Builds Tamiya/Italeri Italian/German 508CM "Coloniale" Staff Car with extras by SBS Models

[Smeggers]

Haven't done a build report for a while, so here we go. Tamiya/Italeri's 1/35 scale Coloniale Staff Car comes in a decent sized (A4) box holding 2 and a bit vehicle sprues (from Italeri) and Tamiya's contribution of two small sprues, one depicts a German driver with 5 hub caps, and the other with two Italian Officers and a wooden crate. The moulding on all sprues is clean and crisp with little if any flash and only one of two mould pin release marks. Two sheets of decals come with the kit; one, very obviously Italeri, has enough decals for two different Italian units and two different German units. The decals are very good with little carrier film around the edges. The second sheet should actually accompany an L6/40 Italian Light Tank and is by Tamiya.It has rank insignia for both Italian Officers plus two larger decals to put on the crate. the Tamiya's decals seem I have a wider border of carrier film around them but this can be trimmed back with the obligatory craft knife.The final part is the clear sheet of pre-cut window and light pieces.The instructions are in booklet form and are in the "new" Italeri format. Easy to read and not expecting to many pieces to be fitted in one move.

I decided to add a few extras to this model and a trawl of fleabay turned up a pair of resin detail sets by SBS. Models. Set number one (35020) is labelled as an interior kit and contains well moulded seats front and back and a front firewall/dash. There are also two small brass photo etch sprues depicting foot plates and interior matting, door lining, windscreen and new dashboard and pedals. Set number two (35021) contains moulded interior trunk and boot lid, front storage boxes and a single brass etched sheet with hood struts, tread plates, front bumper and various catches and knobs.etc.

This will be the final model I build for the Invasion of Italy group build. I hope others have theirs heading towards completion as there is only five weeks to go!

 

[Smeggers]

Started the build this afternoon. Chassis and engine go together well with no problems. Both front and rear axles were assembled as per instructions and given a coat of black primer. I have found this under a coat of gun metal gives a more realistic dirty chassis look.I

The car floor has quite a bit of work to be done on it. Any upright protrusions are filed down flush and the brass textured "mats" are superglue in place. The mats for the drive shaft tunnel cover were rolled over a narrow paint brush to get the tapered effect. These were also glued in place. The front bulk head has been cleaned and test fitted, together with the new dash and surround.

As seen from the above photo, both sets of seats have been cut from their moulding blocks and fettled to fit. Gear stick and handbrake are also fitted after drilling locating holes from underneath. The rear bench seat has a pair of quite obscure arm rests which effectively fit on top of the rear wheel arches. I drilled the lower of the two locating holes for each arn-rest, to ensure they were set parallel.

The new dashboard is a laminated mix of PE brass, clear acrylic and printed acrylic. The PE brass dash is glued onto a printed piece of acrylic which gives the gauges a sense of depth. A further piece of clear acrylic is painted white and glued behind the printed piece to highlight the gauges. Unfortunately, the gauges do not show up that well on the photos. A further PE piece is fitted to the surround of the leg space, ostensibly to look good!

Where the bulk head join the car's floor, I've inserted a small piece of white strip to fill the mounting holes on both sides, originally intended for the moulded kit piece. A piece of spare brass sheet was cut to cover the gap between the drive shaft tunnel and the bulk head foot space.
I'll call it quits now and restart Saturday as I'm at work tomorrow evening.

 

[Smeggers]

After spending the best part of the day in the garden, I finally got around to the workbench at about 1600. First up, fit the pedals and windscreen mount and give all PE and resin parts a coat of primer.

After that, I lost an hour searching around for the resin trunk lining, only to find it in the box it originally came in. I know, bad drills and no excuse for it. The remaining resin parts were separated from their carriers and filed and fettled to fit. The internal parts have been given a first coat of light brown with a saddle brown colouring for the upholstery. The exterior colour will be desert yellow as this seemed to be the colour of choice for both German and Italian users.

 

[Smeggers]

Evening all. Quite a bit done on the build today. I wasn't happy with my choice of colours for the interior. The saddle brown seats looked ok but the light brown leg space didn't really work. After a few test runs, I settled on a light German camouflage beige. It gives a better definition and lightens the foot spaces. While waiting for the paint to dry, I gave the tyres a coat of Blue/Black. I used the same colour for the rubber pedal covers. The gear stick, steering wheel and handbrake were all given a coat of Matt black. All three will get a final coat of semi- gloss to give the impression of metal.

The new parts for the trunk lining and boot lid were given their final fettling and then glued in place. The side panels were slid into their respective slots and then attached to the vehicle sub frames. The paint on the wheels had dried so they were fitted in place.

Part of the kit is a replica ammunition box for an L6/40 Italian Light Tank! I have decided to incorporate this box in the diorama, so have it an initial coat of Matt beige. Using a pair of dividers, I etched in planking to give a bit more of a realistic look. The box was then given a wash of very weak black to highlight the etching and then a final coat of wood-grain.

Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do it justice. Personally, I think it looks the mutt's nuts.

Nearing the end of it now. Just the bonnet and lights to fix on the front end and the boot lid and spare wheel on the rear. The two Italian Officers will need to be done and I will probably change the nationality of the German driver to Italian. I have a pack of Hornet's "Italian heads in bustinas", so not too much work to do.
More tomorrow.

 

[Smeggers]

A lot more work done today. Bonnet and radiator grill fitted and fettled then fitted again. Boot lid installed with brass stays holding it in place. On either side of the vehicle, adjacent to the front mudguard; there is a storage bin which forms part of a step. These are supplied with the kit but are also part of the upgrade set, with the side walls made in PE Brass and the lid in Resin. These go together well but there are two very small parts I the catch which are a bit fiddly.The driver's door has been fitted in the open position to allow easier viewing of the controls and levers. Viewers will also be able to see the driver figure.

All areas shown in white have been primed ready for undercoating.

Headlamp assemblies were fitted to the front of each wing. I chose the "cloth" cover for the black-out slits as these seemed far more likely. The bonnet has two catches on either side which fit into corresponding lugs. These catches are supplied in the kit and not on any of the upgrades, which is surprising! They are a real bastard to cut off the sprue, clean up and fit to the model, but when fitted, look the business.

One thing that does surprise me is the lack of door handles in the kit. These are in the process of being made and will be included in the next build report. Probably one of the fiddliest jobs to be done is applying the tilt supports. These are supplied in. PE Brass in the second upgrade set. Once you have worked out exactly where the supports are fitted to the carrier sheet, it isn't too hard to separate them. They do need to be fitted with care as they are fairly delicate.

Just a final coat now and then the weathering. The driver and officer figures have been undercoated and will be added to the model/diorama in due time. Anyway that's me done for the night.

 

[Smeggers]

Final day of the build today. I wasn't at all impressed with the boot lid being open, so I cut off the stage and glued the lid in place. The combined tail light and rear number plate was installed together with the rear towing eyes. As I said earlier, the driver in German uniform has been converted to an Italian driver by the simple application of a bustina clad head supplied by Hornet. The bustina was the soft cap worn by all ranks in the Italian Army and was much preferred to the Italian version of the Soviet tin helmet.

The Vehicle was given a final coat of Tamiya Dark Yellow and when dry, decals were applied. On my version, I wanted a vehicle belonging to the Republic of Socialist Italy (RSI), these were predominantly from the North of Italy plus the "Blackshirt" Brigades. The units that surrendered in 1943 then became Co-Belligerent Forces, fighting with the allies until the Axis surrender. The lightly armed officer with the car wears the shoulder boards of a first lieutenant. The fact that he does not wear a dagger, indicates he is not from a "Blackshirt" unit.

Both the Officer and the driver wear the lighter "tropical" uniform originally intended for service in Africa, but continued to be worn due to wartime shortages. Both soldiers jackets have been bleached almost white by continuous washing and wearing in the sun. The trousers appear in a darker colour. The officer appears to be wearing cavalry boots, but these are ankle boots with knee high canvas gaiters.

The final act on the kit was weathering the vehicle. Slight fuel spills and rust stains have been added as well as accumulated dirt and debris. There are also dry-brushed areas of bare metal exposed in traditional wear patterns. Tyres were given a weak brown wash followed by a dry-brushing of Iraqi sand
This wasn't a particularly challenging model to build, if I was to do it again, I wouldn't bother buying the add-ons. All in all, fairly mediocre, but worthy of an adjunct to a diorama. I have to say, the wheels let this kit down! They really didn't work being in two halves. Rubberized tyres fitting onto single cast wheels would have been better and is indeed, expected in this day and age.

 

[Simmerit]

Nice little build Smeggers

 

[Bodenplatte]

A point of interest - note the right hand drive, which many Italian car manufacturers persevered with until the 1950s.

 

[Smeggers]

Nice little build Smeggers

Thanks old boy.

A point of interest - note the right hand drive, which many Italian car manufacturers persevered with until the 1950s.

Absolutely correct, but to be honest, it doesn't matter where the steering wheel is placed, Italians are absolutely crap at driving. Like the Belgians but more so.

 

[robinrocket111]

Thanks old boy.

Absolutely correct, but to be honest, it doesn't matter where the steering wheel is placed, Italians are absolutely crap at driving. Like the Belgians but more so.

Have you been to Malta….. the buggers “drive in the shade!” The Belgians are amazingly good compared!

 

[WhiteCrane]

Final day of the build today. I wasn't at all impressed with the boot lid being open, so I cut off the stage and glued the lid in place. The combined tail light and rear number plate was installed together with the rear towing eyes. As I said earlier, the driver in German uniform has been converted to an Italian driver by the simple application of a bustina clad head supplied by Hornet. The bustina was the soft cap worn by all ranks in the Italian Army and was much preferred to the Italian version of the Soviet tin helmet.
View attachment 667047

The Vehicle was given a final coat of Tamiya Dark Yellow and when dry, decals were applied. On my version, I wanted a vehicle belonging to the Republic of Socialist Italy (RSI), these were predominantly from the North of Italy plus the "Blackshirt" Brigades. The units that surrendered in 1943 then became Co-Belligerent Forces, fighting with the allies until the Axis surrender. The lightly armed officer with the car wears the shoulder boards of a first lieutenant. The fact that he does not wear a dagger, indicates he is not from a "Blackshirt" unit.
View attachment 667050
Both the Officer and the driver wear the lighter "tropical" uniform originally intended for service in Africa, but continued to be worn due to wartime shortages. Both soldiers jackets have been bleached almost white by continuous washing and wearing in the sun. The trousers appear in a darker colour. The officer appears to be wearing cavalry boots, but these are ankle boots with knee high canvas gaiters.
View attachment 667066
The final act on the kit was weathering the vehicle. Slight fuel spills and rust stains have been added as well as accumulated dirt and debris. There are also dry-brushed areas of bare metal exposed in traditional wear patterns. Tyres were given a weak brown wash followed by a dry-brushing of Iraqi sand
This wasn't a particularly challenging model to build, if I was to do it again, I wouldn't bother buying the add-ons. All in all, fairly mediocre, but worthy of an adjunct to a diorama. I have to say, the wheels let this kit down! They really didn't work being in two halves. Rubberized tyres fitting onto single cast wheels would have been better and is indeed, expected in this day and age.

Nonsense! It is brilliant mate!

 

[Bodenplatte]

Absolutely correct, but to be honest, it doesn't matter where the steering wheel is placed, Italians are absolutely crap at driving.

Yes, but such stylish crap.