Montys Caravan, Matchbox, 1/76

[PaulTRose]

doing this for a Matchbox GB elsewhere......total nostalgia trip......look at that coloured styrene!

always had a soft spot for Matchbox kits........back when i was a kid it was Airfix from the post office in the village.....or occasional Revell or Frog from the Newsagents...........then along came Matchbox, was like a breath of fresh air!......subjects the others didnt do, the coloured styrene, the bases with vehicles, even the art work on the boxes was a different way of doing things

picked this up for a whopping 4 quid from a show (remember those?) about 3 years ago

 

[Jim R]

Hi Paul
I built the Revell rebox of this a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed it. I built an interior for the truck which was fun at this scale. My build is HERE if it's of any interest. Ilook forward to seeing you tame this 'blast from the past'.
Jim

 

[PaulTRose]

i think this will be the third time ive done it,......did it about 5 years ago but it got smashed in a house move, and i can remember doing it when i was an awful lot younger lol.......just looked it up, this was new tool in 1980

 

[Jakko]

I’ve built two of these over the years, and always liked the little Daimler scout car much more than the Leyland Retriever I wanted to comment on that you seem to have an unusual box, with French and English text on it. However, that same box is shown on Matchboxkits.org so I suppose it’s the standard box art.

 

[PaulTRose]

getting there

base needs some matt coat and then some more highlights

 

[PaulTRose]

next step is clear coat so i can apply decals and a wash of some sort..........then a matt coat, some windows in the frames, final assembly and some weathering

 

[PaulTRose]

and finished!

decals were beyond the use by date.............i actually left a couple in water and 48 hours later on they still wouldnt budge from the backing paper!............so had to improvise with some from the spares box
added some mud to the tyre tread and a black wash overall
i was going to weather up more but decided to call it quits

made a big schoolboy error!
sat down at the bench the other night and added 'glass' to the windows..........as i glued in the last one i suddenly realised i hadnt given it all a spray of matt varnish first....doh!.....................so ive have had to carefully brush paint the matt coat on.....which i think is why is still looks a little shiny under the camera flash

 

[Jakko]

Nicely done, and an instant diorama to put on your shelf. Maybe paint the edges of the base black, though? That usually offsets what’s on it much better.

 

[PaulTRose]

ive done this kit before and did the edges black/very dark grey that time and didnt like it......that grey is actually primer which i then masked up to minimise bleed whilst i did the main colours