Daimler Dingo

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Things are going quite swimmingly.  My Ferret scout car in this GB is coming along nicely.  My JU88 build is looking good.  My builds in the Prototypes GB are entering the final straight and the Meteors are in the paintshop.  Gideon tells me that if I stick to the plan, I will have completed all of my builds by new year.

 

So what's a boy to do? 

 

Start another model, that's what!   

 

This is the Mini Art 1/35 Dingo.

 

 

As you can see from the state of the box, it's been in The Stash for a while.  

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Typical Mini Art fare.  Nicely moulded with a lot of tiny detail parts.

 

 

 

Some nice PE and a three man crew for a two man vehicle.  

 

 

This is not going to be a big model.

[Bullbasket]

Hi Enzo. If you're interested, I've got 16 photos that I took at Saumur (I think) of a Dingo. They're all close ups and interior shots.

 

John.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

1 hour ago, Bullbasket said:

Hi Enzo. If you're interested, I've got 16 photos that I took at Saumur (I think) of a Dingo. They're all close ups and interior shots.

 

Thanks John.  There is a Walkround forum where they would go well.

[Bullbasket]

13 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

Thanks John.  There is a Walkround forum where they would go well.

Yes, but the last time that I submitted photos for a walkround, it took ages before it was uploaded. Just thought that these might have been of use to you now.

 

John.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

12 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Yes, but the last time that I submitted photos for a walkround, it took ages before it was uploaded. Just thought that these might have been of use to you now.

They would.  Very much so.  Please feel free to post them in this thread.   

[Bullbasket]

18 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

They would.  Very much so.  Please feel free to post them in this thread. 

Have a look in the reference section.

 

John.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

2 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Have a look in the reference section.

 

Thanks very much, John.  They're very helpful indeed.    

[Bullbasket]

29 minutes ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 

Thanks very much, John.  They're very helpful indeed.    

I've just had one of those "Doh!!" moments. I'd already uploaded these to the AFV Walkrounds, four years ago. Just shows that the medication isn't working!!

 

John.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

First step is to build the chassis unit.  This is a small, light model so I added 15g of ballast in the hopes that a little bit of mass will help with the sit of the model.

 

 

Then it's on to the crew compartment.   Lots of tiny detailed parts here.

 

 

The interior was then primed and sprayed with a dark green colour.  Once dry, it was roughly oversprayed with Lifecolor UA-107 Light Stone (Italian Sand) in an attempt to simulate a vehicle that was delivered from the factory in green and painted light stone in theatre.  The floor was distressed to allow the green to show through and the whole thing was heavily drybrushed with dark aluminium paint.

 

 

The crew compartment was then assembled.

 

[CliffB]

Very effective painting Enzo 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Merry Christmas!     

 

The crew compartment was then fitted to the chassis and the engine compartment was assembled.  Here's the problem:  the engine compartment components are too short.  I used 20thou plastic card shims to fill the gaps.  That's quite a considerable gap!

 

 

 

But it all looks pretty good once the engine compartment decking is in place.  The mudguards are just clipped in place at the moment.  They do effectively hide the shims so the shims may not be absolutely necessary.

 

[Maginot]

Gotta get me one of these. Good work.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Sadly, here is where I have to be a little critical of this kit.  The suspension units are ridiculously over-engineered.   Each unit could have had a maximum of four parts to make them easy to assemble and still maintain a decent level of detail.  Instead, there are 12 plastic and 2 PE parts.  For each unit!!!!  Some of the parts are less than 2mm in diameter and are very easy to lose.  You can imagine how I know this...     There are two components which are flat and could have been moulded as a single piece.  Instead, one is in two parts, while the other is in three...

 

This seems to be a common theme with Ukrainian kits at the moment.  The Clear Prop OV-10 Mohawk which I built earlier in the year was similarly over-engineered to the detriment of the ease of build.  I remember that Eduard when down the same route a few years ago.  Their initial 1/48 Focke-Wulf FW190s were ridiculously complex to build at the front end.  Eduard eventually retooled the fuselage components to improve the buildability of these kits. 

 

I hope that the various Ukrainian companies learn from this and, when they have the time to deal with such trivial matters, give the buildability of their future kits a little more priority.  

 

Anyway, enough of the criticisms.  Let's have a look at the suspension units.

 

 

I did not fit the two PE brackets.  Life is just too short!   

 

But a bit of perseverance led me to this.   I have masked the interior.

 

 

... and then primed the model with grey plastic car primer from a rattle can.

 

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Ah yes, I remember those suspenders well. In my case, it wasn't a problem as I was making a very muddy diorama so I basically stuck it all together with terrain.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

This one is still progressing.

 

All the components were the sprayed with Lifecolor UA-107 Light Stone.  The tyres were painted with Lifecolor UA-733 tyre black.  Three of them were given a rubbish attempt at weathering, which will be painted over before fitment.

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

And we're finished! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

...and posed with my other entry in this GB.