Ron Bell Posted September 11, 2017 Report Share Posted September 11, 2017 A couple of years ago I picked up the Kingfisher 1/76 kit of the Landrover Defender Wolf with Milan. The Defender is a development of the regular long wheel base Landrover and that has subsequently been developed for various military applications. I recently pulled it out and took a serious look at it prior to beginning construction. The white metal parts were well cast and the resin detail parts also nicely done. However, the main body of the Defender was a mess. The detail was very soft and it was literally covered in pin holes and voids making it unusable. So I decided to try to do what the Landrover company did and that was to start with the original long wheel base Landrover and convert that to a Defender. I used the JB kit. I'm sure there are very many mechanical differences that don't show, but as long as it cosmetically looked the part, I was going to be happy. The main differences were in the front, so I had to reshape that with sheet plastic, strip and discs punched out of sheet. The hood is different on the Defender and I just could not get it correct, so upon commissioning, a friend made a mold of the original kit's hood and cast a replacement. It took some sanding and trimming, but in the end it fit nicely. The photos show the model with all the main parts either glued or set in place just to get an idea of what it's going to look like and what fits where. the Milan launcher mounts on the top and the missile that will go in the launcher is shown. I had to make caps for the Milan re-loads and the photos show those up as too large so I'll pare them down. The kit's wheels were unusable as they had little detail and none on the inside and looked too "whimpy". A trip to the spares box yielded up some Daimler Dingo tires that looked just right. I needed to modify the hubs, however, to reflect hubs I had seen in photos. The spare tire has a mounting plate on it's hub. My fender flairs are also not 100% correct. They should be squarer, but that would take completely reshaping the wheel wells and I was just not up to that. Currently, I'm working on the grates that go over the headlights for protection and cleaning up all the other small resin storage you get. DSCN4704 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4707 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4706 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4705 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareWentzel Posted September 11, 2017 Report Share Posted September 11, 2017 Wow!! Looking great Ron. Waiting to see the rest of the build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted September 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2017 Got a coat of primer on it. Now I can find all the goofs I made and stuff I forgot. After I fix all those, I'll move on to paint. The wheel is an example of the modified Dingo wheels I used. DSCN4708 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4709 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4710 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4713 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted September 14, 2017 Report Share Posted September 14, 2017 Excellent work Ron, though as usual, the primer belies all of the cobbling together. Also, is that a valve stem I see on the rim of the 1/72 tire? Nice! GIL :smiley16: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBill50 Posted September 15, 2017 Report Share Posted September 15, 2017 Nice job Ron. Looks like more scratch building than kit work. Seamless transitions between the two. This is coming together really well. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted September 29, 2017 Report Share Posted September 29, 2017 Looking good Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted September 29, 2017 Report Share Posted September 29, 2017 That is brilliant work Ron. I just wish they'd come out with a plastic kit of this model. I hope to see that in Phoenix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted October 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 Here's the completed model. The thing I am proudest of on this is the headlight guards. I made them out of modified sections of 1/400 PE ship railings. They're not perfect, but they look the part. lickr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 9, 2017 Report Share Posted October 9, 2017 Excellent blending of all of that work Ron! If you hadn't told us how you made the headlight guards I'd have simply supposed they were parts actually made for that. I'm always impressed with the work you do in such a small scale. Congrats! GIL :smiley16: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted October 9, 2017 Report Share Posted October 9, 2017 Brilliant work Ron! What a stunningly masterful little model! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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