Friday 6 June 2014

Land Rover rebuilds - part 2



 Here are some of my completed Britains Land Rovers.  This lot are all Series III versions - the real sIII were produced from 1971-1985 so are spot on for the era we have in mind for Little Cold Wars (1979).
The pair above and below have been dismantled and repainted.  The cabs were in decent nick - they are often damaged - and even the windscreens survived the process!  I deliberately left the wheels in their original sand coloured plastic to emphasise the fact that these are toys.  And to annoy a few people.
The radiator grilles were a tricky issue - the originals were just stickers which didn't look great in the first place, were damaged and difficult to mask.  To recover the situation I found a photo of a sIII, cropped the grille, scaled it to the right size and printed a few copies on to 100gsm card.  Broken towbars were replaced with new creations of florists' wire.
 The British Army style number plates were created in MS Publisher - note the element of personalisation!
Models with broken cabs had them removed completely - 'stripped' versions like this were not uncommon.

12 comments:

Martin Rapier said...

Lovely job Tim, I can't possibly hope to compete with this stuff. I am however available to pose for the cover photo for the rules in full 1970s era BAOR rig:)

Tim Gow said...

Martin Rapier
If you stand far enough back we can get the Landie in the same shot!

Russell Phillips said...

Interesting point re "stripped" versions: The Light Weight Land Rover, when it first entered service, had to have all non-essential parts removed to get the weight low enough for it to be carried by helicopter.

"Non-essential" parts included doors, tailgate, cab, windscreen, spare tyre, and all seats apart from the driver's. Later helicopters, of course, had better lifting capacity, so could carry the complete vehicle.

Tim Gow said...

Russell Phillips
Thanks for the info - but I'll not be cutting the bloody doors off!

Paul Foster said...

A1 refirbs Tim.

Great ideas about the grills and the rego's.

The ones without the windscreen could be hidden with a scrim/hessian netting.

We did this down here with our V8 SIII's for Recon units and the 106mm RCL set ups...Don't shoot a RCL with the windscreen up!

Top notch post.

Tim Gow said...

Paul Foster
Hide missing stuff? You must be confusing me with a proper modeller! I imagine a stripped down V8 would be a bit lively. Sadly the older Britains 109in wheelbase sII models go for a lot of money. If ever I get hold of one it'll be getting a WOMBAT bolted to the rear deck...

Arthur said...

Tim

A 106mm backblast is quite useful for knocking down a corrugated iron shanty when your platoon leader and section leaders are busy playing poker inside it. It was just another boring day in Africa until that moment. Neither the survivors from the target truck (enemy) or the ex-shanty occupants were full of joy. Something to do with winning hands and missing cash.

BTW, nice landies... pink wheels have a higher annoyance factor.

Regards.

Tim Gow said...

Arthur
Do you think I need a special rule for that? I should think that either end of a big RCL could ruin one's day.

Pete. said...

Very nice- I've a book on military Landrovers- if you want to borrow it?

You could have endless fun working through all the variants.

Cheers,

Pete.

Archduke Piccolo said...

Far out: these are really nice refurbs. I like your methods of extemporisation.

Tim Gow said...

Pete
I really should know better, but yes, I would like to see the book....

Tim Gow said...

Archduke Piccolo
Extemporise : to act without preparation or thought.
Yep, that about sums it up.....