Magic Factory 1/35 MRZR D4 Ultra-light Tactical All-terrain Vehicle

[Wardukw]

Very very nice Frank mate...this is super work on such a small build 
I started building something along these lines yrs ago and it kinda gets me thinking of playing with it again.
Difference with mine is its 6x6 and uses the fat Canadian Grizzly/LAV25 wheels and has a crew of three 😉

[Old Wombat]

  

[frank2056]

Partly motivated by Phill's Ukrainian AV-8B and partly by being disappointment by my first pass at this kit by following the instructions I decided to build the second vehicle mindful of how it's going to be painted. I'll post the major sub-assemblies tomorrow once the glue has dried, but I think this will be the easier way to build the kit.

[Rick Lowe]

'Time spent in Reconnaissance is never wasted."

[frank2056]

This is what I have so far on the second vehicle. Building it in sub-assemblies will really help in painting and it's a lot less frustrating than trying to paint in the suggested assembly order. This has been a modelling version of "Reconnaissance by fire"

The body pan/engine section can be painted black and detailed later if desired. I'll glue the cabin floor first, since it's also black. The rear cargo shelf is the problem spot - it needs to go on to line up the rear of the vehicle, but it's supported by a mass of tubes and pipes coming up from the engine. It's hard to get all the pipes in their respective sots, but the two critical ones (between the engine and the muffler) have a nice recessed channel and can be glued into place. The other pipes/tubes can be snapped into their connecting holes (or close to them). The upper rear wall of the cabin floor acts as another solid location point.

The wheels are straight; I don't know why they look like they're turned in these pictures.

The front assembly can be tricky to snap over the front suspension assembly, but once in place, the instrument panel snaps into place in slots on the front of the cabin floor. Leave the square part (upper left in the picture) off until the front is assembled, since it can prevent the front from angling forward far enough to make it over some suspension support arms.




Here it is snapped together. The sides can be clamped in place as the glue dries. I also added the missing roll cage tab support on the right side of the body:

[Wardukw]

Ya live and learn don't ya Frank   
It's looking great 👍
I have to be honest with ya tho mate about this build..if I'd brought that kit there would be a overwhelming desire to hack em up and make either a 6x6 or a mutant 8x8   
So I congratulate you for not doing that   

[Madhatter]

Looking really cool Frank 
Everything looks good in black, so what about NATO Black with SG / graphite black highlights? Or NATO black, green and dark grey splinter camo?
My 2 cents in regards to painting process: paint those 3 sub assemblies as they are before joining them all together, masking the glue areas first.
Im sure you'll have it sorted regardless.  Might have to get me one of these kits myself, it looks super cool

[frank2056]

Madhatter - I was thinking of a modified version of the green and dark wood color of the showroom vehicle shown on the instruction - just adding Ukrainian digital camo. I sprayed the green on the body, and it's a bit loo light. The Ukrainians are using the smaller version of this vehicle... but without the digital camo:



I may just try to replicate that coloring. The MRZR D4 uses LED headlights that were surprisingly hard to paint.

[Madhatter]

Have to admit, that does look pretty cool

[killnoizer]

There was a guy with something like that on a local military meeting last year , that thing was really fast on off-road tracks ( official training ground of the German army )  but the passengers were not clean after a round   

[Wardukw]

This is getting me interested Frank and for nefarious  reasons ..so I went price hunting .
I'm sure as poop not buying one here as they want $115nz for it 🙄
With a little bit more hunting I've found one for half that for JP¥5,781 yen ..bout $65 notes nz ...much better 

[frank2056]

At times, it's felt like I've been working on these two kits for months on end. I think the desert version is finished, just needing cargo and water bottles. I got these pictures in the afternoon, so the colors are a little warmer than in reality:



Almost no whiffing done - I skipped the gun and mount for the rear right passenger and added a small California flag on the rear gate.





"Mes cheveux ont l'air bien ?"/"Does my hair look OK?"



I'm about 3/4 done with the Ukrainian tank hunter version, which is (probably) a whif (for now):



I'm using the platform for the anti-drone version to attach a Stugna-P ATGM. The digital camo on the hood was (poorly) done with tape. The soft cover over the front passenger seats was made from Washi tape strips over Tamiya tape, then hand painted in a rough Ukrainian digital camo pattern. I was surprised to see that it works pretty well, at least against the rocky ground cover that I'm using:



I made a Ukrainian flag for the rear gate as well:


I'll try to get the UKR vehicle finished this week, then start working on the crew.

[Rick Lowe]

Are you sure you couldn't squeeze in another MG or two? It seems a bit under-gunned...  

Both are coming along nicely.

[Wardukw]

Very very nice Frank 😀 ☺️
I'm lovin the Ukrainian AT carrier🤘

[Old Wombat]

They're both looking great, Frank!