Revell 1/24 Land Rover Series III 109

[Tankboy76]

I'm from America so my experience with Land Rovers is basically limited to TV and movies: I don't remember seeing one in person. I understand this generation was built until 1985; so as I'm itching to build it next I'll post a build thread as my 2nd entry in the 80s group build.




When I pulled the body out of the box, I was surprised how big it was so I had to run it upstairs and set it next to a previous truck model to get a sense of scale. I know this Land Rover is a long wheel base model, with 3 rows of seating, but I didn't realize how comparable in size to a US truck it would be.





There is a lot of plastic in this kit, at least compared to my last few kits. Curiously the box says skill level 3 (I think going by the traditional US markings, but the instructions are labeled skill level 5, which is think follows the Revell Germany definition. Seems like Revell Germany is still adjusting to owning US Revell. It is clearly a European manual - with only Revell paint callouts (which are not available in the US) and 40 languages and nice full color pictures. The manual is 28 pages long.



I decided to start a bit in the middle of the instructions with the chassis assembly, then I'll jump back to the engine. I just wanted to see how the suspension would look assembled. All the parts below are now sitting in Stynlrez Black Primer, waiting for semi gloss black, steel, and aluminum. I'm not sure the frame should look aluminum (as called out), but I'm planning mud and dust effects, so it probably won't matter too much. I'll noodle on it.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Cool looking kit, got my attention

[Hawkmoon]

Nice start and looking good.

The frame/chassis in real life is made from a steel box section and built on a jig, once all the parts are assembled on the jig they are all welded together and then finished in what looks like a semi gloss black. Im not an expert on these things but where I live the factory is not fay away the chassis were all made in a dedicated factory and transported to the assembly line by truck so you would see them quite often. There now not made anymore but you still see chassis being moved around for the replacement in the upgrade/accident markets.

[Gary30]

Well I'm from the UK and there aren't many long wheelbase Land Rovers about anymore, still plenty of smaller ones though, especially out in the countryside like I am.

Definitely a great subject for the 1980's they were really popular back then, looking forward to seeing how you go with it

[Tankboy76]

I had some sort of worktop organization breakdown in getting started with this kit - so many parts and interconnected steps in the instructions and different paints and double checking online photos before moving on, but I got enough of the chassis together to do some assembly and allow me to consolidate and clean up the bench.


Next up is the body. All the plastic below needs a base coat in body color. Generally just minor seam clean up was needed, but it took me a lot of dry fitting to make sure I had the order of operations in mind for painting, masking and final gluing before I was ready to move forward. In the end I felt I could only preassemble 2 pieces!

There was a bit of a pinhole void in the hood RH hinge that needed putty to close up. Not sure if it was a short short or other quality defect, or poor tooling design. I did test fit the snap-on hood hinges - that took a lot of massaging (to remove flash from the features) to get the hood to fit without excessive force. After painting, I wouldn't try to remove it as it would damage the paint, I think.


I don't have a paint that matches what I'd like, so I'm trying to blend one from the simpler color shades - I think I've got it with green+blue+purple, and white to lighten (like #7 but I'll go lighter).

[LWWales]

Looking good!

I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

[RangerNeil]

Interesting kit - can it be built LHD or RHD or is it LHD only??

Re. the chassis - from the factory it was a semi-gloss Black. Replacement unit are either the same black or silver galvanised.

As for body colour you might find the links of help/interest:
http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/Ser ... paint.html

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/attachments ... pg.151036/

Its hard to be precise from the photo but I believe the illustration shows the body in either:
* Marine Blue
* Mid Grey
* Light Green

The wheel colour is "Limestone".

You can order rattle cans from this supplier in the USA:
https://www.automotivetouchup.com/touch ... and-rover/

This is my old girl - left the factory in Dec 1973 and is still going on the original chassis.

[CygnusX1]

You've got to love a Land Rover. Looks like you're off to a good start. Will be following along.

[Tankboy76]

Ranger:

Thanks for the detailed reply - the paint info is useful. I'm hoping to work in some fading and dust to the finish, so I'm giving myself permission to not nail the color shade and call it weathering. For the rest, I'm erring on the side of visual interest and making up a story about a rebuilt whatever. Doesn't seem right for a 4x4 to be highly pristine.

The kit has both RHD and LHD (and the safari roof is optional, and there are like 4 ways to do the interior from 2 sets of seats). I'm doing LHD (you have to pick pretty early). I'd bet there are future kits planned with different options.

Land Rover's were not on my radar (both my personal cars are coupes), but after looking thru all those photos online I could get with a short wheel base LR - they look wild as a convertable.

[Tankboy76]

A little more progress: a coat of grey primer and a review of the instructions revealed some holes I forgot to make and a pair I for got to fill. This works, because I intended the last primer coat to be white.



And a minute after this photo was taken a spider ran across my bench and I whacked it with the kit instructions - good thing its a thick book.

[RangerNeil]

Ranger:

Thanks for the detailed reply - the paint info is useful. I'm hoping to work in some fading and dust to the finish, so I'm giving myself permission to not nail the color shade and call it weathering. For the rest, I'm erring on the side of visual interest and making up a story about a rebuilt whatever. Doesn't seem right for a 4x4 to be highly pristine.

The kit has both RHD and LHD (and the safari roof is optional, and there are like 4 ways to do the interior from 2 sets of seats). I'm doing LHD (you have to pick pretty early). I'd bet there are future kits planned with different options.

Land Rover's were not on my radar (both my personal cars are coupes), but after looking thru all those photos online I could get with a short wheel base LR - they look wild as a convertable.

Glad to help!
Funnily enough some of the standard colours do not fade so much - Marine Blue is a good one to hold the depth of colour for decades. If going for the non-pristine look you need to add some minor dents in the front & rear wings and door bottoms.
If you fancy getting a Landrover - remember that the Series 1 through 3 are leaf spring only - and the 88" is a nightmare on bumpy roads. A 109" is much better. The 90/110 and Defender models are coil sprung so the 90" or SWB model is - marginally - better. But the transmission on these is permanent 4WD with only hi/lo selectable whereas a Series is selectable 2WD/4WD and selectable Hi/Lo. Myself - I find the Series more fun to drive on or off road. Either way - don't expect to burn the tarmac up (you can plough it up in very hot weather - I got the bill from the council to prove it!) and you won't win any drag races that go faster than 50 mph in a Series or 70 mph in a coiler and you are feeling brave... But with the tilt off in the sun they are hard to beat. Go the whole hog and remove the door tops - or even the whole door. And on a Series - drop the screen forwards for the authentic "grit in eye, fly in teeth" experience...

[Tankboy76]

A productive evening: I finally got organized and started painting. I turned my brain into knots trying to order the painting so I'd minimize painting the same colors at different times - they want the interior and undercarriage to be painted the body color - but the interior also needs masking to dark grey colors. I ended up deciding to paint the interior first, saving the mixed body color, and finishing the body/undercarriage last (so they match). If the body/interior don't match perfect - it'll be hard to tell.





It does feel good to peel of the masking to find a nice sharp line.

The paints are all mission models - so they normally dry flat, or with a light sheen if the poly mix is added. In this case there is a single coat of the gloss varnish on the green, and a couple dustings of a flat coat on the grey (it takes like 10 dustings to make it flat, so you can tune it in).

[Hawkmoon]

Very nice work and she is certainly starting to look the part

[digger303]

Very nice work and she is certainly starting to look the part

[RangerNeil]

Very, very nice job thus far - well done.

I am curious - did the instructions call for the insides of the doors etc. to be a different colour?
In life a Series 3 Landie was body colour inside and out except for
* The seats - normally a grey "elephant hide".
* The fascia, IP, column shroud and steering wheel - normally black.
* Rubber floor mats - also normally black
* Windscreen frame - galvanised
* Door handles - black
* Gear knob - black
* Hi/Lo selector knob - red
* 4WD select knob - yellow

[Tankboy76]

I don't recognize which lever is which, but 2 black, 1 red, 1 yellow seems to match.

The instructions do callout the dark grey door panels, but they only go up part way - the top of the interior door panel looks to be the inside of the body shell, which is supposed to be body color (according to the kit). They want the interior pulls to be white.

I was scouring bring a trailer and found examples with both body color door panels and ones with black inserts:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974- ... iii-4x4-2/



Two coats seemed to cover pretty well (MM likes thicker coats so it can level a little bit). After some masking the top will be painted white, and the whole thing will get a bit of gloss or semi gloss coating.

[barryf1fan]

Man!! This is looking so cool! Great build so far, and ready to see more.

[Hawkmoon]

That body color looks spot on and nice work

[RangerNeil]

That body colour is an excellent match for the original Mid-Grey!! And looks excellent. Well done

As regards interior - the transmisson levers are like this as is the fascia - bear in mind this is a 46 year old ex-Military 109" FFR model - the green box between the front seats are the vehicle batteries (2 off) and the 2 small dials in the centre of the dash are the charging ammeters - 1 for the vehicle batteries and 1 for the 4 radio batteries in the rear:
Transmisson


Fascia

[BigWall]

Looking great!

[CygnusX1]

Looks really good. Top stuff.
And I'm glad I'm not the only one that... doodles... on their instructions.

[Tankboy76]

After painting the top white and putting a mix of semi and flat clear coat on, I decided to pick out more of the details. The instructions call this out as body color, but I saw many example online with metal colored strips.


It turned out pretty well - at least on this side. On the other side the a spec of paint pulled up that I had to touch up and try to blend into the finish. Thankfully I was planning to make the finish look dust and mud splatted so, while I will always be able to tell, it should blend in for most people.


And I finally got enough little bits painted the assembly of the frame/engine/interior is starting to come together. I've got to get a small brush and some enamel thinner so I can be precise with the panel liner and other washes.

[RangerNeil]

This is looking really good!! You've done an excellent job on the galvanized body fittings. Going by the front wing you've gone for the LHD option I assume.

For the engine - did you have the option between the 2.5 litre I-6 that you've used or the more usual 2.25 litre I-4? Or is the 2.5 litre I-6 the only one supplied??

[BigWall]

That is looking excellent!

[Tankboy76]

Ranger - there is only one engine in this kit - the I6. Difficult to find pictures of it, the diesel and the 4cyl seem way more popular.

Some final shots of the interior before the body goes on. The dash glues into the body, so its not seen here.


As it would be invisible after assembly, I took time to practice a very little bit with some oil paints, as I have bought a set but barely used it. I stuck to a cream color as dust in the crevices of the floor.


With the body on, test fitting some parts:


And I couldn't hold back fitting the wheels briefly.

[Parker]

loving this.

[RangerNeil]

That's an excellent build - and a good choice of body colour. Shame, though, that the I4 wasn't an option engine wise. You could have had great fun replicating the underbonnet look of a shielded FFR engine...

[digger303]

Looks like a landie...

[RangerNeil]

Out of curiosity - are you going to put the spare wheel on the roof where the kit shows it - which was a FAR from popular location or do you feel up to fabricating the more usual bonnet mount? I see from the photos of the Revell site the leading edge of the bonnet show it to be the "deluxe" option which can take this fitting. I can let you have the dimensions and photos if you do.

(The spare location on a Landie is a variable. On the Safari as in the kit it was either on the bonnet or on the tail gate. Pros and cons to both. On the bonnet meant you needed to be strong to lift the bonnet and close it. On the tail gate meant the hinges wore out PDQ - Landrover wheels are NOT light... Two door soft/hard tops has a slot in the inner rear tub on either the left or right of the vehicle - easier to get the wheel in or out but it lost passenger seating or cargo space.)

[Twokidsnosleep]

Doing great work
Such an iconic look
Even a colonial can recognize the Britishness of these Rovers

[digger303]

Doing great work
Such an iconic look
Even a colonial can recognize the Britishness of these Rovers

Had to dig one out once and they were a lot of fun to drive. Actually learnt to drive in the short wheel base version with the spare on the bonnet.

[RangerNeil]

Doing great work
Such an iconic look
Even a colonial can recognize the Britishness of these Rovers

Had to dig one out once and they were a lot of fun to drive. Actually learnt to drive in the short wheel base version with the spare on the bonnet.

Like this perchance?

[digger303]

Doing great work
Such an iconic look
Even a colonial can recognize the Britishness of these Rovers

Had to dig one out once and they were a lot of fun to drive. Actually learnt to drive in the short wheel base version with the spare on the bonnet.

Like this perchance?

All most exact ours had no side mirrors and a whole lot less paint...

edit.... AND the holder for the spare was all metal different to the one portrayed here. It had a clamp in the centre only.

[Gary30]

Lovely clean looking build....far TOO clean actually!

[Tankboy76]

I like the look of the hood mounted tire, but I'd committed a while back to safari roof, etc - I'd have to fill holes and repaint to move the tire off the roof or get rid of the safari roof. If I built it again, I'd probably do no spare, no safari roof.

The end of these kits always come together so fast, but it is basically done. I'll let is set for a day or two and noodle on breaking out some oils to add some more mud tones.

(After i took the photo's, I noticed I for got to put on the rear bottom red lights. I had actually cleaned my desk by this point so I figured I had thrown them away! Luckily they were just left on my alligator clips which I had put back in their jar.)

Pretty fun kit - I expect there will be a lot of different versions of it coming out in the future. I do wish the suspension was more detailed, but what you can see from the outside is good enough for me. There were a few pieces that didn't fill correctly - a short shot or mold error.

[LWWales]

That looks great, mate! I like the wheel on the roof, too!

[RangerNeil]

That has turned out first class!! Congratulations on a first class build. I think I may have invest in one of these myself. It would be great if they made a 109" soft top version, just the front two front doors and a tail gate. It would be interesting to take one of those and convert the 12v Civvy version the kit would portray into the 24v Military FFR one I actually own!

That looks great, mate! I like the wheel on the roof, too!

You wouldn't if you had to get it up there on your own... Getting one up onto the bonnet - and off again - is bad enough....

[Tankboy76]

That has turned out first class!! Congratulations on a first class build. I think I may have invest in one of these myself. It would be great if they made a 109" soft top version, just the front two front doors and a tail gate. It would be interesting to take one of those and convert the 12v Civvy version the kit would portray into the 24v Military FFR one I actually own!

Yea, I'm hoping there are more versions, and/or aftermarket for this this kit. There are a lot of ways to make these look good.

Thanks much.

[Hawkmoon]

Very nice work and she looks 'just right'

[RangerNeil]

That has turned out first class!! Congratulations on a first class build. I think I may have invest in one of these myself. It would be great if they made a 109" soft top version, just the front two front doors and a tail gate. It would be interesting to take one of those and convert the 12v Civvy version the kit would portray into the 24v Military FFR one I actually own!

Yea, I'm hoping there are more versions, and/or aftermarket for this this kit. There are a lot of ways to make these look good.

Thanks much.

Yes - one that springs to mind is the Carawagon conversion. Orginally sold as camper vans, the army took some and made them into command posts.