1/72, British improvised APC, Dublin, 1916

[gamevender]

During the Easter Rebellion in 1916, the British Army employed a group of improvised APCs made out of railroad engine parts mounted on a truck chassis with improvised armor for the cab, engine and drive train. The cylinder on the rear is actually four railroad engine smoke boxes bolted together with the door on the rear most one functioning as the entry hatch. They then cut holes in the sides so the soldiers inside could fire out of the vehicle without dismounting, but reports say they usually didn't due to the noise and smoke it produced inside. These vehicles took several forms and this is more of a representation of one of them rather than an exact replica. I started with a Roden London Bus kit for the frame, suspension and drive train. Then I scratch built everything above that. There's still quite a bit left to do, but this is the progress so far. The parts are set in place at the moment, so don't mind any alignment problems. 

 

 

 

 

 

[vaoinas]

That's an interesting steampunky vehicle. Looks very nice so far.
What rivets did you use? Archer?

[gamevender]

Rivets are decals from MicroMark. You get a whole 6X9 sheet of various patterns. I was not aware that Archer did much in small scale. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by gamevender

[gamevender]

OK, got it ready for paint. Everything is glued in place and the last rivets have been added, thank goodness. Also added handles to the "hood" access doors and a crank. Then a coat of primer covered up all my work, but shows me what goofs I need to fix before I paint it. Which raises another question, what color where these things? There are only black and white photos. They do show that the added "armor" is painted a lighter color than the undercarriage, but who knows what either should be. I'll think on that for a bit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by gamevender

[Kingsman]

Ah, the Daimler-Guinness. About 20 delivery lorries, including at least 5 Daimlers, donated by Guinness and converted by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company at Inchicore. In about 3 days flat!

 

10,000 rivets in close formation! So those are decal rivets?

 

Grey was a common vehicle colour early in WW2, although khaki was coming into use by 1916. Grey had been the standard Army colour for horse-drawn wagons. Dark green also seems to have been used on vehicles. The concept of camouflage was in its infancy in 1916.

 

Bearing in mind these were railway workshop conversions, railway paint is very likely. Most new locomotives were first rolled out in 'engineers grey' as it looked better for b/w PR photos. A sort of mid grey. This would have worked in an urban setting, noting that camouflage was a new concept.

 

Period photos show a pale-ish colour, so grey would get my vote. There is apparently a period painting held by the National Library of Ireland which might give a clue.

 

Tanks Encyclopedia has a good run-down on these little-known vehicles, possibly the first purpose-built motorised APC.

[gamevender]

Here's link with some good info as well. 

https://ansionnachfionn.com/2016/03/23/improvised-armour-from-the-british-army-1916-to-the-islamic-state-2016/

 

Yep, decal rivets. 

Edited April 16, 2020 by gamevender

[Carius]

Wow excellent build, I love that a lot.

cheers

[Bullbasket]

Very interesting and unusual subject. Hope your sanity is still intact after those rivets. Nice work.

 

John.

[John Masters]

This is very cool.  Keep at it!