Kit bash Airfix 1/76 RAF Recovery Set (03305): PART 1

Our kit in it's natural form

Welcome gentle reader to another installment of "It's 500 Miles to the German Border". As our local Twilight:2000 campaign takes place in the US, I've been focusing my model making more to reflect that.

This time around I'll be sharing my (mis)adventures in kit bashing/converting the Airfix 1/76 RAF Recovery Set (03305). This one from what I have read is a reproduction of the 1970s kit (of a WW2 subject).. Now currently, Airfix has let this kit go OOP. I was able to get it pretty cheap considering all of the goodies it came with: The kit has a few figures, as well as 2 motorcycles, 1 crane/truck and a tractor-trailer, plenty of Post-Apocalyptic conversion fodder goodness!

Normally I wouldn't have bought this as its a WW2 kit. But as my son and others have pointed out that it will still run in a post-EMP world.  That's good enough for me! My apologies to the WW2 sticklers out there.

The kit itself is worth the price I paid, as it was cheaper than I would have spent on a regular Trumpeter or Revell kit with just a single model in it. And, as my full intention was to "Mad Max" this kit, I am not too upset in case something goes wrong, as I might be with a more expensive kit. I also bought a bunch of die cast cars that I'll be modding in another article.

Outside of the usual modelling tools, I also wanted to use a wire mesh (to make windows look mean and really "Mad Max"). Normally an innocuous purchase for whatever reason, the stars really misaligned and nobody in my immediate area carried that stuff. So, I had to improvise and bought a plumbing supply part. Adapt and overcome!

I did pick up some snips which I thought would work well for the mesh but they turned out to be crap and the old standard side cutters (for models, sprue, etc.) actually did a better job cutting the wire mesh! Not so sure I'd want to use em all the time as I'm sure they're dulling out.

And thus, there went the first phase with the tractor-trailer:

The kit itself had pretty simple and well sculpted parts, the instructions were a bit wonky with circled numbers referring to the part numbers and other numbers representing paint shades. It was all a bit of information overload and at times, got quite confusing.

The sprues were easy to to cut and the parts needed minimal filing for very small amounts of flash as well as to assist in fitting.

This time I followed my own advice and dry fitted all the parts before assembly and priming (It was a painful lesson to learn, I assure you). I raided the spare parts bin on this build which is good for getting that post-apocalypse "junk yard" look.

I then finished the assembly and primed the kit in black. I personally like to do a "white wash" over the model, really just a dry brush in white to highlight all of the details then start adding color, by building up layers on the paints. I use washes to highlight different features and this time I used some chalk to help in making rusty effects.

I've added the remaining photos below for your consideration. Thanks for tuning in, till next time!

-Evil von Scary