PMC Armored Pickup Truck

[andrei383]

Hi all,

With the paint drying on my Luchs and my need to put glue to styrene, I decided to start a new project. With inspiration from a NatGeo documentary about private military companies, the film District 9, and the Meng Pickup in my stash I developed a concept for an armored pickup.

The kit:

District 9 armored pickup:

My concept sketches:

The project is still in concept phase as I may still add new ideas or remove some. If you want to add some ideas I'm open to them!

This may also end up as a diorama with Trumpeter's PMC figures. I will hopefully start some building with the chassis soon! ;D

Thanks for looking!

 

[letsgobrowns82]

This looks like an awesome build. Cant wait to see you get going on it.

 

[StuG]

Sounds interesting...Good luck Andrei...)

 

[Ohm]

Looks like an interesting concept project, Andrei 8)

Go for it

 

[errains]

Total AWESOMENESS!! Andrei

I'll be glowing along on the one for sure ....Wish I thought of this :

 

[adampolo13]

Are you flipping kidding me!!!! That project is insanely cool! I love District 9! I really hope you attempt this, I know you can pull it off, and the result would be so cool!

 

[Dusky]

I would love to see vehicles similar to the ones in D9! I'll be watching this one.

 

[Jose Luis Lopez]

Such an interesting project!

 

[andrei383]

nice to see you guys all enthusiastic about it! i have part of the chassis built already, pics to follow soon! ;D

 

[Fork Virus]

Looks like a well thoughtout plan and good luck!

 

[adampolo13]

nice to see you guys all enthusiastic about it! i have part of the chassis built already, pics to follow soon! ;D

Oh man, oh man, oh man!!! I cannot wait!!!! Hurry up please. ;D

 

[andrei383]

Ok, the first impressions of the kit: the parts have quite a number of mold seams that need cleaning up and already i have encountered several parts that did not fit properly together:
-the front suspension arms which had a gap of about 2 mm between the part and the chassis where they were meant to connect
-left rear axle which was molded at a slight angle meaning the wheel would have been at an angle when fitted
-driveshaft too short between transfer case and rear axle

despite these problems, the rest of the chassis went together easily and much of these problems will be hidden once the body is mounted.

as i waited for the glue to dry on the chassis, i built some parts from the accessories set included in the kit which will be relegated to the spares box for forthcoming projects. interesting to note is that the different colored styrene in the kit also have different consistencies, with the grey one being slightly more brittle than the black styrene

thanks for looking and joining along! ;D

 

[Dusky]

Looking good so far. Lots of detail in the chassis and suspension.

I've seen differences in the plastics of different manufactures and between colors, but usually never in the same kit. The green plastic in my Bronco Staghound is quite hard and a bit brittle, but the light gray plastic in my Bronco 221 is softer than the green and easy to work with. One exception are Gundam kits which use both PS and ABS hard plastics, but then it's two different types of plastic.

 

[letsgobrowns82]

Nice progress so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing this come together.

 

[andrei383]

Hi all, some more building has been completed:

Firstly was the add-on armor for the tailgate since that had the simplest geometry of all the armor panels:

Here you can see the spacers for the armor (and the bit of masking tape holding it together):

Also, the accessories from the kit have also been built. These are nicely done and they will look the part in any modern diorama or vehicle stowage. Maybe Meng should release the sprue as an additional set for those who want these accessories?

The interior parts are next and have been dry-fitted. I will keep the interior parts in sub-assemblies to add additional details (GPS/computer screen, RWS controls, etc.) and for ease of painting.

The next update will probably be on my Luchs, the paint is nearly done on it! ;D Thanks for looking!

 

[schweinhund227]

Looking forward to see this getting pieced together! Awesome choice!

Good luck!

 

[geegad]

nice job bud

 

[andrei383]

thanks guys!

just a quick update of some of the building done over the weekend, the left side armor plate has been made, an opposite copy also done for the other side. the bolt detail still needs to be added:

from this angle the spacers can be seen, i probably will sand them down further to fit a little closer:

and a comparison shot, just to appreciate the size of my other project, the Luchs A2, compared to a pickup (and PMC man ;D):

thanks for looking and happy modelling! ;D

 

[letsgobrowns82]

Good progress so far Andrei, thats some nice scratch work!

 

[TRM]

Sweet little project you have going on Andrei!! Nice bit of armor plating work!!! Keep it coming!! ;D