SimonL Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 (edited) Moving on to my next project, a break from tracked vehicles. The Airfix K2/Y just popped up in my local hobby shop, so I grabbed one. They also had the Gecko kit, but after a few challenging builds I fancy a bit of break! I won’t waste space with a bunch of sprue shots, as that has been covered well elsewhere. I have decided to have a go at the Caunter scheme, hopefully a bit more straight forward than the Stuart I did last year. I have the paints in stock, Vallejo ModelAir for the Portland Stone and my attempts at the Starmer mixes in Tamiya acrylics. I had a look at the instructions for the Gecko kit on Scalemates (one of the reasons I decided on the Airfix kit - too much photoetch for me!), and noted that the colour callout suggests middle stone for inside of the rear cabin, rather than cream or white. This would align with a rather nice article I found concerning a restoration of a K2/Y here in Perth WA (see https://www.keymilitary.com/article/helping-hands). I have some Italeri Acryl middle stone, which I think will do. Perhaps not strictly accurate, but anything that avoids me having to brush paint a really pale colour… Edited Sunday at 05:21 by SimonL 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stef N. Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 I'm liking the sound of this. I will grab a seat and follow along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigster Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Looks like "your link" is asking for subscription to see whatever inside. No point including links like that. Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 24 minutes ago, zigster said: Looks like "your link" is asking for subscription to see whatever inside. No point including links like that. Z Oh - that’s strange. It allowed me to view it without a subscription. Just said that i was “viewing a premium article”. My apologies. There is this link which has some photos of the restored vehicle in question. https://austinmotorvehicleclubqld.org/blog/2021/8/29/an-austin-k2y-restored-to-get-an-ice-cold-beer-in-alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigster Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 That works! Thanks... z 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 So I got down to cutting and glueing some plastic this weekend. Taking a careful look through the instructions, it’s clear that I will need to build and paint (and probably weather) assemblies as I go. Obvious place to start - the chassis. It didn’t take that long really before it looked like this (the wheels are just dry fitted at the moment). It required a bit of manoeuvring to get all the wheels to touch the ground, not sure why there seemed to be a bit of a “warp” in the chassis sides going on. A bit of gentle twisting and everything was ok. Probably my fault in not quite getting things lined up. There were a few injector marks, but they will be well hidden in the finished model so I wasn’t too worried about them. Quick check of the mudguards, and bonnet as I will be painting these before assembly. While the glue was setting on the chassi I thought I would take a look at the stretchers. As supplied they are rather crude, and a quick look on the internet reveals they don’t actually look much like the real thing. So I scraped the edge with a craft knife to make it a lot less thick, and drilled and scraped out the legs to be more representative of the real thing. I think I will only do this at one end of each stretcher as that’s all that will be visible with the doors open. I’ll also add a strip of plastic underneath across by the legs to represent the “locking” bar that should be there. Pretty happy how it looks - only 3 more to go! The one place where I do need to deal with injector marks is the back of the main cab. Of course it was only after applying the Mr Surfacer that I realised that a few of these wouldn’t have been visible anyway. Thoughts so far. It’s pretty straight forward. I like how the sprues are set out, so you don’t need to jump from one to another to find parts. Plastic is slightly soft, but easy to work with and it takes well to my usual Tamiya Extra Thin cement. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 This is looking good so far. I've looked at the kit myself as it has good reviews, so it's nice to see a build progress (and find out all the little bits that need attention!) Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 Thanks Keith. Progress has been a bit slow due to work getting in the way, and I’ve had a small bout of illness. But in good news this arrived in the mail today. Had to be done! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 Progress so far. Painting as I go has slowed down construction. Chassis with wheels dry fitted. Tyres were painted with Vallejo Dark Rubber. Rear cabin, the seat pads being painted with Italeri Acryl Leather and the floor with Tamiya Acrylic XF64 Red Brown. Construction of the benches for the stretchers was fairly straightforward and everything fitted well. The front cab has had a few coats of Portland Stone, I had to do a bit of remedial filling and sanding as the ejector marks were still a bit visible. Seat pads were painted with Tamiya Acrylic XF 49 Khaki. Everything looks rather pristine, so next up will be some washes and dry brushing to knock that back. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Progressing well Simon. Nice work. John. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 You're making great progress and it's looking good! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 8 hours ago, Bullbasket said: Progressing well Simon. Nice work. John. 7 hours ago, Keeff said: You're making great progress and it's looking good! Keith What they said! Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Progress this weekend. Started the weathering process by dry brushing the tyres with Italeri Acryl light gull grey. Then I gave all the interior and wheels a coat of Italeri Acryl gloss clear, before following up with a dirty wash of mix of Vallejo Model Wash Brown and Grey. I followed up with a wash of Vallejo Model Wash Desert Dust (heavier on the wheels) and finally a couple of brushed on coats of Green Stuff World Maxx Matt varnish. After the gloss coat I also added the decals for the dash board, which went on very easily. Just some dry brushing to do and then time to put the cabin together. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 'Morning Simon (or in your case, 'Evening), Can I ask, are your photos too big for the site? The reason that I ask is that they haven't opened in the time that it took me to type this. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Evening (morning) John. Shouldn’t be. I loaded them up via hobbyphotohost like I usually do? Sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 There must have been some glitch when I first looked at them as they've just opened straight away. Nice work BTW. The tyres look very realistic. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Nice work! You weathering skills are Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Starmer Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 The restoration in Perth has the regulation post war interior colour, Middle Stone No.62. The painting regulations changed in the 1950s. I have a copy of these orders, which I cannot assess at present. The wartime vehicles had gloss white of gloss Pale Cream No. 52. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Nice progress with this one Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 20 hours ago, Bullbasket said: There must have been some glitch when I first looked at them as they've just opened straight away. Nice work BTW. The tyres look very realistic. John. Phew! And many thanks - very happy how they worked out. 19 hours ago, Keeff said: Nice work! You weathering skills are Keith Thank you - too kind. I’m learning all the time. 16 hours ago, Mike Starmer said: The restoration in Perth has the regulation post war interior colour, Middle Stone No.62. The painting regulations changed in the 1950s. I have a copy of these orders, which I cannot assess at present. The wartime vehicles had gloss white of gloss Pale Cream No. 52. Oh dear , I’m going to leave it as is - can’t face redoing it. But useful to know if I do another (or someone else is following this thread with the intent of doing one). 3 hours ago, Hamden said: Nice progress with this one Stay safe Roger Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcoat2966 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Nice looking project so far Simon. I've always been tempted to take a shot at one of these as Ice Cold In Alex is one of my favourite films of all time. Can't remember how many time I've seen it . I'll keep up with the blog to see how it pans out.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 (edited) Progress this weekend. After some dry brushing on the interior with Italeri Acryl Sand it was time to glue the sides on. Very straight forward. I also finished the front cabin by fixing the instrument panel in place. I glued the wheels to the chassis, everything else is just a dry fit. and that’s it for a couple of weeks. About to head to the USA for work - first intercontinental flight since June 2019. A tad nervous I just admit. Will pick this up on my return later in the month. Edited March 12 by SimonL 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Nice work so far. Looks like you'll be able to pick it up easily when you return. Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edjbartos Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 That's looking smashing, very nicely painted and weathered, looks very good... Ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Looking good Simon. Have a safe journey. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now