Land Rover, Forward Control Ambulance - 3D printed kit at 1:35 scale

[bootneck]

Here we have another Land Rover series model from the Pete Harvey stable of excellent 3D printed kits.  Pete has already produced the Series III Land Rover Lightweight

 

 

 

and the Range Rover TACR2  crash tender

 

and now we have the Land Rover Forward Control.  The version that I shall be building in this WiP is the Series III, 101inch wheelbase FC Ambulance.

 

The kit contains as many as 90 parts, much of them consisting of the chassis, axles, props and steering gear.  Before I start to do any printing of the parts, I will need to look carefully through the pages of the instructions.   The instructions are laid out in picture format with little text; however, the illustrations look to be very comprehensive and well laid out.

 

I hope to give a further update on my progress by the weekend.

Cheers,

Mike

[bootneck]

I have printed off the main components;  chassis, axles and bodywork etc., and laid them out here to show what will be involved with the build.

 

 

The remaining parts include items for the driver compartments and the rear body internals, such as the stretcher rails, rear doors and stretchers etc.  I hope to have those done by next weekend,  I have a few commitments in the week to get done first.

Once all the parts of the model are printed, I hope to get started on the assembly.

 

cheers,
Mike

[badger]

Not really applicable for an ambulance but inside the armour have recently released a whole range of 3d printed post war British weapons that may be of interest if you haven't seen them:

 

https://www.insidethearmour.com/shop-1

 

All the best 

Ben

 

 

[bootneck]

Hello everyone,

I am back from my holibobs and am now able to get to the bench and the LR forward control. 

 

There isn't much to show at the moment, just the axles have been attached to the chassis frame and painted black.  Following that, I gave the chassis a light dusting of various washes just to give it a worked effect.

 

I have given the cab a coat of dark green but I am considering doing this model in a sand colour.  Does anyone here know if this version of the Land Rover FC Ambulance was used in a sand livery, possibly in the 1980s or early 90s?   I am thinking perhaps at the bases in Cyprus or something like that.

 

cheers,
Mike

[I Dole]

They were painted sand for Gulf War I.

See British Land Rovers in the Gulf, Bob Morrison, LRO books.

[bootneck]

Thanks for that info.  I did a check online and that book is £82 on Amazon.  There's no way I can afford books at those prices; therefore, I will rely on our BM community to help by providing information and photos for my research.

cheers,
Mike

[I Dole]

Good heavens. It was £7.99 when I got it.

There are three pictures of 101 ambulances All are overall sand, no disruptive patterns.

From the Gurkha transport regiment. 72GJ88, 89 and 92 with red crosses on the sides.

7th Armoured Brigade 74GJ34, with the rear side windows painted over, PSP and a winch on the front. It also has red crosses on the side and a red crecent behind it and a smaller red crecent above the drivers windscreen, plus a desert rat symol and "sect VI", "RENEGADES" on the door.

The third shows 7th Armoured Brigade 72GJ46, has red crosses on the sides and red crecents on the doors, with door tops removed.

 

 

[bootneck]

I have managed get a little more done on the ambulance, which involved preparing the engine; gearbox and prop shafts.  I have painted these parts and weathered them ready to be assembled.

 

The transmission components are now assembled and ready to be lowered into the chassis frame.  It a very tight fit and attaching the props to the axles will be a delicate operation.

 

These components sit fairly deep into the chassis and there isn't much to see when installed.

 

The next phase will be to build the body and I am now contemplating what colour to paint it, choices are: standard army green....

 

or sand.

 

 

cheers,
Mike

[phildagreek]

Looks good so far!

[Milan Mynar]

It looks very good.

[bootneck]

Hi everyone,

 

I have received an update from Pete recently, in the form of an upgraded chassis frame with improved headlight features.

 

 

The previous frame had solid headlamps, as seen on the model on the left, with the intention to paint the lens silver or chrome.

The new frame has the correct open aperture, including a bulb, which means the inner area can be painted silver or chrome and then a clear lens can be attached. 

 

This will make a big improvement on the looks of the finished model.  I don't think that I am going to be able to remove anything from the previous builds, so I've started to print out and paint a fresh set of parts.

 

I don't like to throw anything away; therefore, after this WiP,  I will probably convert the earlier two chassis possibly to a GS version or radio vehicle,  and a gun tractor.  I'm not sure about the latter, that may need a lengthening of the frame.

 

More to follow later.

 

Cheers,
Mike

[bootneck]

I now have two of the modified frames printed, plus I was also able to detach the engines, gearboxes and axles from the previous frames. 

 

That has certainly saved some time rather than attaching and painting new ones.

 

The old frames are off to the left, they will be put aside for future conversion projects.

 

 

cheers,

Mike

[Keeff]

I'm liking the detail this has .... and the fact Pete is tweeking and improving it. 

Perhaps not helping you having to reprint parts though!! 🙄

 

Keith 😁 

Edited August 12, 2024 by Keeff

[bootneck]

He never stops!   Which is much better than producers who make one version and never go back to it, even when modellers provide updated information and details etc.

I don't have any worries about reworking anything Pete provides, it means that the eventual model will be as good as it can be; plus, I can always use the old stuff for conversions. 

 

One of my other builds is a street scene that has a garage with a small scrapyard out the back.  So far, it is full of Pete's early iterations of wheels, hubs, tyres, batteries and engines!

 

cheers,
Mike

[Keeff]

4 minutes ago, bootneck said:

much better than producers make one version and never go back to it, even when modellers provide updated information and details

The advantage of being able to update a file rather than retool a mould .... and cheaper! 

 

5 minutes ago, bootneck said:

So far, it is full of Pete's early iterations of wheels, hubs, tyres, batteries and engines!

That's very environmentally friendly! 

 

Keith 😁 

[bootneck]

3 minutes ago, Keeff said:

The advantage of being able to update a file rather than retool a mould .... and cheaper!

Yes, I was referring to 3D model producers.

cheers,
Mike

[Mike]

Nice bunch of Landies Meekle.  That Range Rover looks a bit looooong, but that's not your fault

[bootneck]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

Nice bunch of Landies Meekle.  That Range Rover looks a bit looooong, but that's not your fault

Yeh, somebody stuck an extra set of wheels under it.    It's exactly to scale according to my new digital caliper and the plans.

 

cheers,

Mike

[Mike]

1 minute ago, bootneck said:

Yeh, somebody stuck and extra set of wheels under it.

They were weird looking things.  You'd have thought it would have been cheaper to start with a longer chassis in the first place

[bootneck]

I have managed to get a little more done on these builds, even though swmbo has kept me busy with work on the garage.  Last month I had to repair the garage, as parts were rotting away; now, she wants me to convert the garage into a....  well, a garage!  

With the extremes of weather we are experiencing; plus, the incessant dive bombing of the seagulls, we've decided to empty the garage of all the old Amazon boxes,  dried up paint tins and all the fence panels that I might want one day, and put the car under cover again.

 

I have finished the chassis for the sand coloured ambulance, work is still needed on the green version.

 

Next up is the cab.

 

Some of the paintwork is just a first coat and those parts will have another coat applied over the weekend.

 

 

These models are coming along nicely and I should be able to get started on the ambulance bodies soon.

 

cheers,
Mike

[bootneck]

Hello all,

 

a family issue has kept me away from the workbench for a while, only managing to do the odd research and ask for information on here lately.  That said, I think that I can get back to this build now.

 

More parts have been painted and readied to be attached io these ambulances and I hope to show more progress soon.

 

 

 

cheers,
Mike

[perdu]

You're back?

 

That's great Mike, watching again mate.

[Stick]

Glad to see you back. 👍

Best wishes.
Stick

[Maddoxx77]

Looking good. I have zero experience with 3d printed models but i like what i see. 

[phildagreek]

Looks good!