Tamiya P204f Armored Railway Vehicle

[Iron Mike]

Here's a horse of a different color, an armored railway patrol vehicle. The kit is a reissue of an ICM kit by Tamiya, with a slug of added parts. The vehicle is a Panhard 178, appropriated by the Germans and repurposed to ride the rails and keep order. The fact that it's on rails and has that crazy antenna setup made me want one. I've got some added stuff that I bought along the way and plan to build my own base. The kit comes with railroad tracks, so let's make use of them! And away we go!

The interior builds up nicely, not sure how much of this will be visible, but it's there.

Ready to start closing it up, it's got a strange, kind of coffin shape...

Full fendered model.

Radio installed.

All along, I kept wondering why you do see more of these built. It's a nice kit, right? Well, here's the worst part of the build so far. ICM put some heinous marks in the engraved engine covers ON THE OUTSIDE!!! I tried to carefully remove them, with marginal result. I might display them entirely removed and sitting by the vehicle, or keep trying to smooth them out. Ratfarts!

The hull lines up pretty well, this gap went away after liquid glue and some blue clamps until it dried. Not too bad for a couple days work.

Thanks for coming by, lots more to come.

 

[Jeeves]

Looks good! Really like what you did with the interior!

 

[moon puppy]

Well there's something you don't see everyday.

 

[Sherman 18]

Nice!

 

[errains]

Great work there Mike. Interestingly Kool subject.

 

[Iron Mike]

Thanks a heap, my friends! After looking at some of the kit details, I'm going to revamp a few. That radiator hose nowhere bugs the hell outta me. Stay tuned and thanks for the comments.

 

[Brokeneagle]

Nice one Mike, I didn't even know Tamiya had done one of these. great interior.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

 

[centaur567]

Wow!! Never even heard of this vehicle. Great work so far. Gary S.

 

[MrT]

Hey now that's different!

 

[Iron Mike]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. More to come this weekend, I hope.

 

[Iron Mike]

As promised, here's what I did over the weekend (besides working until noon and the coming home to mow grass). I fiddled around with some details and then closed up the doors and hatches with white tack for primer and paint. I got it in primer last night and went straight to paint this morning. Somehow, I didn't take progress shots. Anyway, we have color and stripes!

The rail section came with the kit, I enhanced the grain of the ties with a razor saw and scriber. The top tie is unmolested for comparison.

While paint was drying, I made up a quick base and frame from rigid insulation board and balsa.

I cut the track section to fit and cut down the height of the sides. I made a telegraph pole from a hardwood dowel, I scribed the grain on the pole with my razor saw and I'll make some insulators and brackets next weekend.

How did that get in here???

That's all for now, thanks for coming by!

 

[moon puppy]

How neat, those rails and ties (or are they stays in Germany) will surely give you an opportunity to show off metal and wood paint techniques.

 

[mustang1989]

WOW!!! This is an awesomely well detailed and painted model!! Dang that's good.

 

[Iron Mike]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. It's a very good kit and fun to build. Much more to come, thanks for coming by.

 

[Iron Mike]

So I tweaked my back at work Thursday morning, went to the chiropractor in the afternoon and he told me I wasn't to lift anything for a few days. I went home and did the ice and heat thing the rest of the evening, but come Friday morning, I was still hurting. I did the ice and heat thing in the recliner until around noon, when TV was just making me crazy. I was able to get a couple hours in, but that was about all. This morning, the stabbing pains have subsided although I'm pretty stiff. Anyway, I fiddled around with the base and tracks, here's the results.

I am adding a telegraph pole, so I found some good reference photos and made the insulators from some old white sprue.

They are exactly the same, but them's the breaks.

I have some EZ Line for the telegraph wire.
Moving on to the tracks, again, a good reference photo.

I made a color close to the ties (stays) color from craft acrylic paint and brush painted them after a air brushed layer of Tamiya Dark Iron on the rails and plates.

I had bought this Liquid Pigment set by Lifecolor several months ago, so I figured why not use it? The reference photo clearly shows a layer of rust on the rails, so here we go.

The pigments dry quickly and to a realistic flat finish. I colored the polished rail with a graphite stick and a cotton bud.
I got interested in bases for my models recently and have been experimenting with different techniques. This base is small, but will have a lot going on (I think). I cut a square of rigid insulation board and framed the edges with thin balsa in our last session. Today, I used some Vallejo Dark Earth acrylic paste for the soil and set the track section in the base. I then used some grass tufts from AMMO, some driveway rocks and the telephone pole I made from a hardwood dowel, textured with my razor saw. On such a roll, I filled the tracks with ballast from Woodland Scenics.

The ballast is still loose, I'll set it tomorrow after the acrylic paste is good and dry. Still a lot to do in the vehicle, pin washes, streaking, the antenna and getting the hatches and doors back open. There's even a rumor of a figure or two finding their way into the scene.
Thanks for coming by and being kind enough to comment. It's back to the recliner and the ice pack for me.

 

[Jeeves]

Nice base...love the tracks. I've got to get back to work on my car...so many projects with too little time.

 

[errains]

Moving along quickly and looking really good there Mike!!!

 

[moon puppy]

Missed this yesterday, looks great!

 

[MrT]