Meng 1:35 pick up with ZPU-1

[MarkVerploeg]

hi guys
so this will be my entry into this gb
i will be building meng's Velocirator series 001
this is basicly a Toyota hilux from about the year 2000 allthough there is no Toyota logo on the car
the pick is armed with a soviet made 14,5 mm ZPU heavy machine gun

so first a bit of history about these vehicles
the technical as these armed pick up trucks are often called where a thing that became a common sight in the new during the Arabic spring
this is the revolution that started in october 2010 in many arabic countries in north Afirca and the middle east
most countries had a lot of protests but some like Libya,Egypt and Tunisia
one of the first countries that had a real escalation in the situation in febuary 2011 wich resulted in a civilwar
during the early stages rebels managed to get hold of several types of heavy machine guns and anti aircraft guns
in most cases these where drawn guns
as the rebels had a large number of 4x4 vehicles of several type like Toyota hilux and Land Cruisers , Nissan navara's and so on
so they decided to mount the newly aquirred guns on the loading beds of these trucks
the rebels faced a strong enemy in Libya as the regular army was engaging them but they where backed up with mercenaries from several other countries like Serbia , Russia and a lot of african nations
the rebels did get help in the form of NATO bombardments and airstrikes
after 8 months the regime of Quadafi had fallen and Qudafi himself tried to flee the country but was intercepted by NATO jets and attacked
in this attack he was wounded and later died from his wounds

so what did the rebels do to make this modern day news icon
well they took this

and this

and slammed them together
to make it look like this

as you can see these really where improvised vehicles but in the end they helped win the war






now this is part of the inspiration for me
the Arabic slogans on the sides , i don't have any clue what they mean but it makes for a intresting look

well then with a small history lesson done let's take a look at the kit

the boxart


a first look of the box content


sprues A and B


sprues C and D
and the truck cabine that was in the little box


sprue E wich are the clear parts and they are very good
i rarely see clear plastic this good ,other companies can learn from it
and ofcourse the tyres


sprue X for the gun


2 frets of nearly black photo etch


sprue Z
there is 1 figure included as show on the box art


and finally the instructions and decals

so that is all i have for now
i hope to get started soon but i still have 1 other build that needs to get finished before the end of the month
so untill next time
cheers Mark

[chief5437]

Ooo, another meng pick up! You could make a cool dio with 5Craven, lol! Good luck with it Mark

[schweinhund227]

I wish some company did Arabic writing ..... stencils or clear decals...
we could apply to our models...


Nice work and keep it fun !

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks guys
There are some dry transfers from archer but those wouldn't do as they are from a other country and for a tank
So i guess it will a crash course in Arabian and brush painting

[Coen]

It says, "come eat at bob's ribs and chips! All you can eat buffet"

These are supposed to be superb kits with tonnes of story potential.
Should be a really cool build.

[MarkVerploeg]

Nice try
They don't eat ribs
From what i found it where often sayings like "untill death"
And for victory
They did use English though
On the roof a lot had the text "NATO we are rebels"
To stop Nato fighters from attacking them
But those fighters had to use a good camera to see that
They mostly used intel about enemy positions to find targets

The kit looks pretty nice and i have seen a full build video about it
It is from warfare in scale.wich is a Spanish channel but Meng seems to have asked them to make vids for them aswell
It is on Mengs channel too so i will post the link in the first update when i get started
This kit is the oldest of the series though and things like the doors are closed and the glass i 1 big part
With the slightly newer kits that are based on the Land Cruiser they fixed that and doors can be made opened up
They still make for a nice change and i think this is with most Meng armor kits
They don't go for the standard stuff but make some more exotic subject and with good quality too
But if you want you can take a look at those vids , they have subtitles and they show some nice builds

[Nige201980]

looking forward to this one Mark best of luck with the build mate

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks Nige
I still have some work to do on my eye spy builds
I will prime the figures tonight so i hope i will have some time left to start this kit before it is time for bed

[Nev]

Mark Check out Military Modelcraft International Magazine. There is a whole section devoted to Civilian Vehicles in modern conflicts!

[MarkVerploeg]

Mark Check out Military Modelcraft International Magazine. There is a whole section devoted to Civilian Vehicles in modern conflicts!

Thanks for the heads up Nev
I finished building all the sub assemblies yesterday so it is ready for some paint so that may come in handy if i can find it
I just haven't gotten to a update yet as i did all the building yesterday and at the moment i am trying to build a Sherman in 24 hours (not really trying but i happened to build fast enough)
So i will post a update once i can't go on building wich should be in the next couple of days as i haven't received my care package wich has the pe sets for my Heil the hunters sig in it
Cheers

[MarkVerploeg]

hi guys
so before i fall behind on the updates i will put this one up
the kit is now build allthough in a few sub assemblies just to make the painting proces easier
i did this because i think painting the inside of a tub is not that easy to do
so that is why i left the interior in pieces for now

but here is the progres so far


the finished chassis
the front suspension can be a bit of problem area but the fit of the parts is good
the shock absorbers are just hard to get in place but if you take your time it will be fine


the interior in parts
i will leave it like this for now and assemble it once it is painted and a little weathered


the cab without the glass
again to save some time masking everything


the loading bed
with 4 little pieces of photo etch


the gun in parts
for some reason the conection point of the ammo box was damaged ,most likely not enough styrene in the mold
so that needed fixing
i just made the connection even shorter to flatten it out and glue it on the gun that way


the mount of the gun


the build up gun
sorry it doesn't show much detail but the styrene is black so not the best subject to make a photograph of


i then build this guy
i named him Hassan , he is a very angry Tunissian that want the goverment to go
the figure looks very glossy so i think it is a lot of mold release that is on there
the detail is okay not the best but it will work i think


here is Hassan with his new gun
it works great for hunting camels , goats and those pesky helicopters


the parts before painting


i left these parts on a piece of sprue to make it easier to handle while painting them


and that is all i have for now
i hope you like it so far allthough it doesn't look like much at the moment
thanks for stopping by and untill next time
cheers,Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

hi guys
i am back with a update for this build

i just noticed i made a little mistakke
Hassan isn't a Tunnisian rebel he is Libian ...oops

anyway this time i will show what i have done with the painting of this little kit and i tried a (for me) new method for this

i tried the black and white method
wich is something i never tried before but other then a plane every now and then i don't de any form of pre shading
but i wanted to give it a try to see if i like it


to begin the painting i primed the vehicle with Ammo grey primer
once that had a day to dry and cure i started to mix some paints
i only used to basic colors wich are the Tamiya flat white and flat black
the 4 smaller cups in the middle are all made with these 2 paints
from left to right i used the following mixing ratios in white : black
10:1 as a light grey
8: 1 as a medium grey #1
6: 1 as a medium grey #2
5: 1 as a dark grey
i got the technique from the book : Painting guide for AFV by Jose Luis Lopez Ruiz and it is from Histoire and collections
but the technique is used as a Multi tonal pre shading using white, black and 3 or 4 shades of grey


i started out with the darkest color
the black was used as you normally do with pre shading so on the panel lines


then the dark grey was used on all the parts that would have a shadow and look darker


then medium grey #2 was added
it can be used on the back lines on the higher parts of the vehicle and halfway up the sides
i overlapped it on the dark grey on the sides a bit but that gives a smoother transition between the shades


then the medium grey #1 was added on the higher parts


followed by the light grey wich i used to mark out the highlighted areas


and finally the white was added
and if i did everything right you should get a lot of tonal varition over the entire vehicle


the same steps where dne on the interior parts
please do note that this is my first attempt at this technique and i have no previous experiance with this so i can only show you what i did and what i understand about using this techniue in general


i then added the base color
this is after the first 2 coats
so the coverage isn't fully there yet


the interior was finished with more grey tones
i used tamiya dark sea grey paint for sides floor and dashboard
mr hobby aqueous H307 was used on the seats


while the rest was drying i sprayed the base of the gun in H302


the chassis was painted flat black with Tamiya xf1


after 4 coats the cab looks like this
so the first important thing i learned about the black and white methos is that dark blue is too strong for this technique as it covers too good
ooh well you learn by trial and error but i'm not really worried about it


i then used mr metal color aluminium on the transmission , engine protection plate, brake discs and the hinges of the tailgate


all the black details where painted with Vallejo model color black


the gun was painted with mr metal color dark iron and then lightly buffed around the raised details
the ammo box is in military green and the wooden handle was base painted with a mix of english u niform and white
then it is dry brushed with smoke ,all are modelcolor paints

to add some more intrest i decided to paint 1 door red
the real vehicles often had some parts on them from the scrap yard so i thought this was a nice addition


i then added a crudely painted Libian flag on the roof
i could have gone for the super nice and fully correct look but i think that when the rebels painted the flag on their vehicles they where already balancing on a step holding a bucket of paint in 1 hand and a brush in the other so it wouldn't look all that nice when they did this either
the colors are german camo bright green ,red ,white and black from Vallejo (modelcolor)


Hassan and his buddies didn't want a NATO pilot to target them so they tried to make sure by adding that to the roof of the truck
i also gave it a 13 as a vehicle number
this was actually a pretty common sight but it wasn't very clear as to wich rebel unit they would belong


to give it a more Arabian feel i tried to add a slogan to the side of the vehicle
it should say Allah Ahkbar meaning God is great
i hope i copied it correctly but i don't speak Arabian so i may aswell butchered the Arabian language in my attempt (if so ,sorry i didn't mean to)
but it is something that the rebels (and Terrorists) yell before going into battle

and that is all i have for now
all the parts are ready for wearthering and i only have to add 1 decal
so i hope to back for more soon
thanks for stopping by and untill next time
cheers , Mark

[rwsmith14]

Lookin' Good Mark !!

love the Free libyan flag on the vehicle

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much
Glad you like it so far

[rodrant]

looking great ! Love the subject !

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So it is time for the final update
This time i will go over the little bit of weathering i did as i finish this build today
i was planning on adding the kit supplied figure but he fell from the shelf and broke his arm
i looked for it but i haven't found it yet as it probably under a closet or something

But for now on with this build

i addded a wash to the seats and door panels
i think i used AK Oif/oef wash for this but it was over a month ago that i did the washes
to finish the interior i added a satin varnish on the plastic parts like the dashboard and the door panels and a flat varnish on the fabric stuff like the seats
i didn't do anything other then that as the windows will be dusty aswell so you won't see it in the end


i used the same wash on the exterior but i used a bit more to simulate dirt and grime on those parts




after i satin coated the exterior again i slowly assembled the parts
i could have used a gloss but i think that it would shine through the dust layer too much and if a car is in the sun all day the gloss coat would loose some of the shine anyway so that is why i went for satin varnish


the ZPU gun was chipped a little bit with gunmetal grey from vallejo
i then used dark wash from Mig productions to show off the details of the gun and mount
i wanted the gun to look a bit newer as most of these guns where relatively new as they would have been in storage most of the time and where put to use once the civil unrest started


the gun was glued in place


i sprayed a thin layer of vallejo modelcolor light brown to make a first layer of the dust



i then added the pigment
i used just 1 color and that is gulf war sand from Mig productions
wich is a nice dessert sand color allthough each dessert looks different in real life
i used it on all the sides of the vehicle and the windows


the final look

So this build is finished
i learned some new things during this build as i never made a dessert vehicle before and it has been a long time since i made a car that wasn't a military vehicle
i coulf improve on these things though but for now i am happy with the result

So that is all for now
i hope you like it and thanks for stopping by and having a look
untill next time
cheers ,Mark