Here are some photos of the Top Gun/Iron Division Mercedes Benz L3000 cargo truck before I place it on my Afrika Corp Diorama. I don't have a great camera, so I apologize for the quality of the pictures. As I stated before, this was the first resin kit I ever built. I primed the kit with Floquil grey primer, and used Tamiya acrylics for the base coat, Windsor & Newton oils for weathering, Testor's enamel for the pin washes, and model master and various craft acrylics for "chipping". The Afrika Corp emblems are Archer dry transfers, and the number plates are leftovers from a Tamiya Kubelwagen. The windshield wipers and mirror are scratch built, but pretty much everything else was straight out of the box. The driver is from the Tamiya Grief set, with modified arms.





If you see anything needing improvement, let me know before I put it on my diorama base. Thanks for looking and your comments.

Jim

I like the desert colors for this as I see details I didn't notice before. Looks good to me. Congrats!

Jim, I think it came out really well!! What were your comparasions to building a plastic kit?? Since this was your first all resin kit- your feedback might entice others to give an all resin kit a try. And anything you struggled with would be great feedback for Bob and Steve....and their future kits.
I can't wait to see it in the finished scene!! Great job!!
Dave

Jim,

Please have my honest congratulations on your Mercedes. It is amazing the result you have got by brush painting totally and it proves the importance of one good brush discipline to paint models convincingly, plus I admire modellers who does not stop enjoying the hobby plenty without traumas, which is really important to me.

Your model has many things I would have painted in a different way, but I appreciate your model anyway because 90% of my paintwork is always based on brush techniques only, so your work is very valuable to me for that reason, because brush painting is very effective to express your intentions and style and that is something hard to master apart of painting technique itself.

Well, I cannot imagine what will happen the day you use one airbrush on your works....

Good work
Lu

PS: Three advices:

1) The only thing I believe your model lacks is dust, something basically mandatory for one desert vehicle.

2) Tires are not bad, but I think you can get soemthing much better if you retouch them a little.

3) Next time if you want to try a different look, paint canvas top at contrary exactly. Paint base color with one light shade and dry brush with a darker one.

Thanks to all for looking and for the comments:

Greg - As I am trying to finish my diorama, I am looking forward to seeing yours completed. Thanks for the encouraging words.

Dave - Thanks for the comments. I read some articles here on Track48 as well as other websites for some tips on making resin kits and using CA (i.e., superglue); and much of what I would have to say is contained in those articles. To reiterate the differences between making a resin kit verses a plastic injection molded kit, here are my high points :
- Scrub all the parts with soap and water to remove any residual releasing agent from the manufacturers molding process. Even with this done, you must prime all the parts. I painted some acrylic paint directly onto a resin part, which easily rubbed off during the slightest of handling. I generally do not like to prime models since it adds another layer of paint which may hide delicate details. In this case, I used Floquil grey primer, since it is the thinnest primer I know of.
- Gather as many references you can of the subject you are modeling. The instructions given were adequate, but they do not provide a strict step by step method. Since resin kits are generally made for experienced modelers who rarely follow the sequence of kit instructions anyway due to detailing or preference in painting, I do not see this as a negative. The references come in handy when you decide where to place that mirror (on the fender, on the door or not at all) to include the Notek device or not (is it a late or early vehicle), what livery to paint, and for markings. No decals were provided, so you will have to scour your spares pile or get off that order to an AM decal company.
- I found the resin parts of this kit were easier to file or sand than injection plastic. With plastic, sometimes I get a build up of plastic "fuzz" still stuck to the part. The resin particles fall off cleanly when filing or sanding.
- I did not have any problems using CA instead of plastic liquid cement. But you must test fit everything before gluing. I used Zap A Gap superglue (regular thickness) and had a bottle of accelerator to use if needed. When using the accelerator, I used an old No. 0 paint brush to apply the accellerator just above the glued joint. I could therfore control the amount of accellerator bring applied rather than using a spray sending the stuff all over the model. Just don't apply it directly on the joint. You may end up with your brush affixed to the model. Actually, I am a little disapointed that I have no horror story to relate about the construction of this model.

Lu - Thanks for looking. I know my talent is far behind yours (just compare my truck to your radio conversion Kubelwagern, - er, maybe you better not, they are not even in the same league!) which makes your comments more special. I agree that more dust is needed, which I plan to address once I place it in the diorama and match the groundwork. And yes, the tires could use more work. Each time I tried to add more residual sand on the treads, the result still looked not quite right. That is one area that I will work on some more. I like your suggestion as to painting the canvas top in reverse shades and will try that on the next canvas topped subject I make, whatever that mey be. However, I think that along the ridges where the canvas is stretched over the support bars it still should be lighter. Every convertable car and covered truck that I have seen (in real life and in photos) has that part lighter from being stretched while affected by the elements. But reversing the shading on the rest of the top as you suggest will bring out this contrast even more and make the model visually more attractive.

Thanks again for your comments.

Jim