Airfix 1/48 Bedford MWD.

[patmaquette]

This is my first build thread and also my first military vehicle kit for decades: so I’ll be fumbling may way along!

 

This is the kit…..

 

 

I have had a lot of fun so far with it, trying out different ideas to see how they worked out - and finding ways to patch up mistakes when it didn’t go as planned! Some things went well, others did not. I’m not sure I can take the end result seriously as a stand-alone model (see for yourselves later!), but it will probably be okay if lost somewhere in a diorama.

 

I built the kit up into a number of sub-assemblies for painting. The only change I made was to the tank filling necks, replacing them with longer ones fashioned from plastic rod which was swaged over with the blade of a heated screwdriver to create the filling caps. The mudguards benefited from thinning down along the edges.

 

Airfix give a number of options in their kit for the cab and the body. I selected an early version with an open, canvas cab finished in a camouflage pattern of Humbrol 30 matt dark green over a base of 86 light olive (which I take to be Airfix’s selection for dark green No 4 over khaki green No 3). You can also build a version with an enclosed cab that was in production from 1943. I found this guide essential reading: http://www.mafva.net/other pages/Starmer camo.htm

 

Options for early and later versions are included in the kit:

 

The sub-assemblies were undercoated in khaki green G3, based on Mike Starmer’s recipe in post 17 of

 

(but using brown Humbrol 160 as I do not have H10), which was then made darker and sprayed over the parts to provide a dark undercoat to work from. Once the enamel paint had dried, it was given a couple of brush coats of Klear diluted 50% with water and tinted with some burnt umber acrylic to provide a glaze/wash, see http://barracudacals.blogspot.com/. However, I don’t think I made the colour strong enough so the wash effect was not really apparent, so I followed up with AK Interactive enamel wash AK075 for NATO vehicles and this worked nicely, despite it being my very first time of using it. I found it best to use as a pin-wash (rather than slapping it on all over) and then tidy up smudges with a brush moistened with thinners.

 

 

 

The kit has a decent level of detail under the bonnet and the option is offered to have one bonnet half propped open so you can view it. There is also a separate hatch in the floor of the rear body to access the rear axle, so you could easily model the vehicle undergoing maintenance if you wished. I fitted the various engine parts into place and painted them up before they were lost from sight forever once the closed bonnet and side panels were glued into place.

I found it necessary to trim back the top corners of the fire wall to get the rear of the bonnet to sit down fully:

 

The bonnet side panels could also be omitted should you want to model your truck in a desert environment…..

 

It was a test of dexterity to get the radiator front, bonnet top and sides lined up and without any problem gaps. I glued the bottom of the radiator piece to the chassis and then, before the glue had set, fitted the bonnet top into place. Once all this was firm, I popped in the side panels so they abutted the bonnet and glued them into position. It left a small gap between the sides and the wheel arches, but not enough to concern me. If you follow the instructions - which have you glue the sides to the wheel arches before the bonnet - the gap would have been far more noticeable being between the sides and bonnet top.

 

Next came the cargo body. I elected to go for the covered version, but parts are also offered for you to leave it open. This was even more challenging to assemble, but everything worked out fine. Some filling and sanding was needed to lose the join lines. The front of the cargo body is also the rear of the cab, and it was not obvious to me from the instructions how it was to be positioned. However, all became clear once I tried assembling the cargo body onto the chassis. In fact, everything just clipped into place, which was ideal for the painting and weathering steps.

 

I ground a relief into the ends to the rolled-up tarp. The dimples were painted dark earth before the part was glued into place:

 

Some pre-shading was done by brush before the canvas parts were placed in position for airbrushing (sorry for the wobbly photo):

 

 

The cab was masked using moistened kitchen roll. Some diluted PVA glue was applied over the outside to stiffen the covering. Some water was dripped on and allowed to soften the paper when the time came to remove it once painting was done:

 

That's it for now - I don't want to bore the pants off you. I'll post how painting progressed shortly.

Cheers,

Pat

Edited January 19, 2019 by patmaquette

[ScanmanDan]

Great looking little truck.  It's a wonderfull kit to get back into the hobby.  I hope you have fun building it and look forward to seeing your progress.  Beware of these 1/48 scale kits though, like peanuts it's hard to stop at just one.    You gotta try out the new Churchill, it's a cracking kit. 

[patmaquette]

11 hours ago, ScanmanDan said:

Great looking little truck.  It's a wonderfull kit to get back into the hobby.  I hope you have fun building it and look forward to seeing your progress.  Beware of these 1/48 scale kits though, like peanuts it's hard to stop at just one.    You gotta try out the new Churchill, it's a cracking kit. 

Thanks, Dan. I agree with you - it's a good looking truck that is full of character. I have had great fun building it and dabbling with pigments and washes - things I have had little experience with or success in the past.  I've completed it now and will post some progress shots shortly. I am actually quite pleased with how its turned out, and I'm looking forward to my next vehicle build. I've a 200mm figurine and 1/32nd TBF Avenger to work on next, but I do have some part built vehicle kits that are ready for paint, so I hope I can get to at least one of these pdq.

Cheers,

Pat

[patmaquette]

Here is a progress update - I hope it is of some interest and I welcome your comments.

I managed to complete the model today, but to late to take photos - so I'll do those tomorrow.

 

The vehicle was airbrushed with the (undarkened) Dark Green No 3 mix mentioned above, with some gloss varnish added to produce a transparent tint which I find makes it easier to control the laying down of the paint over the pre-shading. It also results in a tougher paint surface. Humbrol 84 was added to lighten the mix and this was sprayed from above.

 

 

The Dark Green No. 4 stripes were brush painted. I do not have the Revell or Tamiya paints mentioned in the G4 recipes, so took to looking on-line for examples. Those I did find seemed to be striped with a less than dark green - possibly the not so often used Light Green G5. I found one photo (see below) - albeit colourised - and tried matching this from the paints in my stock. Suffice to say - my choice of tone for DG4 - is based on some flimsy information. I should have asked for assistance on this site and I consider my knuckles rapped!

 

A dark wash with Klear was applied over the KG3 & DG4 paintwork.

 

 

 

The MAFVA note mentions that for 1940-41 the tilts were a light canvas colour painted over in the darker colour used - normally G3. Tilts could also be dyed Khaki Green No. 3 over which G4 might be painted. I used G4 for the stripes on my model - which is incorrect - but I thought it strange that the stripes would not be in the same colour as those on the body.

I used Revell 89 enamel for the canvas colour. Humbrol 72 was used for shading and 121 for highlights. Folds were brushed in with acrylics. A simple wet palette was used to mix and blend the colours: some kitchen grease-proof paper laid over a dampened cleaning sponge cloth in a Tupperware lid. Some acrylic flow improver and thinners were also added to the palette.

The green stripes were outlined using a very weak acrylic paint. Silly Putty was used as a quick means of masking. Pre-shading was applied by brush before the green was airbrushed on, varying the depth of the colour to highlight and shade where appropriate. Problem was that the outlining paint was still visible so a lot of touching-in was needed.

 

 

The acrylic paints and wet palette came out again for reinforcing the shading and lining in fabric folds.

 

 

The two seats in the cab were base coated with Citadel Kommando Khaki and highlighted with Citadel Flayed One Flesh. A darker shade tone was made by mixing yellow ochre with burnt umber and ultramarine blue. My attempts at reproducing the folds and so on in the seats and back were just about okay, but I would have liked to have done better. More practice needed!

 

 

Some wear and tear was applied to the bodywork. Metal edges were picked out with dark grey and shiny bits with Citadel Boltgun Metal over this. I used Game Color 72.034 Bone White to show wood weathered where the paint had worn through. This was applied by fine brush. A white + yellow ochre mix was applied at the back edge of the cargo bed and edge of the folded down tailgate where it was exposed to boot damage and wear. This was good fun to do and I liked the outcome.

 

 

Weathering was done with pigments. I watched one or two videos on YOUTube before trying them out on the inward sides of the tyres. I ended up by putting a selection of coloured pigment onto my wet palette. These were mixed dry until I had the tones I wanted. Some water and Micro Set was added to obtain a thin slurry. I applied neat Micro Set for it to flow into the nooks and crannies and followed up with the pigment mix. The Micro Set held the pigment reasonably firmly and it was easy to overdo the effect, so having got caught out by this then proceeded with a lighter touch. I liked the results where the pigment had gone on like a wash, but not for wider surfaces. Maybe I should have sprayed on some matt varnish and then used the pigments dry?

 

 

The two small windscreens had moulding defects that were small, curved ridges running diagonally. The ridges were scraped away and the surface polished. I used car cutting polish applied with a chisel edged piece of clear sprue to restore the sheen without damaging the raised frame detail. The frames were given two coats of paint applied by brush without masking. They were superglued to the cab before the roof was put in place.

 

The two small lamps on the mudguards have quite a big shrinkage hole in the lenses. I painted them Boltgun Metal and then used acrylic gel for the transparencies and it came out well.

 

I'll post photos of the completed model tomorrow. As Dan said, it is a good looking truck and it was a fun build from the start.

 

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by patmaquette

[Bullbasket]

Nice work on the MWD. If only they would upgrade it to 1/35th scale.

You probably already know this, but toothpaste is excellent for polishing clear plastic. I used to use it on canopies.

 

John.

[patmaquette]

5 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Nice work on the MWD. If only they would upgrade it to 1/35th scale.

You probably already know this, but toothpaste is excellent for polishing clear plastic. I used to use it on canopies.

 

John.

Thanks John!

You know, I forgot about using toothpaste. The cutting polish worked okay with a lot of elbow grease - but I wouldn't do the same again for bigger jobs.

I need to buy some more polishing paste - my old ones have dried up. I think I bought them from Little Cars a few years back.

Cheers,

Pat

[Kahunaminor]

Great looking truck!

 

Your attention to detail and skill set are to be admired. Thanks for sharing.

 

Regards,

[patmaquette]

On 26/01/2019 at 00:16, Kahunaminor said:

Great looking truck!

 

Your attention to detail and skill set are to be admired. Thanks for sharing.

 

Regards,

Very many thanks for your comments - you are too kind!

Cheers,

Pat