'Play Dirty' movie truck

[Estnische]

After having sound on the Heng Long tanks, the lack of it on the trucks was disappointing, so I got the WPL v3 MFU with sound. The instructions are a little ambiguous, but there is guidance on Youtube. I was struggling for room for the board, but after I cut out some floor, it fits snugly on the underside of the modified passenger seat.



With the headlights now working, it needed some wartime headlight shrouds. The primer coat shows the dimples in the lenses will need filling. The uniform coating ties it together and I am a step closer to putting some paint on it.



And it works!



The wheels have also been painted and weathered as a trial run for the body paint – it’s normally my weakness so I have been studying hard. While I had them off, I also added wheel weights. I had originally bought WPL weights for the Fayee truck but they didn’t fit, so I figured if they are WPL, they will fit on the Q61 wheels that are identical to the B14/B16 ones. Wrong! They only fit on the B36. I have a roll of roofer’s lead sheeting I obtained for slot cars, so I cut and wound on strips of that. The WPL weights are 65 grams, but my home-made ones only come to 40 – it will do.



The paint is a Tamiya combination of dark yellow, buff and white. Weathering included chipping and a wash. Most of it is covered by pigment for the dusty effect, but I’m pretty happy. The two wheels on the left are the spares that I used for practice. They will be partially hidden in the back, but i will still do a tidy-up on the treads to match the others.

[HERMAN BIX]

Thats great work Mr E, the sound set you got, was that an IMEX supplied product ?

[Estnische]

Thanks Herman. No it’s direct from WPL - you select ‘diesel’ or ‘gas’ sounds sets. The diesel has an air brakes noise when you come to a stop. I selected ‘gas’ but it sounds like petrol to me

[HERMAN BIX]

Ahh, so its the same as from Imex, but direct from WPL.
Gas is the northern saying for petrol indeed !!
I am after a suitable set for my much delayed Panzerwerfer project & the set seems to offer all I need.
What was it worth $$ ??

[Estnische]

Current price on Banggood is $44 plus $6 for a cable set if you don’t have enough in you spares box. Postage is free.

The little side switch on the controller is for a winch motor, so it could be used for a traversing motor for your launcher.

[Estnische]

It is now on the home stretch prior to painting and a number of little bits need to be tidied up. Here in an earlier photo you can see some holes where I am not using some of the Ural bits.



Also, the doors have a decorative line that is probably a bit too modern for a WWII truck. These were filled and then I moved to holes for door and grab handles which were filled from the Ural kit parts. The side steps needed treads, so I added some tread plate from a Pz III upper hull in my spare parts cache.



The straight Ural front bumper was reshaped to better match the end returns of the Dodge unit. The radiator mesh is transparent so I will have to add a black radiator behind it when the painting is complete.



The more things I finished, the more other areas came to my attention. The movie truck taillights are so small that they practically disappear when covered in dust, so I deleted the bulbous Ural units.



I was also conscious that there were tow attachment points used in this scene where they were hauled up an escarpment, so I added a shackle point.



Now it should be ready for some paint - but frustratingly with all my fiddling around with the body, I broke the Mercedes star off the radiator cap! Grrrrrrrr!

[Estnische]

A closer look at the movie truck door markings showed this symbol that looks more like a hybrid desert thistle than an Afrika Korps palm tree. Nigel Davenport looks suitably dubious about it.



This is the genuine item. I presume the movie producers didn’t want to use the Nazi swastika.



The Soviet hammer and sickle is freely used, even considered somewhat kitsch, despite the things that were done under it. I am ok with replicating the swastika on a model for historical purposes. I couldn’t find 1/16 Afrika Korps decals for the doors, so I made my own paint stencils, starting with a paper version that was then used as a mask for a thin plasti-card version that would be robust enough to use more than once.



And here is the truck painted, stenciled and weathered. The pictures tell the story.













Next up is the preparation of the load-out. Sooooo many things to paint!

[Raminator]

It's come together beautifully, Brett. Fantastic work with the paintjob and weathering, you've really captured the look and feel of the movie truck! It's really going to look the business loaded up with stowage.

[Model Builder 4]

Very nice work the weathering looks perfect, what colour did you use on the truck ?

Cheers,Lee.

[Estnische]

Thanks gents - much appreciated!

The colour is a mix of Dark Yellow, Buff and white. Another shade with more Buff and white was sprayed across the horizontal surfaces - all Tamiya acrylics. Some more lightening came from the North African Dust powder.