Unimog kit rescue

[dbostream]

Got to try some Vallejo then. I guess they don't smell much? I try to move away from smelly paint. Recently got some Revell acrylic paint which worked just as good as enamel to brush and no smell.

[JeroenS]

After putting some varnish on the cab interior and mudguards I set about looking at the flatbed. There's a "base plate" for the load bed. 

 

 

As you can see there's attachment points and guiding strips for the sides, but I don't need those so I took them off. 

 

What I do need is the frame underneath the bed, which is quite specific to the Unimog's chassis. 

 

 

Let's see what we have, a dryfit always gives something to work towards. 

 

 

Pretty good! The bed needs a "head board" and a floor, and there's some stuff to go under the bed like storage boxes and of course mudguards. I think it will look good once those big wheels are on  

 

[JeroenS]

2 minutes ago, dbostream said:

Got to try some Vallejo then. I guess they don't smell much? I try to move away from smelly paint. Recently got some Revell acrylic paint which worked just as good as enamel to brush and no smell.

Vallejo paints indeed have no smell, and the range of colours is enormous. Be aware that there's also the Model Air range which is "airbrush ready" but in my opinion does not brush as nicely. 

[Anteater]

It boggles me how you manage to work so quickly, and still have it looking good...

 

Does your day have more hours in it than the ones we get here? 

[JeroenS]

9 hours ago, Anteater said:

It boggles me how you manage to work so quickly, and still have it looking good...

 

Does your day have more hours in it than the ones we get here? 

Hehehe.... Well, with the chassis finished, there's really not that many parts left actually. And I'm not detailing, which saves a bunch of time. 

[JeroenS]

Save for some details, the load bed is complete. I've had my eyes on those coffee stirrers in the cupboard for a long time, thinking "flatbed"! So when nobody was looking I nicked them. Not so difficult actually because we don't drink coffee ourselves, we had a bunch of them left from when we had all these construction guys coming in before we moved into our new place. 

 

 

 

I like it!

[Bengalensis]

A great save of the old bashed up kit, really nice progress. And a well worthy investment in the resin tyres. Good work!

[Old John]

Oh I like that.Coming on nicely .

[JeroenS]

I painted the load bed today. I masked the coffee stirrers first, then applied Mr. Surfacer 1500 black which is my favourite. I then chose the semi gloss black I used on the chassis for the underside and Tamiya's OD green for the sides and headboard. It's a little lighter than the British Green but I didn't want to do this with a spray can. It'll be weathered so it will probably not be very noticeable. 

 

 

Now that I'm looking at the picture I realize I wanted to add some fastening points for straps on the sides. I'll do that later and paint those with a brush. 

 

 

Time to paint the bed itself I guess. I've never painted wood for a model so I'll experiment a little on some of the sticks I have left first. 

[JeroenS]

The longer I looked at it the more I didn't like the different greens on cab and load bed. So in the end I did a quick and light respray of the cab, it makes more sense if the colours match up. 

 

 

The wood was treated to some different Vallejo washes, dark brown, oiled earth and dark grey. That went real quick.

 

 

A good starting point I think. The lighter areas are caused by me wicking superglue where the wood was a little bendy, the washes didn't take very well there. Some "natural" difference is good. I'll try to make some scratches and throw some more stuff at it but the colour is already nicely broken up. 

[mbdesignart]

Excellent tonal shading for the wood plank effects, the spots make it look a bit battered and used.

[JeroenS]

I think this will be the final WIP post. These are all the components except the wheels, ready for final paint (some of the lights), assembly and weathering. 

 

 

I don't think I'll go overboard with the weathering. I'm aiming for a newly restored army surplus look, already driven a lot but not beaten to death. Just used and  dirty. 

[mbdesignart]

Are you using some kind of light box for taking your photos?

[JeroenS]

7 hours ago, mbdesignart said:

Are you using some kind of light box for taking your photos?

Yes, I have a setup for taking photos. I started taking interest in it, and at first I had a foldable / popup light box but it didn't work really well for larger stuff and getting the background in was a pain. So now I have this: 

 

 

It's a simple IKEA cupboard than I can move around easily, to the back of which I screwed a white furniture board. I use that to clamp A2 sized thick paper to, either black or white, for the "infinity curve". The cupboard holds the photo stuff like my camera and tripod and such. I use a proper camera for RFI shots, and my phone for WIP shots (no tripod). The lamps are Bresser 65 W / 5500 K daylight photo lamps in cheap sockets. I mounted them on rods which I attached to the sides of the cupboard like so: 

 

 

They rest on a screw and are held in place by saddles for electrical pipe. I can rotate the lamps a little which sometimes helps lighting. For RFI shots I use a third, somewhat smaller, lamp which adds light from the direction the photo is taken. It's simple and it (usually) works.

 

I adjust my phone for light sensitivity, and sometimes I use Faststone (free image viewer) to "post process" the shots a little for lighting and / or contrast. 

 

I find this setup is easy to use, even for quick WIP shots. I like it when they look clean 🙂 

[JeroenS]

Oh alright, one final WIP post then. Wheels!

 

 

Tyres are Tamiya's rubber black, rims painted black. 

 

These wheels are generic so I had to fiddle with spacers on the inside to get a correct looking track width. I scratch built the center hub thingy, let's call it that. 

 

 

Next: assembly and weathering, in random order probably. 

[Alan R]

Hi Jeroen,
If I recall, the Unimog had Transfer cases built into the hubs, presumably to lower the gearing further,
This also meant that there was more ground clearance due to the vertical nature of the transfer case.

 

Does this kit replicate that?

 

P.S. Great build, by the way!

 

Cheers,

Alan.

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Alan R

[JeroenS]

41 minutes ago, Alan R said:

Does this kit replicate that?

Hi Alan, actually I think it does. As you can see the axle is above wheel center. 

 

 

43 minutes ago, Alan R said:

P.S. Great build, by the way!

Thanks 🙂 

[Alan R]

Hi Jeroen,

Yes that's what I meant. The one I got up close and personal to was in Uganda in the late 80s. Tis a big bugger, up that close!

Yours looks like it has Disc Brakes. I'm sure (though memory may well have failed me) that the one I saw had Drum brakes.

 

The Unimog has always been one of my favourite trucks. I'll have to try and get one of these kits.

 

Cheers,

Alan..

[JeroenS]

15 hours ago, Alan R said:

I'll have to try and get one of these kits.

They're still quite readily available in different versions. I think the fire engine version is a nice one. 

[Sabrejet]

Some serious skills on show here!

[Old John]

That's a great looking rescue. Fine work you can be well pleased.

[JeroenS]

Just now, Old John said:

That's a great looking rescue. Fine work you can be well pleased.

Thanks John, I've started weathering it, I hope to finish it tonight or tomorrow. It will be a nice addition to the cabinet. 

[JeroenS]

I just finished it, RFI is here: 

 

Thanks for tagging along!