Meng 1/35 Toyota Hilux Pickups

[Ramba]

Here are two Meng 1/35 Toyota Hilux Pickups I started way back in August of 2018. They stalled because I started painting the black door strips and the paint ran all over the doors on the red one. I had masked the areas off but the paint ran under the tape. I got frustrated and packed them away. I finally picked them back up last weekend.



I have the Black Dog accessory set and cut it in two parts to use in both pickups. I used a fine razor saw to cut through the resin accessory set. The bed extension part will go in one with the tail gate open and the packs will go in the other one with the tail gate closed.





I scratch built the brush guards from plastic card and rod. I also scratch built the SATCOM antennas. The Meng kit came with PE mud flaps but I kept knocking them loose so I scratch built the mud flaps from plastic card. They stick better plastic to plastic. One of the brush guards was lopsided but I sort of fixed it before attaching to the pickup.







I added a few accessories to the interiors but didn't weather the interiors as you won't see much at all once the bodies are in place.



Here is where I am at for now. Still a lot more to go especially the weathering. The chassis and tires are heavily weathered on the red one. The chassis and tires are lightly weathered on the blue one. I need to make masks for all the windows before I weather the bodies. The red one will be heavily weathered to cover up the areas where the paint ran on the doors.

[LemonJello]

Looking good. 

[Frank3k]

They look good!  Nice job with the boxes and gear.
When I built mine, I held back on the weathering because I thought it was excessive. But if you look at actual vehicles in the field, mine looked like it came off the showroom floor - so weather away. “Heavily weathered” is in a different dimension for these vehicles.

[Old Wombat]

Looking good, Ramba!

Be watching these, as I have about 4 or 6, plus a similar number of LandCruisers, in the stash!

(They're mostly for post-apocalyptic builds that I've been planning for years without doing any actual plastic work. )

[Ramba]

Looking good.

Thank you!

[Ramba]

They look good!  Nice job with the boxes and gear.
When I built mine, I held back on the weathering because I thought it was excessive. But if you look at actual vehicles in the field, mine looked like it came off the showroom floor - so weather away. “Heavily weathered” is in a different dimension for these vehicles.

Thank you! The red one will be heavily weathered. The blue one will be weathered but not as heavily as the red one. I saved a few reference photos of different spec ops pickups to get an idea of how badly they were weathered.

I read a post on a different forum from a member that operated the spec ops pickups and he said they did get real dirty but they kept all the windows clean for safety concerns. You would see dirt covered vehicles but the windows were spotless. I was going to do my windshields with dirt on them but showing the wiper marks. I still have time to decide though.

[Ramba]

Looking good, Ramba!

Be watching these, as I have about 4 or 6, plus a similar number of LandCruisers, in the stash!

(They're mostly for post-apocalyptic builds that I've been planning for years without doing any actual plastic work. )

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing your post apoc builds. I have two more of the Hilux kits that I plan to do differently than spec ops vehicles. Not necessarily post apoc but they could end up that way hahahahaha!

[Ramba]

Got a little more done since starting this post earlier. The windows and headlights are masked off so now I can start the weathering process on the bodies.


Weathering process started on the red one. This is just the first stage. Lots more to do on it.


Here are a couple more reference photos I saved. The second one has the wiper marks which I might try to do at a later time.

[Frank3k]

I think I have the second one as a reference - that's one of the "I didn't weather it enough" pictures. What are you using to mask the windows? It looks like medical tape.

[Ramba]

I think I have the second one as a reference - that's one of the "I didn't weather it enough" pictures. What are you using to mask the windows? It looks like medical tape.

I used just regular clear cellophane tape. It is easy to cut with the tip of a #11 blade. I tape it to my hand first a couple times to make it not so sticky then align it over the clear parts then use the tip of the #11 blade to cut carefully.

Not all the pickups were heavily weathered so you can do some lightly weathered. I did one of each. I just finished weathering them then flat coated both pickups. They are in the garage drying right now. Will take more photos and post tomorrow. Not sure how good they look but I am not spending anymore time weathering them.

[Ramba]

I masked off the windshield to show the clear wiper areas.




The red pickup is finished.

[ChernayaAkula]

Nice work! 

[Old Wombat]

Excellent work!

[Frank3k]

That looks like a great weathering job! The windshield came out great, too.

[Ramba]

Thanks everyone!

[Ramba]

The blue pickup is finished.

[Old Wombat]

Another winner!

[Ramba]

Another winner!

Thank you!

[Frank3k]

Nice! The gear looks like separate pieces and not one block of resin. Great job!

[GTX_Admin]

Nice! The gear looks like separate pieces and not one block of resin. Great job!

Indeed.

[Buzzbomb]

That looks pretty damn good.

Big ticks all around

[apophenia]

Excellent builds! Great weathering but I especially liked all the gear ... and interior snack-food debris field 

[Ramba]

Nice! The gear looks like separate pieces and not one block of resin. Great job!

Thank you! I painstakingly painted each individual stowage item. It took a while but was well worth it.

[Ramba]

Nice! The gear looks like separate pieces and not one block of resin. Great job!

Indeed.

Thank you!

[Ramba]

That looks pretty damn good.

Big ticks all around

Thank you!

[Ramba]

Excellent builds! Great weathering but I especially liked all the gear ... and interior snack-food debris field 

Thank you! I painstakingly painted each individual stowage item. It took a while but was well worth it. I figured they got hungry so threw some snacks in.