Special Armour VW Pickup Vignette

This was something I stumbled upon at one of my local shops. Small parts count, odd subject, resin… all of my favorite things in one box.

I hadn’t really been able to share photos on the old site without some sort of hoop jumping so it’s a blessing for me to be able to just snap pics from the bench with my phone and upload directly. I may use my DSLR and photo booth for the final photos, we’ll see.

The resin wasn’t exactly a perfect match to the plastic regardless of my careful planning prior to cutting it up. There has been some plastic card, filling and sanding but I’m pretty confident I can turn out something half decent.

This will be a small vignette of a captured vehicle in OD and stars, hence the US soldier.

Comments, questions and criticism always welcome.

5 Likes

Like this!

1 Like

Go Army by the way.

1 Like

I am liking it. I have a 1/48 version with Tamiya and CMK with the same issue. I like how you made the base.

Go Navy, beat Army!

image

This is a very interesting subject.
What material did you use to make the base?

1 Like

I believe this is also a CMK resin product. It’s well made, I think it may have shrunk just a little at some point.

The pink stuff is rigid foam insulation, I work in construction and this is how we insulate the outside of foundations below grade.

The white frame is just thick sheet styrene glued together and carved to match the surface shapes.

1 Like

Thanks for the info !

1 Like

You are correct about them being the same. Resin can do that sometimes.

Looking at my kit and instructions at the top rear of the bed it appears you don’t have the tail gate locks(?) part pur1 installed on each side.

1 Like

I have them, I just haven’t put them on yet. I figured with all the filling and sanding etc. I’d probably just break them off/destroy them.

1 Like

I’ve got this in the stash too. Going to use it as a Bundespost mail truck in a 50’s dio I hope to build one day. So I will be following along. Good Luck!

1 Like

Well I managed to put a little more time into this. The first thing I needed to address was the rain channel/gutter that was obliterated when I had to sand the resin to plastic join in the roof. The original detail was pretty soft anyway, so all I did was glue some stretched sprue where it once was, in all honesty all I need is some sort of raised detail to catch a wash.

Once both sides were done and I attached the few remaining fragile parts like the resin latches for the tailgate and the photo etch license plate bracket I primed everything.

I need to paint and weather the interior before fitting the two subassemblies together so I spray some LifeColor Dunkelgelb over all and hand paint the seats in a Mission Models mix of red primer and NATO brown (they dry slightly satin) followed by a sloppy, heacy wash of LifeColor chocolate to create a mottled base color for the leather seats.

The next thing to do was to mask up the clear parts and pop them into place. Luckily this kit is pretty rough, so the body and the clear parts are super thick so they just kinda snap into place :rofl: I tape them up and they just stay put so I can paint the base color.

A few masks were cut for the white stars and a little Tamiya white sprayed lightly and that was that.


I’ll let the bug sit like this for a while and start some work on the base for my next update. Groundwork has always been one of my favorite things to do so I’m looking forward to the next steps.

See you then.

5 Likes

That is looking great.

1 Like

Glad to see a up date.

1 Like

Spent a little more time on this build since the last update. I’ve been playing around with stowage for the pickup, haven’t decided on final layout but I’m close. I’ll bulk it out with resin bits and add some home made stuff as well.

I’m going to concentrate on the base for now though until I figure out the exact stowage, I don’t want to start weathering the truck until that’s sorted.

With the foam glued into my styrene frame and left to completely dry, it was time to start the groundwork.

My choice for the base layer is fast setting joint compound. The number on the bag designates the set up time, in this case 20 minutes. I’d recommend getting the 90 if you’re gonna try yourself, this stuff sets fast and as hard as a rock.

We go through a lot of this stuff on job sites and there is always extra bags hanging around at the end that just end up getting tossed in the dumpster. We don’t use much 20 minute so these are usually the ones getting tossed. I mix a little in a solo cup to a thick consistency; the thicker the mix the faster the dry time, the wetter it is the slower it is.

Then it’s fairly simple, pack it in the crevices and spread it around to get good coverage. It’s water based so clean up is easy. Even after it hardens it’s still pervious to water, so until it’s painted you can still soak it and scrub it off so I’ll use my fingers to mold it to the shape of the foam if I have to.

Those drag marks don’t look natural and I’ve gotta’ deal with that, nothing kills ground work realism for me more than seeing the spatula marks under a tank or soft skin on a dio/vignette. To deal with this I simply sprinkle on more dry powder from the bag.

I knock the excess powder off into a box top to reuse and tap any high spots down with my finger, if I try to drag I’ll just year the fresh powder coat off the wet surface.

I give it a very quick, light spritz of water from a spray bottle making sure to keep it as light and mist-like as possible since any sizable droplets will hit the surface like a meteor and leave a crater.

Then I simply dump more dust on the surface, tap off the extra and allow to dry completely. (Which due to the nature o the product, happens fairly quickly.)

The last thing I do before setting it aside to cure is push any vehicle and/or figures into the soft surface before drying. This will keep vehicles from standing on their ‘tippy toes’ and give them a realistic, weighted look sinking slightly into the ground.

Once there are sufficient tire tracks, foot prints etc. in the surface and it’s fully dry, it’s time to add more texture. I like using stone dust as it has every size from the actual dust, all the way up to small stones that are perfect for rocks and gravel at this scale.

Using thinned PVA glue and a brush I go about setting stones and gravel around the surface. I work in small sections and slowly pick my way around until I have it right. Dropping more glue into bare areas and sprinkling on more dust of needed.

This will take much longer to dry than the joint compound so I quit here for the day. I’ll let this set up overnight and start with vegetation next.

And one final shot, just and idea of the final layout that I’m still tweaking.

8 Likes

Great job, thanks for SBS.

1 Like

Bravo! Great little scene.
Cheers,
C.

1 Like

Hi! What a nice vingette and very instructive to see how you did the groundwork thanks for showing / Micke

1 Like

I agree with the others - how does a chunk of that compound compare to say an equivalent chunk of plaster for durability – far better presumably, but is the trade-off much heavier too? Love the v-dub :tumbler_glass:

1 Like