SAS Land Rover 110 DPV |
| By James Wechsler |
| Started: | Sep 26, 2007 | | Updated: | Feb 9, 2008 |
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When Paul asked if any one was interested in writing a blog, I offered but my requirement was no more Shermans! Instead I proposed this project because I thought it would be an interesting subject and I haven’t seen a blog of a wheeled vehicle for some time.
The Land Rover 110 DPV is the most current version of the famous SAS Land Rovers that include the more well known ‘Pink Panther’. This version is based on the Defender 110 commercial Land Rover. It is still in service with the SAS seeing action in both Afghanistan and Iraq along with other not named place around the world.
The build will use the following kits:
Accurate Armour LR009 SAS Land Rover 110 DPV
Accurate Armour FS11 SAS 110 DPV Crew Set #1
For reference, I’ve found a few photos on the internet and in some publications but the main source is this new book:
Military Land Rover, Development and in Service, Pat Ware, ISBN 0711031894, from Ian Allan Publishing
This is a new book that covers all of the Land Rovers in military service and is quite detailed and well written. A must for all Land Rover enthusiasts.
In addition, I spent some time in a commercial version of the Defender 110 this summer and took a lot of notes on some of the details. It may not seem it, but it’s a pretty large vehicle, bigger than most SUVs but a bit smaller than a HUMVEE. |
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| The Groundwork | Feb 9, 2008 |
Well the last step is to make a little base for this model. Since the vehicle isn’t very big, I decided to keep the base small too. I also decided to keep the base simple since I really think the model shows itself.
What I came up with was to have the Land Rover threading its way through a small... more |
| Putting it all together | Feb 2, 2008 |
Well, not much left to do. First, I added some pigments to the tires. Kind of a ‘home brew’ of several MIG Pigments to get a light dust color. I’ve found that using pigments on tires is a great way to get the dusty look they seem to take on no matter where they’re used.
Then I fitted the Commander... more |
| Figures | Jan 30, 2008 |
| I found some excellent photos of modern British uniforms and gear in a couple of the Concord books on OIF and Op Telic. Painting was tough since I had to add the brown camo to each figure and I had to mentally remind myself to not allow a repetitive pattern to develop while painting. With the camo... more |
| Wash | Jan 20, 2008 |
I had planned on doing a number of light washes to act as filters. I started with an oil wash of Raw Umber. After looking at the results, I stopped because I’d gotten the effect I wanted and I figured I’d only screw things up if I continued.
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| Drybrushing | Jan 17, 2008 |
With the decals in place I gave the model a quick shot of flat coat and set about drybrushing. It’s quite a tedious process since I used different drybrush colors for the different colors on the model.
The darker greens were drybrushed with Model Master Africa Dunkelgrau, and the lighter greens and... more |
| Decals and Dash Board | Jan 13, 2008 |
| Accurate Armour provides a small but comprehensive decal sheet. Mostly there are small placards and stencils. In addition the various dials and gauges for the dashboard are also provided as decals. They work quite well but I felt that just using a decal for the main dash board wouldn’t provide enough... more |
| Detail Painting – Step 1 | Jan 6, 2008 |
At this point I switches from airbrushing to brush painting. I first did the touch up on tires which was time consuming but pretty straight forward. Certainly less effort than masking. I did the same touch up on the figures as well. Then it was time to paint the stowage.
I really scratched my... more |
| Camouflage | Jan 2, 2008 |
| I really agonized over the application of a camo color. There are several photos of earlier configurations of the DPV in a medium gray over tan, dark grey over tan, and black over tan camouflage but they appear to be vehicles at some type of display or show. In service, I did find a photo of a more... more |
| Basic Painting | Dec 27, 2007 |
| It dawned on me that since I’d assembled built so much of the model into only a couple of assemblies, I really needed to think through the right sequence to paint or else I’d end up painting over areas multiple times. One note, the sequence I chose was based on the fact that I just hate to mask. I’d... more |
| Construction Complete – Perspective | Dec 24, 2007 |
Well this chapter is really just to show off the completed model. All I added was the antenna and a couple of small chains for the bumper hitches.
In looking back on the construction phase of this build its clear that some of the construction work is extremely difficult. In particular, the chassis... more |
| Gunner and Grenade Launcher | Dec 20, 2007 |
Well the last major step in the construction of this kit is to assemble the grenade launcher and fit the gunner into position.
First off, a thank you to Derek at Accurate Armour. My weapon ring was misshaped and all it took to get a replacement was one e-mail and a couple days. Now that’s customer... more |
| Commander and Machine Gun | Dec 16, 2007 |
| Fitting the commander and his machine gun is a job that really needs to be done simultaneously. Getting a figure to sit in a seat and hold two points on a machine gun is a tough challenge. Fortunately, Accurate Armour has made this easier by having the MG capable of pivoting up and down. I took it... more |
| Roll Cage and Weapon Mount Details | Dec 5, 2007 |
| The last of the details sections concerns the roll cage and weapon mount. As I noted a few chapters back, I’m keeping this as a separate assembly all the way through the painting and weathering so I can get to the details on the truck bed. Like the last chapter, the only real modifications were to... more |
| Truck Bed Details | Nov 29, 2007 |
| The details on the rear truck bed are really good. The photoetch straps make the extra fuel and ammo cans look great and the photoetch PSP plating it excellent. I modified the stowage location a little bit, mostly just for variety. The main addition was the lead foil straps. As far as I know, even... more |
| The Driver | Nov 26, 2007 |
| It seemed like a good time to assemble the driver and make sure he fit before I got too much further in the build. The driver is a nice figure with the seat molded directly into the figure so no risk of him ‘floating’. In general, the driver is a tight fit. On foot is on the clutch petal and I found... more |
| Cab Details | Nov 23, 2007 |
| The details on the cab are quite good but I had a hard time figuring out where they all went because the resolution of the photos in the instructions isn’t high enough. If anyone from Accurate Armour is reading this, I strongly recommend you fix this since it becomes a more and more noticeable problem... more |
| Front End Details | Nov 16, 2007 |
Finally the heavy construction is finished and the detailing begins. This is where the kit really shines. Accurate Armour has done a great job of providing a set of stowage that is custom designed for this variant of the Land Rover. I’ll cover this in four parts starting with the front of the vehicle.
One... more |
| Roll Cage and Weapon Mount | Nov 11, 2007 |
| At this point I started to think about how I was going to paint this model. It seemed to me that it would be nearly impossible to paint the inside of the truck bed and the parts in it if I mounted the roll cage and weapon mount. So I set out to assemble the roll cage and weapon mount as a separate... more |
| The Body and Wheels – Part 2 | Nov 3, 2007 |
Sorry, same photo as last chapter. I’d originally planned on this being one chapter but there’s a word limit on each blog chapter so I had to break it in two.
Well now that I’d gotten the body and chassis together, I started to think that I should probably attach the wheels. I’d originally planned... more |
| The Body and Wheels – Part 1 | Oct 30, 2007 |
OK, I’m sure you’re looking at this photo and thinking that I must have forgotten to write up a few steps. Actually not. The next part of the build sequence is to put on the body parts. After looking at what was necessary, I completely abandoned the instructions.
First, for those of you not familiar... more |
| The Engine, Drive Train , and Exhaust | Oct 15, 2007 |
This step involves adding the engine, drive train and exhaust. But first I added some of the front chassis details as shown in the directions. This includes the smoke dischargers and the front strike plate which promptly covered most of the link arms I’d worked so hard to assemble in the last chapter.
I... more |
| The Front Suspension | Oct 11, 2007 |
Next up is the front suspension. Fortunately, the front axle does have a definitive mount since there are pins that extend from the chassis though the center of the springs (which again are made from solder wire).
After the axle is mounted, the various steering link arms are then mounted. And this... more |
| Getting Started – Rear Suspension | Oct 8, 2007 |
For lack of any other approach, I plan for this blog to basically follow the steps in the instruction manual. I’ll note if there’s additional detail to be added or changes to be made, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be minor since this kit is very complete.
Step 1 involves assembling the rear suspension.... more |
| Maybe Not | Sep 29, 2007 |
Can you believe all these parts fit in such a tiny box? Man, there are tons of parts (and I’m not pulling them all out just to count them). The instruction manual has XXX steps! So much for a simple build. But the detail is really overwhelming.
There are a few items that are so impressive I have... more |
| A Simple Build? | Sep 26, 2007 |
| I must admit I was very surprised when the package from Accurate Armour arrived in the mail only 3 days after I’d ordered it (considering I live in Southern California and I didn’t pay any extra for shipping). I was more surprised to find that the Land Rover model came in a box measuring roughly 6 inches... more |
