ones suggested, which are in any case supposed to be RAF colours and therefore unlikely to be right.

[Kingsman]

Some paint.  I went with Model Air's G3 as I thought that best represented a Khaki Green, which should have a touch of the khaki about it.  The G4 is Hataka's, applied by brush.  It's a bit thin but covers quite well.  That's 2 coats.  Chassis will be back to a dirty black.

 

[Kingsman]

I'm calling this one "finished" and moving it over to the Ready For Inspection forum.