'Play Dirty' movie truck

[Estnische]

As I mentioned before, the Ural interior is a little modern compared to the movie Dodge, in particular the use of bucket seats. The Dodge had enough seat width for three people, with a 60/40 split seat and the steering wheel was much higher.



The Q61 interior is more in keeping, so I rearranged the seating. The Ural driver’s seat had already been lowered as a trial, so I did the same with the Q61 bench seat and squeezed it in with a bit of trimming. I then needed to move the gear stick forward to clear the seat. The Q61 steering wheel was swapped and raised to be visible above the bonnet, which will also provide more room to allow a future driver to fit. Once they are painted the same colour, it should look more consistent.

[HERMAN BIX]

great subject & well executed too !
Those old movies are a goldmine for ideas

[Estnische]

Thanks Herman. The beauty of these movies is that you get to see the vehicle in full colour from multiple angles. In fact, you could say Play Dirty is as much a road movie as a war movie - the characters develop as they work towards their destination.

[Estnische]

It is now time for the new grill, which on the movie truck is a likeness of a half-track Mercedes Benz grill. In my other spares I had a similar chrome plated radiator surround from a 1/24 scale truck. Paint would not stick well to the chrome so it had to be removed. The best way I’ve found to remove it is with household bleach. This chrome was very good quality, including a base coating of copper, just like automotive chrome. It took the best part of a week and four lots of fresh bleach to dissolve it and left the plastic untouched!



It was then cut in half and widened with square plasticard rod. The metal mesh came from an Aldi mesh basket.



Rather than two vertical bars, three seemed to be a better look. It was topped with a Mercedes star ornament sourced from a 1/24 scale diecast SSK. By comparison with the surround, it took about three hours in bleach to remove the chrome from the star. I also installed an MG mount and tried out some colour on the bonnet.



I wasn’t totally happy with it, and looked back at the reference photos. It took me a while to notice that the movie truck has the radiator is slightly reclined, copying German half-tracks like the Sd.Kfz.7, 8 and 9. Reluctantly I unglued it with debonder and a knife, and worked on it again. The movie trucks have steel frames on the guards to store the LRDG canvas sand ladders, but they are mostly invisible once the canvas is rolled up, so I added some tie-down loops instead. I also ground the indicator ‘warts’ off the guards.

[Estnische]

I decided to tidy up the rear tray, which had numerous holes and bosses meant for the Ural trim to be clipped into place. I filled in the holes but kept some of the bosses in the floor. A coat of primer to brings it together.



That had me thinking about storage organization. Although it would make more sense to place the spare wheels at the back of the tray for easy access, the don’t fit nicely because of the rear wheel tubs. They do however fit very neatly at the front. Then I installed the mounting pintle for the MG34.



In the movie, the stored jerry cans and sand channels are seen above the top of the tray as though sitting on bench seats. One piece in my stash of Ural spares is the duck-board walkway from the top of the roof.



This was cut in half and made into seating. The brass supporting posts are located by the floor bosses I mentioned earlier. Here are some Torro figures for comparison. Nicht jeder mag sein Foto gemacht. (Hopefully Google translate is accurate).

[HERMAN BIX]

Bloody marvellous

Innovative and very well done.

[43rdRecceReg]

Bloody marvellous

Innovative and very well done.

Beautifully staged and photographed too

[Estnische]

Thanks gents. I appreciate the kind thoughts.

[Estnische]

The credits of the movie give veteran commandos of the North Africa campaign as having been used as consultants for the film and the trucks have two M34s mounted front-right and left-rear in typical LRDG fashion. The LRDG used to cover their machine guns, but here they look full of dust only halfway through the mission. Maybe the movie makers thought weapons caked in dust looked more travel-weary.



I could have sourced the MG34s from a number of locations, but I went for Mato pot metal units. If I was going to mount them securely, I may as well make them movable, so I made some brass mounts with pivots made more for their sturdiness than their authenticity.



Aber MG34 barrels looked really sharp and reasonably priced so I picked up a couple of those. I left off the incredibly small and delicate front sights. I could not foresee them staying attached. I also did not bother chasing down the drum magazines used in the movie, as the brass mounts are right at the feed points.

[Estnische]

The movie makes use of radios as a prop in several scenes, so it was time to add one.



I already had a pot-metal German radio for my Stug build, I think from Dioramafreak on eBay. As it is much more visible on the truck, I decided to use it on this build. On the movie truck it is fixed in LRDG-fashion behind the cabin on the right-hand-side, but I'm already using that space for the spare wheels. It’s accessorised with a brass German antenna also from Aber, and mounted on a magnet in case the truck rolls over. The seat has a magnet glued underneath to help keep it in place.



I made a fabric cover for it from a painter’s sugar-soap wipe cloth and painted it with a dark yellow/buff mix - I feel it needs some kind of weathering.