A Rundown of Aftermarket Vehicle Improvements for 20mm Vehicles

Hi all,
 I know it's been a while since you heard from me, but I was busy with some other writing projects I was working on. Needless to say, those are being put to bed, after a fashion and I wanted to add another post to "500 Miles.." before May ended as I will be AFK for a good chunk of June.

 So what are aftermarket vehicle improvements? These are items that are sold separately and are often used to replace kit parts, or improve the look of said kit. These items include stowage, replacement barrels for main guns, and/or even major parts. A lot of these parts can be very, very useful for the "gypsy caravan" look of Twilight: 2000.

So, without further ado, let's get into it.

Black Dog Models

One of the many Black Dog offerings in 1/72, this set is for the Trumpeter LAV-25 kit

(Taken from the Black Dog website)

Black Dog is nothing but prolific, and of very high quality. I have personally only ever worked with their M1A1 Iraq War accessories set, but the overall quality is such that I was impressed, parts fit without much work, and the resin is odor free and of high quality. I had personally no issue with the items I have worked with, and recommend them highly to anyone and everyone working on a modern or WWII kit.

Among the more useful items one finds in the 1/72 range are: The M48 Vietnam set, the LAV-25 set, the AAVP1 sets, the M2 Bradley set, the US Modern Equipment sets, the M113 sets, (including the IDF sets (but be careful not to overuse it, some of the equipment is uniquely Israeli), the M60A1 set, the Food Supplies, Barrels, Ammo Boxes, Tentage and Bedrolls, T-54A Conversion Set, Warrior Accessories, and the M35 Gun Truck conversion set.

Keep in mind, many of these are made for specific kits, so be aware of what those kit(s) are before you purchase one of Black Dog's sets, but once you do, you'll find in my humble opinion, some of the best resin aftermarket stuff on the market.

Legend Productions

The Striker Accessories Set (taken from the Legend Productions website)

Legend is neither as prolific, nor as extensive a product line as Black Dog, but it does make some nice stuff. I have made their kits go together with a variety of vehicles I happen to have in my collection and it's stuff is often made in single pieces, which means an accessory set can often go for two or three vehicles, instead of just one. The only issue with Legend is that it does have a bit of a strong smell when you first unwrap it from the box, so it might be a good idea to let it cure for a bit on a handy surface before you put it to use.

That said, it's a line with good detail, solid items, and plenty of pieces of which to fire your imagination, the cooler I painted up as "For Beer" on one of my M1s was a Legend piece, and it took a so-so kit, and really made it pop.

RB Models

125mm L/48 D-81K barrel (taken from RB Models site)

RB Models is an outfit in Poland that makes rolled aluminum and brass barrels as replacement items for model kits. Most of what they make is for WWII in 20mm, but they also make a few modern items, such as the D-10T for the T-55, the M242 Bushmaster for the Bradley (these barrels are small, so adroit handling is a must) and the D-30 barrel for the 122mm D-30 Howitzer. It's not a large line, but it's a well made line. All of the barrels come packed in a plastic baggie and they are bit longer than they need to be, so you can drill out the gun mantlet, and properly place the barrel into the turret. I've used the barrels on a Bradley of mine, as well as several WWII vehicles, including a Panther and I recommend them without reservation.

S & S Models

One of the General Stowage packs available from S & S (taken from the S & S models site)

S & S Models has been reviewed for their vehicles before and as I said, they have some stuff that very few manufacturers in 20mm even make. Such is also the case with their stowage, as they make some very useful items, such as the unique stowage bins for Bundeswehr M113s and stowage boxes for Chieftains. The general items look as if you could get a lot out of them too, with enough for two or three vehicles per pack. Knowing what I know of S & Ss quality, I also recommend them without question, and though postage can take a bite, it's worth it for what you get.

I will do a companion article for 15mm as well as a separate article on decals soon, and I have an idea for this to be a "living post" that will be updated as new product lines and items come to my attention.

TTFN! 

Trumpeter 1/72 scale LAV-25

Welcome to another "Its 500 Miles to the German Border" article. Today we will cover my assembly and painting of the Trumpeter 1/72 scale LAV-25.

From those who know the Twilight 2000 game the LAV-25 is almost iconic, some would say necessary vehicle to have in ones collection. Took me awhile to find this one for a decent price and not something extortionist online (I paid $28 CDN all in)., I'm still on a beer can budget after all.

Trumpeter models from what Ive seen are pretty much China's answer to Revell, and comes pretty close quality and ease of build wise. In future I will be more diligent to take step by step photos but here we go:

Opening up the box the sprue was laid out nicely and part were well labelled for the instructions given. Really easy to follow.

The parts fit really well together and there wasn't any issues with flashing (those pesky "mold lines" and other bumps etc) that effect many models.

Now before anyone starts getting out the glue and slapping parts together (if your experienced than you can ignore the next bit and make your own mistakes) I really, really, recommend fitting your parts together before you glue. This way you can see how they fit and narrow down any potential problems latter on. On this model the tread pattern on the tires IS directional. Make sure you lay out the tires and rims ahead of time and plan out the placement. BONUS on this model is the tires are rubber which I thought was a nice touch.

 I like to use side cutters for taking off parts, some like using a hobby knife/exacto etc. The side cutters have more control and are easier but whatever floats your boat or amphibious fighting vehicle.

The hull fit well and so did the back hatch. Again cant emphasize enough about doing a "dry fit " first and then jumping in with the glue once your happy with how everything lines up.

 Now the turret. I added some extra armour (not included in the kit) by using polystyrene sheet (.040 mm) and cut into squarish shapes to represent some extra armour platting the crew in Twilight 2000 could have scavenged and welded onto the turret to protect the crew.

The antennae I used garden wire put through the top of the turret before I glued the top and bottom half the turret together. I used loctite to keep the antennae in place instead of the usual "thin glue" used for putting the model together.

Here we have the base model pretty much together minus the wheels seeing how it all looks.

At this point one should think about any kind of accessories ( handmade tarps, parts, weapons, chains, ropes, parts from other kits) that you'll want to put onto it.

This kit didn't include a spare tire (no idea why) so I had to make one.

Using and old truck kit tire (was same size) I scraped out the wheel hub and placed an extra hub from the model kit inside it.

You'll also see in the picture some boxes and a barrel I had from other kits that I would add to the model.

Now this is a bad example of not following my advice. These extra parts should have been glued on PRIOR to doing the base coat! So it was loctite to the rescue yet again. The regular glue may or may not have worked after the base coat was on. For base coat I almost always use Citadel Chaos Black (in a spray can) but really and matte base coat should do. The reason for this is twofold (again sorry advanced practitioners). 1/ the rest of your paint needs something to stick to. 2/ it helps give those recesses (grooves, shadowed areas) shade etc. You could base coat in white if you wanted to make your model brighter, but this is for TWILIGHT 2000 not the show room.

 OK so taking a huge leap forward these pics are the pretty much done pics. My apologies to the class. In future there will be a more step by step process with pictures.

I did a few coats of NATO green (TAMIYA) on most of the vehicle leaving out the wheels and the muffler (aka exhaust) as seen on the right side. The muffler I started with a burnt umber, then brass followed by some orange (go dark) applied with a sponge. This makes it look good n rusty.

The rest was painted in the NATO standard cam pattern of brown/black/green.

The wheels at this point get painted with a flat black the hubs were painted using the same rust technique as the exhaust system. Also same technique on the air intake grill, and cargo bins.

I also added a home made cam net (made by using arm sling bandage dyed green and dried out). The cam net was then wetted down, rinsed out so just damp then rolled into shape and placed on model. Glued into place using loctite. Let cam net dry (mostly) then paint using inks to emphasize the shadows, and dab on some other camo colours.

 Once everything is in place and your happy with the base colours. Get a pencil and scratch lightly parts that stick out. Try out a bit at first don't overdo it. Parts where paint would chip from use like door hinges, edges of the body, anywhere the crew would step on a regular basis, tops of fuel cans etc.

Going back to inks, highlight around objects like panels or recesses to make features stick out or "pop". Think of it like doing an outline on a picture you coloured. You can also try very fine tip markers instead. I've used both myself with varying results.

Now for the "weathering" technique. This just helps make the model look like its actually been used and abused like in real life.

I also added the red diamond denoting the 5th Infantry Division from the Twilight 2000 story line ("Escape from Kalisz") and put Monk's name by the drivers hatch as a nod to one of the narrators stories through the core rules set.

Back to weathering: this really is just dulling down the colours so the vehicles don't look they just rolled out from the factory.

Myself I use a paint called Mushroom made Folk Art. But anyone could use a dirty grey or dull brown. Dry-brush whatever colour over the whole model to dull down anything that seems to bright. The idea being to dull the colours down not paint over top of them. The mud effect was the first time I tried a Citadel "texture" paint called "Agrellan Badlands". Its an odd paint (from what Im used to) in that its not runny but actually pretty thick and it has bits of grit in it. The same technique for you DIY's out there could probably be achieved by letting a beige/brown/leathery colour start to dry out on your pallet, add some fine sand, stir then dry brush on. The idea with the mud is to make it look like it was the wheels in motion that splattered it about.

The undercarriage was done using the Tamiya NATO green followed up with doing the rust effect technique followed up by generous amounts of weathering then mud effect.

Thanks again for tuning into "It's 500 Miles to the German border". Feel free to comment or ask questions and Jason or myself will do our best to answer or get back to you.