AK-47 Technical Competition

The AK-47 Republic Facebook group had a competition in January to build a technical using a die-cast vehicle or other model as the starting point and including a Peter Pig gun or crew.

Looks a bit bare so far...

I decided to use a generic "Made in China" truck I got for a few pence at a car boot sale or charity shop some time ago.  It's missing whatever used to be on the back, so I will be using some 1mm plasticard, treadplate plasticard and a few other bits to rebuild it.  I cut away the rear rivet to get the vehicle apart so I could clean it and paint the inside.  I originally intended to include a gunner and a driver, but it turned out the driver was almost invisible inside the vehicle, so he'll be saved for another project.  The gunner isn't tall enough to see over the top of the cab, so he'll be facing off the back of the vehicle.

Starting materials.

After cleaning the body, I sanded the rear to give a good key for the glue.  I cut some plasticard for the truck bed, and decided to use a couple of matchsticks for the sides.

Truck bed coming together.

A bit of superglue got the basic shape together.  It was looking rather bare, so I would need to add some more to it...

Basic structure assembled.

I intended using some Milliput to make sandbags for the back, but I couldn't find where I'd put it.  I resorted to squeezing out some Wilko brown wood filler, put it between a couple of sheets of cling film and squeezed it into a thin sheet.  After it had dried for a few minutes, I peeled off the clingfilm and cut thin strips and rolled them into thin sausages.  Cutting into small segments gave me some vaguely sandbag-shaped bits, which I placed around the back of the vehicle.  As I expected would happen, as soon as the wood filler sandbags had set in place, I found the missing box of Milliput.

Sandbags in place and basecoated.

I had a few bits of stowage that I had 3D printed, including Jerry cans, ammo boxes etc. These got superglued around the truck bed.  Once completed, the vehicle got a matt grey primer undercoat, an all-over coat of Vallejo desert sand, followed by a wash of 1 part sepia ink, 1 part matt varnish and 1 part water.  The seats were painted in Vallejo Xpress Caribbean Turquoise.  Why such an odd colour?  Because this is a converted civilian vehicle.

Sandbags and stowage.

 I used Army Painter Camo Cloak speedpaint for the camo patches.  Headlights are my 30-year-old GW Mithril Silver.  I painted some Vallejo Xpress Martian Orange over a silver base on the indicators, but this hasn't worked very well.  I'll repaint them another day using my normal method of white base for the orange.

Front view.

The sandbags were drybrushed heavily with Vallejo Khaki, then Vallejo Bonewhite, to ensure they contrasted with the vehicle colour.  I also drybrushed the bonewhite over the timber side sections where the paint will have worn away from people and equipment going on and off the back.

Side view.

The figure is painted to match my mortar crews.  Khaki fatigues, sepia wash, camo cloak and GW Goregrunta fur camp spots, grey boots and beret with a heavy black wash.  The figure base has been painted to match the truck bed.

Rear view.

Stowage has been painted in a range of colours, Vallejo Russian Uniform Green ammo boxes, Vallejo Xpress Imperial Yellow Jerry cans, desert sand Jerry cans, blue, red and grey on the other small cans.

Sandbag and stowage detail.

Ideally I would have done a lot more weathering, including some paint chipping with a bit of sponge, a bit more dusty drybrushing over the vehicle, maybe some rust patches.  As it was though, I finished just 15 minutes before the 31st January competition deadline, so this will do for the time being!