Model Victoria resin Fiat 626

[losboz]

I started this build in March 2013 and its been a long road. This is Model Victoria's superb Fiat 626 and it is a beautiful resin kit



It arrived in a nicely presented and sturdy box and the contents were immaculately packaged with items separated in their own bags or wrapped in bubble wrap. This insured there were no breakages and no part was warped or damaged



The instructions are crystal clear SBS photos of the actual model





Painting guides and decals for both Italian and German versions



I started per instructions with the chassis

[bullardino]

I jump in, Los.

Those trucks wandered around when I was a kid, even if the war had ended a long time before.

Great start, the chassis looks wonderful.

[losboz]

All parts required very little clean up, if any and it all snapped together effortlessly. The tyres are beautifully rendered and the cab comes in one piece



Once the main components were completed they received a thorough degrease and were left to dry. Then they were primed with Halford's rattle can grey primer. I was going to use the hairspray method to show worn parts in primer so the next coat was a Vallejo dark hull red and chocolate brown mix.





The wooden cargo elements were given various acrylic washes of new and old woody colours which would form the naturally weathered wood under the dark yellow base coat



Next step was the Dunkelgelb base coat. I had successful results with the Vallejo modulation set before this project so I mixed a combination of all but the dark base colours. Firstly a base and light base mix to the lower parts of the model followed by a light base to the upper areas of the cab and lastly a very light highlight coat to all the upper areas air brushed from above. I then added one thin coat of HS and applied an olive green camouflage pattern. I didn't want it to be a particularly busy pattern but tried to imitate a quick hand sprayed affair.

I forgot to take pics after the modulation painting stage as I must have been too eager to get chipping !





One thing I did boo boo on was that this was unusually a right hand drive (like what us Brits drive  ) and I set about chipping the left hand door entrance areas far more. This was rectified in later stages. I then airbrushed gloss varnish to the number plate and cab areas to receive the kit decals. Once the decals were applied the whole model received a coat of satin varnish to protect all the exterior paint steps so far



The cargo area metalwork received some heavily diluted acrylic rust colours in places

[bullardino]

Fantastic job.

They used right hand drive as convoys had to follow the road side at night without lights on, so the driver had to be as close to it as he could.

[losboz]

Jan 27, 2014 10:01:44 GMT -5 bullardino said:

I jump in, Los.

Those trucks wandered around when I was a kid, even if the war had ended a long time before.

Great start, the chassis looks wonderful.

Cheers Luigi, this is one still in use...................just

[bullardino]

Looks like it has seen better times

626 and Leoncino were the two most common trucks during my childhood

[losboz]

Got some nice ref pics in Italian use during the war but not so many in German use link

Most of the Normandy pics show the 626 in numerous pices apart from this one during the Falaise gap battles

[losboz]

Next up for paint was the engine. Only the sump will really be visible once completed so I didn't go overboard here



The cab and loadbed where treated to some MIG filters and pin washes with MIG brown and black washes. The propshaft, tyres, instruments, exhaust and steering wheel were all hand painted with acrylics and the seats given a base coat of Vallejo leather followed by oils. The chassis and inner cab were then treated to various applications of acrylics, oils and pigments





The load bed got the same treatment



And until June 2013 she became a shelf queen albeit in a nice dust free storage box

[losboz]

So after procrastinating about getting this back on track summer comes along and I start by attaching the large sub-assemblies. At this point I only go and drop her whist attaching the cab to the body   Even though it was only a short fall it did a fair bit of damage   The cab parted with the chassis, the trackrod parted with the wheel hubs and various small items broke off never to be seen again !

After checking there was no major paint damage and consoling myself that things weren't too bad I decided that I would crack on and put her back together but all was not well    Further investigation revealed the track rod had lost a portion, a chassis rail had snapped and one front wheel had snapped off with the locating lug inside    The steering linkages would require a complete overhaul and various items would need to be found amongst the fibres !

I was so pissed at myself for this that I just couldn't commit to fixing her and diverted to other projects to avoid the whole repair process.

I did slowly start repairs but it took until the end of 2013 until I was totally satisfied and happy with progress. To say the repairs were a challenge for me is an understatement and my mojo took leave for a while. The trackrod had snapped off at both hubs and small sections succumbed to the carpet monster so this was the hardest part to remedy. Numerous small inner and outer cab items are now reconciled with the cab and the cab interior has been re attached. I am pretty sure it fits a little better now.
Both seats were attached to the inner cab this time (Only the drivers seat was added originally) and I now realise why I had planned it that way ! The rear squab seat behind the passenger seat hinders a straight forward fitment with both seats fitted to the inner cab. I had a few tense moments (along with more than a few choice words) getting them to locate but it is possible (not recommended though ! )

A few of the repairs are not perfect and although a lot are hidden I needed to ensure that I did the very best I could to getting it looking its best again

Luckily the front axle ends have small nodules top and bottom to allow the hubs to locate without the need for gluing and to my relief all the hub locating recesses remained intact. I had original drilled out the track control ball joints so I could articulate the steering but as the whole fitment is now a lot looser I have had to glue the hubs to the axles. This will also insure there is no stress on the repaired track rod as this is now extremely fragile

So this is where we are up to now







Its been a tough build but I am nearing the end and am determined to make this one of my first completed builds

Los

[Deleted]

damn fine model even with the trials and tribulations you've had old chap

[bullardino]

Mighty fine, can't wait to see more

[Deleted]

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

G

[wbill76]

Very cool! The Germans used anything they could get their hands on no matter where the source. You've captured the look on this one for sure Los.

[deafpanzer]

WOW! Just WOW! Beautiful build... everything looks great even the fuel drum. The windshield look damn good too.

[Smudge]

Hi Los

That turned out just great well done mate.

A new one on me but apparently Fiat provided 3300 for the Germans during WWII and even France took delivery of 700 pre 1940. Many of those would have been used by the Germans in NWE I guess?

There's quite a few photos (and colour artwork) here on Oliver Messing's site www.german.o5m6.de/ the 626 is halfway down the left toolbar. Pics mainly in Italy, Russia, Yugoslavia and North Africa.

Smudge

[losboz]

Thanks guys, glad you like it

Dicky   Having only built this one resin kit to date I would be mightily disappointed if this wasn't the norm, but it sounds like it isn't 

Smudge Wow 3300 !  Didn't realise they built them specifically, just assumed they were utilised from units using them in North Africa, Italy etc


I have finally found and added appropriate sized headlight masks, re-worked the shattered passenger side screen and started on stage one of the weathering. Starting from light to dark i have applied initial light coloured pigments, rust (the fantastic lifecolor rust set) and oils. 

Forgive the camera phone quality pics



By accident I think I might have created a bird poop  (thanks armourguy ) on the door so I will be embellishing this in later stages with an aerial impact on the side window



Los

[AverageJoe]

Wow, brilliant work

[bullardino]

Awesome, the broken windscreen looks fantastic

[Tony Thunder]

Yep!
Thats only superb in my opinion!

[wbill76]

Got to love that window...and the accidental bird poop is the perfect excuse, have to remember that one!

[Deleted]

That is impressive Los !
That shattered windscreen looks perfect .

[Smudge]

Hi Los

Thats 'smashing' mate, excellent work on the glazing.

Smudge
(The other one)

[Deleted]

That's an amazing looking kit and you have done a truly masterful job on it.

Shame about the drop, but she had to earn her chips and scratches, and looking you wouldn't know it had happened.

[Gordon Ferguson]

That's a superb job you have done there.

Been thinking of purchasing this kit for awhile now , but having had some major disappointments with resin kits in the past was a bit wary of shelling out that much money but seeing what you achieved with it is inspirational

[losboz]

Cheers for the kind words fellas

Its taken a fair chunk of time but I'm happy I stuck with It

Gordon  You wont be dissapointed with it, its a really nice piece of kit so what are ya waiting for

Continued with more weathering steps which included working darker oils and pigments into the model. I often rush the whole weathering process so with advice from you guys on the site and info picked up in modelling mags I decided to slow it right down and work on selected areas only moving on to other areas step by step. This means continuously revisiting parts of the model but I realise now the beauty of oils is that blending can be created over a far longer period of time and its so easy to re-start a whole area if need be or remove work that on inspection looks a bit 'dodgy'. The camera never lies and tis a great tool for spotting areas to 'revisit'   I can see plenty of those since taking these pics

I still might have to 'tone down' some of the darker stains and I decided I didn't want to go too heavy with pigments as I liked the way the wheels and running gear were looking. . AK fuel stains were used for spilt fuel on the tank and a drop mixed with black oil to imitate weeping axle oil

I used a newly purchased Abteilung 502-German Three-Tone Fading oil to highlight parts of the roof and various places that would catch the light. My next step is to make one more brief pass with a final darker set of dirt and stains and then its onto the load bed.

Slowly getting accustomed to the cameras best settings but need to purchase some lighting.   I warmed them up a bit on photobucket but they still look a bit 'milky'.

A feathered jabo has indeed struck icky terror into the drivers window







To show the door open a strap was modeled into the cab with plastic card whilst constructing the cab so all I had to do was carefully hollow out a slot for it in the door side and glue it into place. This way I avoided having to resort to gluing very small contact points at the hinges plus the card was flexible enough for the door to be tweaked into place   i just hope I don't accidentally un-tweak it



For now

Los

[Deleted]

Your the final judge and it looks perfect as is IMO but I'm sure anything you do will further enhance the look .

[bigjohn]

Looking mighty fine as is! Good call on slowing down and taking your time with the weathering, the results are paying off!

[Deleted]

looks superb great weathering really brings out all those fine details

[mel]

Excellent job throughout!

[AndyArgent]

Doesn't get much better than this mate.Superb.