Land Rover in Service

As mentioned in a previous blog update I have been working on my Land Rover model. From the beginning it was my plan to decal the car as belonging to a farmer or a foresty official. In the end I decided to provide the car with markings from the Danish National Forest District 4 that took care of the large forests between Nystrup and Skovby. The district was subordinated to the National Forestry Authority placed in the Danish capital Copenhagen and as the authority had a central vehicle administration the Land Rover is carrying Frederiksberg (a district in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital) license plates (denoted by the 'A' on the plate).

The Series 1 is a small vehicle as illustrated by Nystrup Gravel chief mechanic Petersen posing in 'victory parade style'.

I've had the Minichamps Land Rover Series 1 in my collection since autumn 2021. It is fairly standard that car models spend some time on my shelves before they get the treatment that allows them to take active part in the Nystrup Gravel story. The treatment consisted of several stages with the first being application of decals printed by 'Skilteskoven' in Odense. With a very glossy surface on the model the decals went on nicely. I made two license plates from plasticard, painted them glossy black and once dry applied decals there as well. Once dry the license plates were AC-glued to the Land Rover.

Straight from the package without tarpaulin fitted. 

With decals in place, I began painting some of the smaller parts on the car to enhance its realism. A few underside parts were in bright metal that needed to be toned down and many other small details had a new cover of paint - exhaust pipe, doorhandle and rearview mirrors to mention a few. I used Vallejo acrylic paints for detail painting.

The Land Rover on the worktable having the first weathering applied.

I like the vehicles on my layout weathered as well as everything else to make them blend in realistically. In contrast to the heavily weathered Ford AA with crane the Land Rover received only light weathering. The 'Landy' would be a rather new car in the early fifties and usually Danish state institutions kept their equipment well maintained.

A heavily thinned light earth acrylic paint was painted over the tires' tread area. Once dry I sanded off the paint on the tires' top, leaving paint only in the grooves. A little paint was applied to the sidewalls of the tires followed by a thin misting with the air brush using the same colour. The underside of the car had a thin spray of light earth as well. Carefully I also sprayed a little light earth on the areas of interior areas that would collect dust.  To illustrate wear on the seats a light colour was sprayed very sparingly in the middle of the seat cushings. The engine and engine bay had a light spray of dark grey, manifold some rust and the bay treated with a engine grime wash. The tarpaulin had a wash with a thin mix of black oil paint and turpentine.

Finally the whole vehicle had matt varnish airbrushed over it in varying intensity. I avoided spraying glassed areas by covering them with masking tape. Headlights and other smaller details I wanted to keep glossy were simply covered with a finger tip.

Side view of the finished Land Rover. I really like the writing on the door with the Royal crown insignia masterfully created by decal producer 'Skilteskoven'.

The doors open on the model and allows for a variety of scenes to be created on the layout.

With windscreen, door tops and tarpaulin removed the basic, rugged lines of the Series 1 is clearly visable. In this form it's more a utility vehicle for agriculture, forestry or industry than a car.

As a vehicle from the forest services the cargo bay should naturally have a saw or an axe and maybe even one of the petrol powered chainsaws emerging in the Danish forest business in the early 1950's. Until I find (or get to scratchbuild) 1/19 scale versions of the tools, I have simply placed a red oil can to avoid the rear of the car looking empty.

What's missing? An early design chainsaw of course!

As the Land Rover is such an iconic car I'm quite amazed that my modelling colleague at Sundborg doesn't have a Land Rover post on his blog, that has detailed descriptions of many less well known car models in H0 scale. Perhaps time to change that, Mr. Sundborg?