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Modeller Build Logs
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 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 to actually wait until the end since it would make painting and weathering much easier. But after the problems in the last chapter I was suspicious that they wouldn’t line up right.
Good call on my part.
After I glued the wheels to the axles, not one was properly lined up. The two on the rear were not too bad but there were canted, rotated (i.e. not facing straight forward) and displaced (i.e. their front to back position in the wheel wells was not centered). Fortunately, a little time with the hair dryer was enough to sort them out.
The real problems came with the front wheels. Like the rear ones, they were canted, and displaced. The worst was the front left wheel which was displaced forward a good 3mm! Also of note is that the built up photos provided by Accurate Armour show the front wheels turned (i.e. the vehicle is making a turn) but there is no provision for doing this in the kit.
But since I was going to need to serious hair dryer time anyway, I figured I’d just bend the front wheel mounts at the axle to turn the wheels. To be honest, I needed to do this to hide the positioning problems. The displacement problem on the front left wheel was really critical. To fix it, I ended up massively heating the whole front axle, link arms, and chassis. I then pulled the wheel back to the correct place. It took more attempts than I can remember over about an hour. I think I finally got it but in the process all of the mounts, steering link arms, and the front strike plate got massively warped. After the whole thing cooled down, I went back and straightened them as best as possible but it’s far from perfect. Fortunately these are all on the underside and can’t be seen.
Holy smokes what a nightmare! For perspective, I’m not new at this. I’ve built many all resin kit and even scratch built an MBT-70 tank from sheet and tube styrene. But this was nuts. I think that only my stubbornness and desire to complete this blog got me through this step.
Looking back on these steps, I think there’s actually a much easier way to handle all of this. I would recommend that you first build the body parts (bed, cab, fenders and radiator) as I described in the last chapter. Then, place the frame (without any other parts on it) on the body parts (but don’t glue it) and use the hair dryer to fix any warping. With the frame still in place, mount the front and rear axles as in the first two steps, ensuring the proper positioning front to back.
Had I known to do this, I think I’d be a lot happier right now. |
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