AEC Matador (Early)

[Courageous]

Morning people.

With the Challenger and Humber at home awaiting painting and accessories, I need another build for the lunchtimes while at work. I purchased this and loads of other afv's from a club member who wants to see this Matador built, so here goes.

 

Nice sturdy box and a pic of what it should look like.

 

What the heck am I supposed to do with this? It's got an inventory list if you know what things are. The pictures are very dark and not useful at all but I suppose I'll muddle through.

 

The resin but whether it's all there... I'll only know when i check it against the inventory and/ or during build.

 

I have started cleaning things up, a long, tedious and careful job indeed. Already thinking ahead with this as I want it presented slightly different. The idea is to have the tail gate open with the rear cargo tarp removed, so exposing the cargo within a loading/ unloading scene.

 

Stuart

[Carius]

Hi Stuart, looking forward to see this Matador finished.

Cheers

[badger]

Hi

 

It might be worthwhile trying to find the instructions for the 1/35 AFV Club kit as they might help with sorting out what goes where.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/afv-club-af35236-aec-matador--181096

 

Sadly Scalemates don't have them to download

[vindicareassassin]

Sadly a standard affair for Milicast, I've even had instructions from them that had some of their received mail from someone else on the back, nice to see recycling just gives an impression of amateurism, in this time of hi-tech I'd want to see something else, all my instructions for my kits were available on my blog and just before I gave up I was making moves to make them into PDFs to be able to down load and print.

 

Still, they build up into some nice kits once done.  

[Courageous]

1 hour ago, vindicareassassin said:

Sadly a standard affair for Milicast

That is a pity as I think many subjects will fall under their remit.

This weeks lunchtimes has been taken up by cleaning all those small resin parts, still have some awkward parts to do. Some parts are fragile or broken and will need to be replaced in time.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Sorry for lack of updates but i don't think you need to see me cleaning loads of small resin parts, so where are we...

Chassis all cleaned. Rear diff assy and central drive shaft fitted. Shaft from engine fitted. I haven't fitted the front diff assy yet as I'm thinking about offsetting the front wheels which will mean reworking this part.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Back to work after an Easter weekend.

The shaft ends were modified so that when the wheels are fitted, will be able be offset. Front diff now fitted. The drive shaft from front diff was to short, so was replaced with a metal option. Small plastic washes were fitted to rear of wheels as these will need to take the tie-rods later.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Me again...

Sorry for the slight fuzziness. Mounted on the rear of the chassis are winch pulley part (3 wheels) and the winch roller.

 

The fuel tank (top) and compressor (bottom) fitted. The last parts to be fitted are the exhaust pipes and silencer but it is very unclear as to where this is located, better look and see if photos will show it better. Just noticed that their are a few bubble holes that will need filling. 

 

Stuart

 

 

[beefy66]

Slow and steady looks a smashing little truck 

 

beefy

[Courageous]

1 hour ago, beefy66 said:

Slow

You're right, a mixture of not knowing what some parts are and dark picture 'instructions' don't help either. 

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Managed to acquire a better image of instructions from Milicast, much better.

Anyhoo, I was going to finish with the chassis with the addition of the exhaust but I've no micro tubing here to it, so I thought I'd tackle to cab.

I decided that I wanted to see what's in the cab, so decided to to have the doors open. Unfortunately this required the molded on doors to be removed, so out they came with the careful use of micro saw, scalpel and small chisels. After the removal of the doors, some areas were very thin and so I decided to remove these thin parts and will replace with more sturdier bits. I also have to reinstate the upper door frames as it was easier to remove the doors this way. With this work done, new doors will need to be made with handles and hinges.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

After being off work for 4 weeks, the return to work and my No2 model bench gave me access to the Matador.

With the kit doors removed, new doors were made metal handles fitted. The cab needed a little repair on the left window frame. Wire supports were added to the window frames to assist with window fitment later. Grab handles mad from copper wire were added to each side of the cab. Their are a few burst bubbles on the cab that need filling, those on the radiator I will leave as I would lose detail.

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

Great to discover this little build Stuart. When you showed the parts as they came, with all that resin flash etc, the kit looked a tad "shabby". Having seen the parts all cleaned up and in close up, it looks to be rather a neat affair, and you are doing a great job. Some of that detail looks very good indeed.

 

You seem to have a taste now for 1/76 AFV's!

 

Terry

[Courageous]

@Terry1954, I've only ever seen built Milicast stuff, so didn't know what I was getting into when I bought a friend's AFV stash, not so much as the kit being resin and the issues that you have with it, but the quality of the casting. I've had nothing to put me off, so I'm sure that once the plastic has been built more small resin stuff will be acquired. 

1/72 1/76 AFV's happened more by accident than by design. As you know, I build during my work lunch breaks and i got fed up with the aircraft building processes with painting. AFV's can generally be built almost complete before they get a sniff of primer, which I can get away with and a tidy up before going home towards the paint shop. So, you can read into that, that I also have a 'works' stash that contains only small AFV's, handy for Evilbay deliveries .

As you can see from my signature, I now have four on the go; Challenger 1 is waiting the base, Humber Armoured Car was waiting for parts, Churchill AVRE now awaiting paint and the Matador being built.

 

Stuart

 

[Courageous]

Time to turn my attention to the cargo deck.

 

Under boxes and mudguards fitted. Images show straps fitted to the mudguards, so I better do something there before fitting the last lower box. Still to be fitted to the underside are the steps but fitting them might be asking for trouble. Made up the passenger benches but had to make a rear rest as the resin option had broken. The spare wheel will be mounted inside the cargo area, together with a rack of rifles. The rack of containers on the right in the above pic was included in the kit but haven't a clue where it's supposed to go. Also want to fit other 'stuff' in the back but we'll see. Also toying with the idea of the tailgate being open.

Question about the tilt. Was it ever removed to show an open rear, with frames or was it generally always fitted?

 

Stuart

[Bullbasket]

Nice progress Stuart. With regards to the tilt, if memory serves me right, I think that I've seen photos of the tilt removed.

 

John.

[Courageous]

On 5/22/2020 at 4:06 PM, Bullbasket said:

I think that I've seen photos of the tilt removed.

Sorry for delay but it looks like the early type had a metal roof with canvas sides, I think it's the later ones that seem to be all canvas .

Anyway, as the subject nears primer stage, it's time to move it to the home workbench

 

Some how I've missed a couple of things. Firstly, the chassis had a noticeable twist to it which mad fitting the cargo bay interesting. Secondly, the sides of the cargo bay bow outwards slightly and this make the tilt interesting. The cab went on with no problem.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Well, what's been happening here besides priming? For whatever reason, I found that the roof was slightly too long, mainly because the cab has butt up against the cargo section. This meant a little surgery was needed on the roof section at both ends, so the front section now sits on the forward end the cargo area and their is no overhang at the rear but I will need to make a new rolled-up back for it. I also noted from pictures and odd indentation on the inside of the roof that supports needed to be fitted, no mention of these supports were mentioned in the instructions, ho-hum. Roof supports were made 16mm lengths of steel wire and secured wit CA. The combined effect of the supports also mitigates the bowed sides that now will be pulled in. While working on the supports, I noticed that the cargo sides are made from wood planks, seen on the outside but not in! With the supports in, not wanting to dismantle what I'd done, I turned a blind eye to this detail but scribed plank detail on the inside of the tail gate as this be hanging down, so nosy people can look inside. Delicate bits like cab internal levers and rifles will be left until last.

 

Stuart

[beefy66]

Looking good Stuart gives you a bit more satisfaction when it is completed when you have had to put things right keep at it mate  

 

beefy

[longshanks]

Lovely work going on here Stuart ..

 

Kev

[Courageous]

Cheers Kev. Got to think about paint scheme and I'm bound not to have them.

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

Looking good. Fingers crossed you have the paint!

 

Terry

[Courageous]

3 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Fingers crossed you have the paint!

I wish I knew. Milicast kits don't come with decals or painting suggestions, so it's up to moi. The MAFVA site gives me dates and schemes but I don't like mixing paints and I've got to find decals too.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Another one from the summer to move along.

 

Internals, underside and a few other bits painted with AK's Khaki Green. A bit of detail painting (whatever that is) is needed before some internal weathering and the we'll whack the roofs on.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

A little further along.

Been working on the 'cockpit'. Internals painted Bronze Green with a few painted details before glossing and a wash. When done, the delicate bits; rifles, levers and steering wheel added. Next step is the addition of the cabin roof, before moving to the cargo deck.

 

Stuart