Resicast 1:35 armoured bulldozer

Jakko

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Many years ago, I bought a Resicast armoured bulldozer kit second-hand, and fairly soon also actually built it. I made some alterations to it to match a well-known picture of an armoured bulldozer:

Westkapelle D6A.jpeg

After applying a coat of paint, though, the build stalled. Mostly, this was because I wasn’t satisfied with the model’s colour but couldn’t find anything I thought was better. That, in turn, was partly due to lack of good information on the colour in which the real thing would have been painted. Since then, I did learn that, and also that the British Army used multiple types of armoured bulldozers. And unfortunately for me, the one in the photo above is a D6A while Resicast’s kit is of a D7A. The main visual difference is the positions of the pipes on the bonnet, but in real life the D6A is a lot smaller than the D7A and the shape of its armoured cabin is subtly different as well (other than being smaller too, of course).

So, I undid the conversion work again by removing the pipes, filling the holes I made for them and making new ones in the correct locations instead. I now decided on modelling another armoured dozer from the Westkapelle landings on 1 November 1944:

D7A pushing LCT 980 back into the sea.jpg

This is the dozer that was carried in LCT 980, and which apparently had a Canadian crew, so probably came from a Royal Canadian Engineers unit attached to the landing force. The picture is a still from about five seconds of film that shows it pushing against the LCT’s bow ramp (visible in the foreground) to shove it back into the sea.

Unfortunately, it also shows this bulldozer has stowage racks on the sides of the armoured cab and seems to have carried a fair amount of junk on the back of it, stowed above the winch. I therefore had to estimate the size and shape of those racks, then build them:

Resicast D7A left rear.jpegResicast D7A right front.jpeg

The racks were made by cutting up thin 1 mm plastic strip using my RP Toolz guillotine chopper tool, into lengths of 7.5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm, then gluing them together. That was a job I was glad to see the back of … I won’t make any claims about their accuracy, as the film clip doesn’t really show more than what you can see in the screenshot above — though going back and forth through it does make some details better visible. This is just my best guess as to a reasonable shape and size, and which seems believable.

Now it’s ready for paint (again), and of course adding the various stowage that’s visible in the film clip.
 

Jim R

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Hi Jakko
Another well researched model. You do have a real ability to find and interpret reference photos.
Looks good.
Jim
 

Tim Marlow

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Interesting subject Jakko. Look forward to seeing what you do with it. Have you noticed that the allied star on the front of the dozer In the picture is poorly formed? All the points look different from each other, especially the lower right hand one. That one needs hand painting LOL…
 

minitnkr

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Not unusual to see funky markings on field expedient modifications.
 

Jakko

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Something a bit different is always interesting.
That’s what I thought :smiling3: My interest of recent years in the war in my part of the world helped too, of course.

Another well researched model.
Well … only in as far as, like I said, I have five seconds of film of it. The picture is a screen capture of that :smiling3:

You do have a real ability to find and interpret reference photos.
Thanks, the top photo is very well-known, it appears in almost any publication about the Walcheren landings. The other one is rather more obscure, I must admit. Being friendly with the local museum helps, I find :smiling3:

Have you noticed that the allied star on the front of the dozer In the picture is poorly formed? All the points look different from each other, especially the lower right hand one. That one needs hand painting LOL…
I did, yes :smiling3: This is part of why I chose this particular bulldozer, out of at least three (and probably more) D7As that were landed: the markings are interesting this way. Of course, I’ll have to make up things like the WD number and chassis number, while the arm of service marking will be an assumption based solely on a newspaper article in New Zealand referring to the crew of this particular dozer as Canadians … (I’ve been in touch with the son of the captain of LCT 980, who has a great interest in the fleet and bulldozers used in this operation.)

Not unusual to see funky markings on field expedient modifications.
True, though the only field expedient modification here is the stowage racks on the sides. The bulldozer is a Caterpillar D7 (the original model) that was fitted with an armoured body in the UK, as well as a dozer blade with the hydraulics to raise and lower it, by Jack Olding & Co. Ltd and then known as a D7A.

Also, I painted the model tonight:

CAAEFCAF-CDC7-4456-BE4C-8EAAF7B80512.jpeg

I used MRP lacquer paint for this, SCC 15 olive drab. I’d never used it on a model before, and though it sprays really well, it doesn’t cover well enough for my taste. It’s probably fine for those who like thin, translucent coats for pre-shading effects and all that, but I like paint that covers well, preferably in one go. Because this model was mostly green already, it seemed to cover fine, until I got to the white plastic and filler. Those required a fair number of coats before they looked OK — and some actually still need a little more. I also need to do some sanding on the engine covers, so I’ll need to repaint those anyway.
 

minitnkr

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Many had no markings other than a serial#, so hand painted star(s) would not be unusual. Olding likely had no star masks.
 

Jakko

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All should have carried at least a WD census number as well, and almost certainly at least an arm of service marking. I’ve seen plenty of photos with neatly applied stars, but their number, size and location does vary a lot. I guess they weren’t a priority :smiling3:
 

Jakko

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As I said earlier, the engine cover needed a little sanding, so I did that and painted the area again, first with a layer of the same green that was on the model at the start, Humbrol 159. After that dried, I sprayed MRP SSC 15 over it again, then lightened that for spraying paler blotches in the middle of panels, which also took most of the shine off the model:

9B74A1AB-5AB9-4F44-A350-221214B1B150.jpeg9C759F10-8A45-4195-B064-9CAAB8A4EFCB.jpeg

Because I have exactly one pot of MRP paints, I had to find something else to lighten it. I chose one of the other two bottles of lacquer paint I own, ADC Grey from AK. This seems to be a very different paint from MRP’s, much thicker, so I hoped nothing would go wrong, and luckily, the two mixed just fine in my airbrush. Though I had more or less expected that, I also had in the back of my mind that they might not :smiling3:
 

adt70hk

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Coming on nicely Jakko.

ATB.

Andrew
 

Jakko

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Thanks. I put a darker wash on it yesterday evening, hopefully that’ll be dry so I can continue painting the model later today.
 

Tim Marlow

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Coming on well Jakko. The wash will bring out the texture nicely.
 

Jakko

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I wish it had done that, but judge for yourself:

B670D9B0-CFAD-409B-A0B7-F16EE234E4BC.jpeg

The plan was for the wash to create shadows, but it seems to have failed to do that, while inadvertently creating a weathered paint effect instead. This wash was made from Humbrol enamels, dark green and black, thinned with some or another synthetic white spirit analogue that takes ages to dry. I think for the next attempt I will use acrylic paint instead.
 

Tim Marlow

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Nice basis for further work, even if it wasn’t quite what you wanted Jakko. For acrylics I would recommend the VJ washes. I find they work really well. Their inks dilute nicely as well using flow aid and glaze medium. I’m sure you know this, but if you are using paint to make a wash flow aid is a necessity. If you don’t use it you will just have thin paint that beads up on the surface….
 
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Jakko

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I’ve never used a flow aid for any wash :smiling3: IMHO the trick with acrylic washes made with water is to not try and do the whole model at once, but tilt it so the surfaces you’re doing are more or less horizontal, and to wipe away wash that pools at the lower ends of panels :smiling3:
 

Tim Marlow

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Seems like a long winded way of doing it to me Jakko, but horses for courses and all that so more power to your elbow….
 

JR

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Nice. I like the lower suspension guards, much easier when all the adjusters are hidden :smiling3:
 

Jakko

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Seems like a long winded way of doing it to me
I did take your advice, but not to make a wash. I remembered I have a bottle of Vallejo Thinner Medium, which says it’s to improve flow, so I decided to mix some of that with Mr. Hobby RLM 70 dark green, which (somewhat unexpectedly) worked very nicely to produce a thin paint that I could use to line in all the little details and things. I normally don’t do this because I don’t like the laboriousness of this technique, but I decided to go for it anyway. The model is about two-thirds done, here’s its good side as it looks now:

13D839E0-4DA9-4E1D-BBD1-86FCE313F99E.jpeg55D49B13-D400-4297-9F23-7472B94D6FF3.jpeg

Once I’m done, it’ll be an all-over drybrush with a few shades of OD, which should both highlight the model and help the shadows blend in better.

Nice. I like the lower suspension guards, much easier when all the adjusters are hidden :smiling3:
The axles stick through it, though, so it’s still somewhat involved to paint all of that :smiling3:
 
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