# 1/35 RPM Models MMGS Scout Car



## Owen E Oulton (Jan 6, 2012)

On Wednesday at the monthly IPMS Ottawa meeting, our contest was an ad-hoc, meaning any subject may be submitted. I took in a vignette depicting a British WWI Ford Model 'T' Motorised Machine Gun Service Scout Car armed with a Vickers mk I .303 medium machine gun. The base kit was by RPM and it was a state-of-the-art 1990's Polish styrene model kit, which means it's a piece of rubbish requiring a lot of work to make a presentable model.

















Sorry the pics are a bit overexposed, but I didn't take them.

The main body of the Model 'T' is moulded in a medium grey styrene with considerable flash, while the suspension was two identical sprues moulded in butter yellow styrene. Many of the suspension partes were redundant duplicates which went into the parts bin. There were absolutely no alignment pins or location marks, meaning I had to closely study photos (thank you Google Images!) to line everything up. Parts fit was mediocre, and there was a wide seam in the bed of the truck. I scribed some .010" styrene to depict a board floor and filled the remaining seam in the aft wall. The highlight of the kit was a nice Vickers machine gun, though much trimming was needed to assemble the spade grips, and a Dragon ammo belt was pressed into service. Getting all four wheels to sit flat was impossible, but since I was putting it on a scenic base I just built up the turf under one wheel. Four nice water cans and four ammo boxes were the only equipment supplied, so I added a shovel and axe from ICM and a tool box from Italeri, as well as some personal stuff (canteen, binoculars, wire cutters and entrenching tool) to the bench seat. The headlights were grossly oversized, the size of 1930's roadster headlights, so I used headlights from a Tamiya Austin 10 'Tilly'. No clear parts were supplied, so I used small clear and transparent red lenses for the four corner lanterns, as well as a spare semi-circular windshield.

The figures are Tamiya's dismal WWI British Infantry. The figures come with nice body gear, but are keyed so that there is one and only one way to assemble them, though I did straighten one leg of the standing figure and replace the left arm on the kneeling figure. All their hands were misshapen and undersized, so they were replaced. An ICM SMLE rifle was added to the standing figure, and a crank was installed for the kneeling driver to start the stalled vehicle. Figures are wearing the visored cap worn by all ranks early in the war and have the ubiquitous gas mask pouches on their chests. A British Army regulation in force until late 1916 required all men to wear moustaches, so I painted their upper lips to match their hair colour.

Everything was painted with acrylics - the uniforms with Tamiya Khaki, and the rest with Americana craft acrylics from Dollarama. The base is one I had done for another model a few years ago and still had hanging around. I took a third place ribbon for my efforts.


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## daytime dave (Jan 14, 2017)

Very nice WWI model. Not many around from what I have seen. Good work.


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## Owen E Oulton (Jan 6, 2012)

Thanks, Dave.


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## bucwheat (Mar 9, 2010)

Nice work,great detail.


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## Owen E Oulton (Jan 6, 2012)

Thanks, Buc.


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