Thursday 12 September 2013

Harriet's Triumph #1 / Basic Assembly & Painting /

When attending modeling shows I've seen many fantasy, sci-fi or movie/game character models & dioramas but some really caught my eye. Following inspiration (very sudden and unexpected) I thought of trying to build something of different theme than military. Model of Triumph Herald comes from Airfix in 1:32 scale (starter kit, with few paints and cement). Main idea is to convert car as much as I can, use spares from other kits - Dragon/Tamiya. Despite number of components, kit includes 73 white plastic parts plus sprue of clear plastic, it is rather simple kit. This is a good opportunity to let inspiration work and combine it with 54 mm War Griffon's figure of Harriet (hence the title). All is to be in Mad Max & Fallout post - nuclear reality style. 


Before starting the build I considered order of assembly. Conversion requires a little bit more preparation than straight out of the box build, but Mad Max movies and Fallout games came very inspirational. Boot flap was cut out, making space for extra fuel barrel (made out of 2 shortened by a third 1:35 fuel barrels joined together). Despite spartan conditions of the interior, only 2 single & rear seats, door handles, dashboard and steering wheel I decided to make it more accessible and cut out driver's door as well.  After body surgery, suspension with engine were assembled & everything primed with white spray.


Engine is nicely detailed, shame really to cover it permanently with bonnet (which does not fit well enough to leave it unglued, but something may be done with this matter later on). Next, body was sprayed with coat of metallic paint and floor panel with dark grey. I am still using Citadel paints, but I see now these paints are not meant for airbrush and from time to time I get some difficulties with paint flow. Have tried Humbrol acrylics supplied within the kit and not only very little paint was used but a coat of color was achieved very quickly with no fuss. Because main theme of this model is Post - Nuclear, I used hair spray over first coat of metallic to randomly remove next coat of color (main color was used on the interior as well, but hair spray technique was applied only to the exterior). Engine was painted mainly with washes, with almost no weathering due to it's low visibility.


Before permanently fixing floor panel and body, whole interior details had to be made. Because kit provides only absolutely necessary components for it, I removed some adding others. Whole back seat was left out allowing fuel drum cables to be laid along the floor. Passenger's seat was also removed, in it's place I put wooden case with some grenades laying about and anti - tank weapon (from Dragon). Also couple of jerry cans (Tamiya), Thomson, miniature version (with no text though) of Vault Dweller's Survival Guide (full version available with Fallout 1 manual), couple extra armor plates for both doors were made and painted. With few more details model will be ready for final assembly and finishing touches. With that done I will be able to start modeling Harriet and base, which I have not planned yet...


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