Meng Wasp Flamethrower Jeep

[Andy Moore]

On 14/03/2020 at 16:52, Army_Air_Force said:

The Jeep should probably have a noticable lean to the left when complete. Jeeps tend to lean left anyway due to driver and fuel tank weight, plus the engine is a little offset left too. With this modification, there's now two spare wheels on the left, rather than one on the right. I wonder if the spare was moved to allow access to the rear Jerry cans from inside the vehicle? The big tank is offset left, and the small tank on the hood is also on the left. There's some Jerry cans on the right, but they won't always be full and there's much more weight on the left side than a standard Jeep. Not sure whether a lean could be replicated at this stage in the build.

It's not something that I'd actually considered to be honest and, as you say, a bit late to make any modifications now. If it was factored in from the start of the build though, it shouldn't be too hard to replicate, and it would add an interesting aspect to the model.

 

 

I've got the flame thrower head fitted now, which was the part of the assembly I'd been putting off as I suspected it was going to be a bit of a swine to get it in place while connecting all the various hoses up. It did turn out top be quite frustrating, mainly due to the general delicacy of the model at this stage, but I finally managed to get it all in place, aided by a fair amount of profanity. The passenger seat is also fitted, although it doesn't really want to properly sit in position due to the thick hoses that run under it. It doesn't sit high as such, but it doesn't feel entirely secure either as it's only attached by the two frame legs at the front.

 

I've also scratch built the small stowage basket on the front left fender, which is a bit shoddy if I'm honest, but it does add an extra detail. The modern replica Wasp has one, although I can't tell from period photos if the original did. Plenty of jeeps had them though so it's a reasonable addition. It would have looked much better in photo etch, and this kit is crying out for a decent PE set - no doubt Eduard or Voyager will oblige before long.

 

 

Earlier in the build I'd mounted the shroud over the flame thrower nozzle a little too far back which has slightly compromised the fit of the head onto the support frame. It's also meant that I couldn't fit the two thin hoses that run from the back of the head into the back of the shroud, where they should enter. Instead I've had to run them to the underside of the shroud which isn't entirely accurate but, despite that, I'm glad I've been able to add the extra hoses as I don't think the build would have looked complete without them.

 

 

 

I've added a length of rope to the front bumper just for the sake of adding a bit of extra detail. Really, the only things to add now are the wheels, although I'll probably refine the weathering a little more once they're in place.

 

 

 

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

[Army_Air_Force]

On the real Jeep, the passenger seat is only attached by the two front legs. It can hinge forwards and the canvas roof can be stowed beneath it, so I wouldn't worry if it isn't sitting fully back. Mine doesn't if I haven't got the roof folded up tightly enough!

 

[Bullbasket]

Exceptionally good work Andy. Brilliant.

 

John.

[vaoinas]

It's getting better and better. 

There's a lot to learn of this weathering process.

[Flyingdutchman]

Hi Andy,

 

Impressive painting/weathering. Love the way you photograph the Jeep, very clear pictures.

 

 

[s.e.charles]

I must echo everyone's accolades regarding the fit & finish of this project; KUDOS!

[Andy Moore]

Thanks everyone,

 

Okay, on the home straight now I think. The wheels are on and they're all touching the ground - not always a guarantee, especially as I'd sanded flat spots on them. I've touched up the weathering here and there to give some areas a little definition.

 

 

 

As an aside, I've been trying out the new AMMO shaders and the updated AK Interactive acrylics on this build, mainly in the later stages of weathering as I've only had the paints for a week or so. I've only got a couple of the AK paints and one of the AMMO shaders, so my experience of them is fairly limited, but I thought I'd give a few observations for anyone that hasn't tried them yet.

 

 

Starting with the AMMO shader, this is essentialy an acrylic wash, and it's available in a fairly wide range of weathering type colours. I was expecting it to be something along the lines of the Games Workshop washes, and that's essentially what it turned out to be. If anything though, I'd say it worked a little better than the GW wash. The paint is thin and translucent with no visible pigment and the formulation is quite clingy, with less tendency to pool or leave tide marks then the GW washes. That makes it very good for creating graduated shading on a surface - have a look at the shading along the hinge line on the bonnet in the above photos. The clingier consistency also makes it good for sponged effects. The only downside is the relatively small volume of the bottle, only 10ml, but I guess it's not something you'd use in huge quantities.

 

I never got on with the old AK acrylics. I found them too thin and lacking in pigment to build up a decent finish. They were rubbish for brush painting, and troublesome to airbrush. AK have been making a huge song and dance about this new, reformulated line, so I thought I should give them a go to see how they've changed.

I only bought one of the regular paints and one of the inks, so not really a comprehensive test, but so far I've been massively impressed. The paints are night and day different to the old ones, and brush paint beautifully (haven't tried them in the AB yet). In consistency and use they seem very similar to Vallejo acrylics, which have always been my go to for brush painting, although I'd say the pigment, at least in the colour I tried, seems a little more finely ground. They certainly apply and dry very smoothly. The one I've used here is Tenebrous Grey, which I used for the tyres. A couple of lightly thinned coats gave me a solid smooth finish which was also very resiliant to the enamel mud washes I used for the weathering.

 

The other AK paint I tried was one of the ink shades (Burnt Umber in this case), and I was expecting this to be similar to the AMMO shader. It turned out to be a little different though, being slightly thicker and more colour dense than the AMMO wash. Used neat it was quite oily, and was great for creating greasy dribbles and runs. Thinned down, it could be used more like the shader for tinting and toning areas of a model. It does dry very quickly though which makes blending harder, although you could aliviate this by adding a retarder. If anyone has ever used the Daler acrylic inks with the rubber dropper tops, these AK inks seem quite similar.

 

One final note with the AK acrylics; the range seems very tailered toward figure painters and table top war gamers. You won't find any FS or RAL shades in the range, although I suppose they may add those in the future. It's still a very useful colour range though.

 

 

Getting back to the jeep, there are a few final areas I want to neaten up, then I think I can call it done. Hopefully I should get that done tonight.

 

Andy

[Army_Air_Force]

It looks great. You need to get it outside with a real background for some photos! and a small diorama base wouldn't hurt, and some figures, and support vehicles, and........ 😉

[Bullbasket]

One word........superb!

 

John.

[Andy Moore]

Okay. the last bits of tidying up are done so I'm going to call this one finished. I'll round off the build with a few subjective thoughts on the kit...

 

The Wasp, like the Rolls Royce armoured car I built last year, is from Meng's Velociraptor series which is for the smaller models in their range. While I wouldn't want to say they cut corners with that series, they don't seem to go to the lengths they do with their larger releases. For example, the Wasp doesn't include a photo etch fret, which is something you'd normally expect as standard with most Chinese manufacturers these days.

The kit as a whole is very good up to a point. If I had to compare it to anything, it would be a 90's Tamiya release - Good clean moulding and a reasonable level of detail, but missing that extra finesse we've got used to in recent years. If Meng were the only game in town for a 35th jeep those issues maybe wouldn't matter as much, but we've also got a new jeep from Takom, together with the Bronco kit that's been around for a few years now.

Those two releases are more refined in a number of areas compared to Meng's jeep. Both Takom and Bronco supply the bonnet catches as separate pieces, while Meng mould them in place, and not very well at that. There was also a nasty mould separation line that ran down either side of the bonnet on this kit that needed careful clean up

Takom provide an option of two clear windscreens, one with moulded on wipers, and one clean to be used with the supplied photo etch wipers. Meng only give you a screen with moulded on wipers as, to be fair, do Bronco.

Both Bronco's and Takom's chassis and engines look to be better detailed and more accurate that Meng's, although those aren't, admittedly, crucial areas.

 

This last one's very subjective I know, but Takom's kit looks much better value to me as well. Both the Meng and Takom kits retail at around £30 in the UK, but the Takom release gives you a driver figure, a trailer, a photo etch fret, and a slightly better over all level of detail. Of course, if you want to make the Wasp then the Meng kit is the only option (unless you wanted to take the flame thrower gear from this kit and combine it with the Takom jeep, but if I was making a regular jeep I'd be more inclined to go with the Takom kit.

 

All that being said, this is still a decent kit that builds into an unusual subject. and I had a lot of fun putting it together.

 

Anyway, I won't waffle on about it any longer. Thanks to everyone for following along, and I'll leave you with the outside shot with base and figure that @Army_Air_Force wanted to see 😉

I'll get the final photos up in RFI later

 

 

Andy

[Army_Air_Force]

Very cool!