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AEC "Dorchester" (1/35 AFV Club) (Put that light back on!!)


APA

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Right then lets have a crack at this WIP malarky shall we, see what it's all about, give it a bash, what can possibly go wrong!

 

The subject of choice is the AFV Club Dorchester Command vehicle. While being a bit of an ungainly boring box on the outside it's full of lovely details and potential inside. I'm hoping this is going to be quit the beast similar to the Scammell Transporter I did earlier this year. I really enjoyed do that. I think it was a kit which deserved the attention I put into it and this one has the same feeling. I think your attitude towards a build is half the battle. You put the love in which you feel for it. So expect lots of little things scattered about the place.

 

First off some random box content to give you the flavour.............

 

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Ha! nothing a bit of brute force wont put right :)

 

 

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Some nice looking decals, PE mostly for the Jerry cans and some ok maps which have a very anoying Union Jack randomly in the backgroung. Most maps have a white border. Thats them rendered useless. Might do a bit of photoshopping or print some new ones.

 

And finally......

 

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In my opinion the single most useless item in any model kit. How on earth are you supposed to weight these toys? Why aren't weighted tires standard in any kit. If there is one thing that really kills any realism in a model it's the lack of illusion of weight. So I bought these.......

 

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Pretty horrible with very poorly moulded hubs and no weight even though they were advertised as such.

 

So I bought these.......

 

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Now your talking. Nicely weighted with fine detail. The only criticism would be the lines on the smooth faces of the hubs. The scammell aftermarket ones had that as well but disappeared after paint and weathering so I'm not too concerned.

 

The instructions are as to be expected and seem nice and clear.......

 

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I think 'J3'.......

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which is shown as......

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is this.........

 

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So heres the plan...........

 

Outside it's going to be plain North African scheme (I haven't looked into the exact colour yet) with an additional camouflage to disguise it as a lorry. Something like this which I think is supposed to look a bit like a Quad / Matador hybrid.

imageserver 2

 

Should make a change from a Caunter or Disruptive or Mickey mouse schemes. One of the canopies will be extended and a few tables and chairs placed outside. All sitting on a plain black base which all my builds will be on.

 

Storage on top of course.

 

Inside I'm going to use some reference sketches I found which shows the storage for admittedly the wrong versions but still gives me lots of scratch building options.

EHPw6Ue

 

AEC_DorchesterACV_HP_DrawingHaugh (5)

 

This will include a lot of opened cupboards and floor storage which will be filled with lots of goodies. It will be covered in wires running all over the place

 

In addition the Wireless Set N19 will be in bits having a bit of maintenance done. Scratch built 1/35 scale tubes anyone?

 

I have bought but still waiting for the Voyager PE set for this. I'm rather hesitant of PE kits after purchasing a few and realising that a lot of replacement bits are either way too thin to be realistic or just pointless. This one may be the same but we shall see.

 

Finally the desk lights will work!

 

The whole thing will be accessed by the roof coming off

 

So I hope thats whet your appetite and will be interested to see what I get up to. 

 

All my reference pics and other stuff is here and will include all pics as the build goes on:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/143851440@N06/albums/72157715971970841/with/50345536503/

 

Please feel free to chip in with any comments, questions, advice and all that.

 

Hopefully I can get started this weekend so 'Tune in'.....tune in...... get it? Command vehicle....... radios....... tune in........... I'll get my great coat................

 

 

Andrew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I wouldn't worry to much about weighted tyres , as the Dorchester was fitted with runflats. An uncle of mine  who was farming, had a 3 ton trailer back in the early seventies which ran on 10.50 x 20 runflats , you could load it up with 3 or four tons and the tyres showed no deflection at all  . they never had any tubes in them let alone air.

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4 hours ago, Andrew Jones said:

I wouldn't worry to much about weighted tyres , as the Dorchester was fitted with runflats. An uncle of mine  who was farming, had a 3 ton trailer back in the early seventies which ran on 10.50 x 20 runflats , you could load it up with 3 or four tons and the tyres showed no deflection at all  . they never had any tubes in them let alone air.

I totally agree with you. 👍 I remember pics of US Scout cars in french scrapyards dating from fairly recently and most of their tires were fully 'inflated' with an explanation that they were run flats. Also with a lot of heavy truck pics of the period there appears to be next to no deformation even when fully loaded so to be truly accurate perhaps just a little sanding on the touching part to take the camber off would do. This was a very disappointing find for me!

However we are talking about scale models (Not trying to make you suck eggs of course) where we do tend to exercise creative licence to give the impression of reality. A lot of real mud weathering on vehicles would look either ridiculous (I have seen what looks like a bad paint job of mud on real JCB's, Artic's etc), out of scale or just plain boring. Therefore I will worry about the bulge in my Goodyears thank you 😳 🤣

 

The above was more of a 'getting it off my chest' I don't get out much these days!) 

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This looks a great kit and your plans for it are great.  I love quirky old trucks and have a number of them in my stash including I would think the German equivalent version of yours.

 

With regard to 1/35 tubing.  I have used in the past and found very good and thats silicone rubber float & rig tube for angling, Ive some in a number of diameters from 0.3mm up to 1.5mm.  Insert a soft wire and this can be shaped into just about anything you want.

Ive also used braided cable in various diameters and colours which are also good for cabling and Braided cord (various colours/diameters) which is great for rope 

 

Silicon Rubber Float & Rig Tube I got from www.daveharrellangling.com (available Im sure from any angling outlet)

Braided Cable from prime-miniatures.co.uk

I cannot remember where I got the braided cord from but Im happy to dig through my paperwork and find out for you if you are interested?

 

You may already know this but thought it would be of interest.

 

Si

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Braided cable exists in the car modelling world, but is usually too large diameter for anything 1/35 except perhaps radiator hoses or similar.  Even Tamiya sell some.  I recall getting a bunch of Japanese products from BNA Modelworld in Oz.  Brands such as Tuner Model Manufactory, Detail Master and Modeler's.

 

However, the smallest diameter I have is 0.5mm from Scale Production.  The paper insert in the baggie is in German, so I assume they're German.  The product number seems to be SP24200.  There is no web address or any other info, and I cannot recall where I got it from.

 

Detail Master offer braided cable in sizes from 0.020" to 0.1", so that's about 0.5mm again up to about 2.5.  Being US they still work in inches..........  www.detailmaster.com.

 

PS.

I have some braided stuff I got from a craft shop: Hobbycraft, The Range or somesuch.  But it's 1.2mm dia by my micrometer and very shiny.

 

Tuner Model Manufactory also do ribbed flexible hose.  However you can use guitar strings for this too, although the thicker diameters can be hard to bend to anything other than simple shapes.  If you unwrap and remove a bit of the ribbing at the ends by pulling it with fine nose pliers you have the central wire which you can insert into drilled holes

Edited by Das Abteilung
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2 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

Braided cable exists in the car modelling world, but is usually too large diameter for anything 1/35 except perhaps radiator hoses or similar.

I used to do braided cable and lines from lead wire or fine solder and roll a file over it ....pretty convincing and cheap 

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@Simon Dyer Nice tip on the tubing. Does the silicone take paint ok?

 

@Das Abteilung and @M3talpig I will probably use lead wire for the majority of the cable runs and some guitar wire for the corrugated runs. 

 

BTW There is more to guitar strings than you think, specifically Bass guitar strings. As well as the standard round wound as you would find in 6 string guitar strings you can get half round, flat and nylon wound:

Half round - Round wound with the apex ground off so they are a little smoother but still retain the 'zing' and brightness or more pertinently they still have a defined groove texture. There are a couple of other types under this umbrella but they are all basically the same.

Flats - these are made with flat wires wound around the core instead of round wires. The effect is a completely smooth surface giving a duller old school sound or more pertinently the texture is smooth with a very thin spiral gap.

Nylon - The same as Flat but with an added , usually black, nylon ribbon wound around giving an even more duller, double bass style sound but more pertinently the texture is a smooth overlapped material texture a bit like putties.

 

A

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13 hours ago, APA said:

Does the silicone take paint ok?

I haven't personally tried painting it.  It comes in very dark grey suitable for engine ducting etc, which is where I've used it so far.

 

13 hours ago, APA said:

BTW There is more to guitar strings than you think,

Thanks for the info.  I came across them from my youngest son, who has acoustic, electric and bass guitars but has only ever used round wire-wound strings.  I started with his re-string offcuts thinking that they might be useful and graduated to buying my own from a local musical instrument store.  Actually my greatest use of them has been on Warhammer models, many of which come with moulded ribbed cables which are usually flat and uniform with awkward mould lines.

 

I bought a Peddinghaus "curly cable" product which turned out to be nothing more than short offcuts of guitar string, at several times the price. Disappointed covers it.........  For curly cables like mic leads etc the unwound outer wire of guitar string is great.  As you pull it off the centre wire it assumes almost exactly the right spacing and bends easily.

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51 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

 curly cables like mic leads etc the unwound outer wire of guitar string is great.  As you pull it off the centre wire it assumes almost exactly the right spacing and bends easily.

And springs of course 👍

 

A

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And so it begins!

 

A good full days work today with all the running gear and chassis finished. Well chuffed. It was fairly strait forward apart from a few oddities which will be highlighted below.

 

95% of the chassis iss on 4 sprues which is very nice design and planning. Well done AFV Club. 

 

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First bits cut, cleaned and ready The engine is basically just the sump but thats not a problem as the Dorchester doesn't exactly haver a bonnet.

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All put together. Well that wasn't too difficult lets crack on

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The chassis is a ladder type with lots of parts which cross between the two main beams. So I was rather alarmed at the state of one of the sprus which have these very crusial parts on. I think it was being bent by the rubber tyres when packed. I decided not to try and starten them as once glued they will be pulled strait.

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They did however have some very annoying ejector marks which were a bugger to clean up. Sorry I thought I had a pre clean up pick but apparently not.

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The instructions show to place this C10 onto the underside (Actually top) of the cross member A34. There are no location pins or slots at all, nothing. I've left them off for now.

 

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The two lugs point outwards and I have since deduced they are to locate the cab.

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This bloody great baked bean tin sticking out of this part is actually an ejector mark!! It needs cutting off

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Rather disappointing poor moulding on this sort of quality kit!

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Aha!! A mistery part just to keep you on your toes

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Found it :) (We will meet this little bugger again in a bit)

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Starting to come together and looking reassuringly straight!

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Suspention starting to come together. Oh and any of you ellow tank guys who fancy an easy life away from track links and multiple wheels. Trucks have their own devils. Cleaning mould marks off leaf springs :) 

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And it's all done. Yep sort of halfway already after one day. (Yeah right!!) Another issue is the exhaust. The attachment points are very weak and the front pipe has nothing to hold it until the front cab goes on. I've actually glues it to the side of the engine. Not too sure of the exhaust end sticking inwards either. Just doesnt look right to me but thats the instructions.

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What the!! There is nothing to stick in this hole!! Even shown open on the ionstructions

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Remember that anonamous little part "7"? Well it turns out you can't put the gearing part in without either removing or bending back that part! Luckely the glue was still fresh enough to bend it enopugh.

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After all that here is the result with the after market wheels just to check it out.

 

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And just to see what it will look like here are the front and rear cabs floors sitting on it.

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What do I think so far? Well I have to say I was a little disappointed with the number of issues. With instructions a lot of them don't show all the attachment points and the drawings are over complicated. There should have been more steps. Trying to show where to put parts that are attached on the other side of the part visible is just daft. There are a couple of parts which you won't see that I have just left off as I cannot work out or see how they are attached!

The best one though (Unless I am being really stupid and missed the obvious) is nowhere in the instructions does it show you how or even tell you how to attached the cabs to the chassis!!!!! WTF!!!!

Seems like a bit of lazy cut and paste of the generic chassis used in their other AEC kits (I have a Matador in the pile) and whatever is on top.

 

The poor moulding of the leaf springs was annoying as well since they are not easily repaired.

 

I don't want to be negative and I hope I'm not nitpicking for the sake of it but having made the AFV Club Centurion I was surprised at what I found in this one.

 

Has anyone else made this kit or the other kits based on the AEC chassis?

 

I might start the cabs tomorrow however I will need to spend some time planning things out as there is a lot of modding and scratching.

 

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Day two and things are calming down a bit. I cut out all the major parts for the cabs and dry fitted them to see what I was dealing with.

 

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Plenty of cleaning up to do but I think this is a good way of doing things. Better to cut them off like this than from attachments on the sprue

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These are the only ejector marks that are visible (If your doing it out the box) and considering the large areas involved I reckon that not bad going.

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The only bit of poor moulding I found in this bit. Easily fixed.

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And here she is. Right thats this one ticked off what shall I build next? 🤣

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And the inside.

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1/35th Royal Signals Squaddy's point of view

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Bit of a tight squeeze between the map table and cupboard! Speaking of which I measured the cupboard door and the table gap. I don't think it will open fully as is so I may have to adjust.

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These are the only interior photos that I can find of an actual Dorchester. I'm guessing these are what AFV Club used for their kit. It looks like a decommissioned one with all the kit stripped. 

 

EHPw6Ue

 

That map table looks like it is made of solid planks rather than veneered so I will be either showing that in the kit one or scratch building my own. I know these things were very well built with little expense spared, hence the name, so I can imagine the table looking very nice.

nzTGNND

 

Looking at the pics above the floor looks nothing like the kit. I think the floorboards went traversely.

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Today has been a day of contemplation, chin scratching and planning. I think I'm going to be scratch building most of the internals including the floor. This may take some time!

 

Comparing the cab element to the chassis yesterday they are very different. This bit is well laid out, well explained and the quality better. Definitely a tail of two kits.

 

I've ordered a few bits to do the scratch building so things may go quite until then but hopefully not too long.

 

A

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Your subject vehicle is painted with BS,381 Light Stone No.61 with black areas applied to disguise it as a heavy lorry.  These areas are designed to resemble windows and natural shadows on bodywork.

Many many years ago there was an article and drawing in the MAFVA magazine and several other pictures have been published in various magazines since.  I have a model made years ago in the scheme.   It was effective, there is a picture taken from the air by the M.E. Camouflage Directive showing a normal lorry and one of these together.  It is tricky to tell them apart at first look.

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11 hours ago, Mike Starmer said:

Your subject vehicle is painted with BS,381 Light Stone No.61 with black areas applied to disguise it as a heavy lorry.  These areas are designed to resemble windows and natural shadows on bodywork.

Many many years ago there was an article and drawing in the MAFVA magazine and several other pictures have been published in various magazines since.  I have a model made years ago in the scheme.   It was effective, there is a picture taken from the air by the M.E. Camouflage Directive showing a normal lorry and one of these together.  It is tricky to tell them apart at first look.

Thank you Mike, That's exactly what I wanted to know for the colour. Yes they do seem to have worked quite well by accounts from captured German staff! You wouldn't have a source for the overhead pic would you? I'm sure it will be from a distance but there is no known photo of a Dorchesters roof! There is some debate as to how the top hatches worked. Most kits show them as hinged however there is a theory that they slid back including the perspex window. The sliding makes more sense to me as once open you would have to climb onto the roof to close it if hinged. There is virtually no photos of the interior either but I'm gradually building up a reference library which when pieced together is giving me a good indication of what went on inside.

 

A

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