1/35 Land Rover 88 Series IIa

[frank2056]

One of my Dad's "hobbies" was serially collecting cars. He would have a new car every couple of years. At some point, he had a SWB Land Rover II (or III). I've always liked the Land Rovers and was planning on converting one of the 109" wheelbase Italeri kits into an 88" when luckily, AK Interactive introduced their three new kits. I decided to start with the crane version of the three AK Interactive Land Rover 88 kits:



While the UK decal options in the kit are appealing, I decided to make this one as a fictitious(?( Road Assistance vehicle roaming Interstate 40 and Route 66 in the Mojave in the early 1960s.

I'm using Roy's Cafe in Amboy, California for inspiration.



They also had an auto repair garage and "Buster" Burris - who owned the Cafe, garage and most of the town - once fixed a tire for me (for free) after a wood splinter (or thorn) had gone straight into my sidewall.

The AK kit is extremely detailed and most of the construction involves building the chassis and the engine:







Since this is a US based LR., I'm making it a left hand drive vehicle (which is one of the options in the kit). Next time I build one of these kits, I'll assemble the chassis and engine and skip the painting until the very end.

Right now I'm building the body, which has some challenges. At least there are spare bits that I can use with some of the old Italeri Land Rover III kits.

[Wardukw]

That's looking great so far Frank 😊

[PR19_Kit]

Very impressive so far. 

[zenrat]

I've got one of these on the way.

<popcorn>

[Old Wombat]

 

[frank2056]

This is a very detailed kit - I thought of Pellson while building the chassis, especially the steering linkages. Very tight fit for the parts and tiny attachment points, but it all somehow fit.

[frank2056]

I made some progress on the body - small parts (and PE) and fiddly fit so progress isn't obvious. On page 22 of the instructions (not the exact kit, but same step) step 35, you get to install the tail lights and the covers (PE33, PE34), which are a PE pieces. The final shape is only vaguely illustrated in the instructions. After some trial and error with the first one, I got the shape correct. They should look like this (back, front):



They're a tight fit, in part thanks to part E1. Make sure it's really in and flush when installing it. This is what the PE covers look like, installed. The small gap on the one on the right should be easy to fix:



I also dry fitted the windshield, cabin roof and rear window. Barely visible are the PE shields or guides for the windshield wipers. There's no obvious location for them and looking at the instructions on page 23 they seem to want them attached to the windshield by only the smallest contact area. I ended up putting the wider solid section part under the windshield:



I'm not sure if the gaps between the headlight panel, front side fenders and the top of the wheel well are supposed to be there. The pictures I've seen so far seem to show the gap at the front with the headlights, but they've been unclear about the other gap. A bit of putty would fix it, but I don't want to have to undo it if the gap is supposed to be there.

[kerick]

One of my Dad's "hobbies" was serially collecting cars. He would have a new car every couple of years. At some point, he had a SWB Land Rover II (or III). I've always liked the Land Rovers and was planning on converting one of the 109" wheelbase Italeri kits into an 88" when luckily, AK Interactive introduced their three new kits. I decided to start with the crane version of the three AK Interactive Land Rover 88 kits:



While the UK decal options in the kit are appealing, I decided to make this one as a fictitious(?( Road Assistance vehicle roaming Interstate 40 and Route 66 in the Mojave in the early 1960s.

I'm using Roy's Cafe in Amboy, California for inspiration.



They also had an auto repair garage and "Buster" Burris - who owned the Cafe, garage and most of the town - once fixed a tire for me (for free) after a wood splinter (or thorn) had gone straight into my sidewall.

Why am I imagining this vehicle with a missing hood/bonnet and big eyes on the windshield? Mater's buddy from across the pond?

[zenrat]

I'm tempted to build a Land Rover with rusty bodywork as JMN bait.

[Wardukw]

I at some point am going to hunt down a 24th Land Rover..a 110 would be good but if it's a 90..I can fix that 

[PR19_Kit]

I'm tempted to build a Land Rover with rusty bodywork as JMN bait.

          

Like a Mossie with rivets?

And I've got a part built NMF finished B-2 at home, but there isn't enough putty in the world to smooth out all the joints and dips. 

[frank2056]

Answering my own question, it looks like the gaps are OK:

The weathering looks great, too - I can't tell if the original color is Limestone" or the green on front of the radiator, or some other shade. There is some rust, but mainly on the non-aluminum (or aluminium) parts.

[frank2056]

I'm almost done with the LR 88. It's been a slog - partly my fault and partly the kit's. The best thing I can say for this kit is that it's better the Italeri version of the Land Rover. The kit has many options and extra parts, intended for other versions - the myriad of small attachment points doesn't help.

This version had you put the spare tire in the cargo area. Instead, I used the another hood included in the lit that comes with the spare tire mount.

Decals applied, ready for a clear coat and weathering:


I'm leaving the windshield wipers off until the last minute. The license plate is the style used in California from the late 50s to the mid-late 60s, which should overlap the production years of the LR II/IIa. The plate has the month and year I'll (hopefully) finish this model:


I don't know if Roy's Cafe garage had a Land Rover, or if it even had a dedicated tow vehicle; it may have and would have made sense. In any case, I duplicated the iconic sign and added some self explanatory text. The doors are just pressed in at the moment.


If/when I build another version of this kit, these are the areas I'll skip or be careful with. In addition to the PE issues in the previous posts:

Chassis: paint it black and skip most of the engine construction. Note and mask the wheel and chassis attachment point (luckily, I did). If a random kit's oil pan (or even a small one from a 1/24 or 1/25 scale kit) is available, it can be used in place of the kit's oil pan with a mocked up engine out of plastic scrap. The kit's engine can then be built and displayed separately.

Forward lights: the two small lights can be left off until the body has been painted (but before the chassis is attached). The fit is pretty tight, so slightly enlarge the holes If the lights are painted before installation. The clear headlights will not fit without a considerable amount of  trimming - they have to be between 0.25-0.5mm smaller in diameter to fit.

Interior: Pretty straightforward. The seat locations aren't well defined and they can interfere with the cabin's rear wall. Install the pedals first and the steering wheel last.
Cabin transparencies: They're not very clear, especially the side windows. I replaced the driver's side window with some thin clear plastic and posed it open. I had to sand and polish the passenger's side window because it wasn't clear at all. Some of the rear windows may need work as well.

Doors: The fit is OK, but the doors, cabin roof, cabin rear and windshield have to be carefully assembled to minimize gaps.

Windshield: The main problem here is the tiny PE wiper shields/guides. The installation location isn't clear and I ended up replacing one with a small loop of 30 gauge wire. The PE raises the windshield slightly, which causes other problems. I may just skip them (or just use the loops) next time.

Tires: They're vinyl and they're not great. They're not solid and the material is very soft, so getting rid of the mold lines is tough. I'll consider after-market resin tires if they become available, or use the DEF models LR III resin wheels.

Crane: Again, iffy construction instructions. Good luck finding wire or string thin enough. I used 30 gauge solid wire again. I noticed that it has a bend that I'll have to fix.

Next up is the weathering.

[Wardukw]

Frank that is looking perfectly brand new 👌
Looking forward to ya changing that 😀

[buzzbomb]

Looks like a Landy to me.

Great feedback on the kit and the issues you encountered.