test builders for recolors

[rickstef]

file has been approved

[lfuente]

Hello all, first post for 2020 (and on day 1 of the year of the rat!).

Another year, another set of projects - just uploaded (in my PATS trainers folder) a new recolor of Mic-Chan's 1/48 Piper J3 as PI-C187, done in a couple of hours.

Been doing a lot of online photo reference searching for Philippine M4 Shermans (for later) and came across new Philippine versions for my existing recolors: the aforementioned Piper J3, a new Bedford TK/KE PEPSI truck and 2 new versions of the MATORCO tour bus (definitely an ex-Hong Kong Daimler CVG5) before the open-top conversion. The UW Milwaukee photo archive is a great resource!

Projects left over from 2019 include the San Miguel Beer MB L1113 tractor truck and trailer to be resumed sometime after the Shermans.

[lfuente]

Just one recolor today in my Bedford TK folder, a Philippine 1960s Bedford KE/TK PEPSI bottle truck based on a real photo I found. The previous white version was based on a 1970s Thai bottle truck photo.

Didn't take long as I already made the chassis for a Bedford J6/TJ project.

[lfuente]

Two new recolors of the MaTorCo Daimler CVG5 tour bus in 1960 and 1962 liveries shown in the UW Milwaukee photo archives. Turns out that this bus may have been acquired new (not ex-Kowloon Motor Bus) as Daimler started manufacturing the CVG5 around 1959 and this was first registered in 1960.

I started fresh with the Paper Bus Connection CVG5/A, switched the door well to the rear right and pasted in the Birmingham radiator front - don't know if these right side driving modifications were done in the UK before delivery or afterwards in the Philippines. I understand this bus soldiered on into the mid-1980s (after getting an open-top conversion) before retirement.

[lfuente]

Just uploaded Philippine Army recolors rescaled to 1:72 of Rawen and Paran's 1:100 M4A3 Sherman with their permission. The tracks had to be separated to fit into an A4 sheet, so there are 2 versions in the file. These are in the markings of the 10th BCT (Fighting Filipinos) and 19th BCT (Bloodhounds) which both fought in the Korean War as part of PEFTOK, but not in their own tanks.

Online sources say the Philippines owned over 400 Shermans from the thousands left by the US Army after WW2, with some going to Israel. Most of the period photos show M4 composite hull or M4A1 cast hull versions, but M4A3 versions are still plausible given the sheer numbers.

As usual, these will be available in a new folder after moderator approval.

[lfuente]

Uploaded a simple kitbash (inspired by existing M3 halftrack models) of 1950s Philippine Army M3A1 scout cars. The last page has optional 3D wheels/axles to roll up like a barbell, the inner hull has pop-up wheel wells/benches and pop-up headlights if cut free from fenders. Colors are uncertain as the few reference photos were monochrome.

The PEFTOK troops were from our own greatest generation, and it's sad to realize how much we Filipinos have diminished. At the April 1951 battle of Yultong/Meiluodong 900 soldiers of the 10th BCT held off the 44,000 strong 44th Division in a pivotal battle that decided the future of South Korea. As they defended the high ground, these tropical boys were hampered by the bitter winter cold and misunderstandings while attached to the Spanish-speaking 65th Infantry Regiment. In all, Filipino troops KIA stood at 112 by the end of hostilities.

[lfuente]

Doing my bit to help ease Covid19 boredom - been working on a series of mostly Japanese fire engine papercraft recolors into Philippine Bureau of Fire protection vehicles.

Fireman Kato Hiroyasu has designed a large fraction of Japanese fire engine papercrafts available online, and he has graciously allowed me to share my recolors. Today's upload includes 2 Hino Rangers, a 1999 crane rescue truck and a 1989 water pumper. I'm really happy with how they turned out, some of my best work - optional parts are included although some might find them too fiddley. What took the longest was not the actual recolors, but the search for reference photos!

As usual, these will be available in a new folder after moderator approval.

[lfuente]

Added 3 new fire engine recolors in 2 files today: a BFP Isuzu Elf platform lift, a Red Cross Fuso Super Great tanker and a Davao youth volunteers Fuso Great snorkel.

Just finished the last one, which needed an extensive kitbash from a Hino Dolphin crew cab into a Fuso Great single cab. As if that wasn't hard enough I modified it to have more realistic stepped sides to reduce the boxy look of Kato's original - not perfect but recognizable. Plus it's a 3-axle, 8-wheel twin steering truck, not your average bear!

For diorama ideas, have a look at the firefighter flat figures here:
https://juniorgeneral.org/index.php/...List/modern#78

I believe the BFP uses American style suits and gear, but the Red Cross and fire volunteers vary. Some of the generic Japanese fire engine papercrafts include figures comparable to those from JuniorGeneral.

[lfuente]

This upload is the last of Mr. Kato's fire engine recolors, a Fuso Fighter crane rescue truck. I've bundled it with a what-if of an ancient minimodel.cz model (when they were still minibox.webz.cz) of a Dennis Rapier.

I'd ignored the Rapier as too boxy, but Hyka's 1:100 model is simple but surprisingly accurate. When I found photos of Bonifacio Global City Estates Association's (private) single fire truck I rescaled and recolored it, then doubled up ladders and sundry parts to make it look busy.

However the real thing is the larger Dennis Sabre, and as the 1:72 Rapier barely fit into an A4 sheet I left it alone - they look so much alike I doubt many people can tell them apart.

That's 7 BFP fire engines to start off a collection - readers will probably know about all those German and Japanese fire engines scattered across many websites. Here's a couple of websites with collections of several:
German, American and Brazilian vehicles at streetpaper.de
German, Czech, Slovak and Polish vehicles at minimodel.cz
American, German, Czech, and Slovak vehicles at minimodel.sk (entire category)
Hungarian vehicles (IFA/Raba) at papirmakett.freeweb.hu
French Citroen HY vans in various versions (including one with front and back cabs) among the hundreds of recolors at Forum en Papier

Don't even get me started on airport crash tenders!

[lfuente]

Today's upload was an unintentional detour, but hopefully people appreciate the recolors!

I wasn't happy with my kitbash/recolor of the minimodel.cz Ford Econoline into a Ford Transit Mk1, the windshield rake wasn't quite right. I'd downloaded the Scooby Doo van some time ago and realized it was a Bedford CF. Those 2 have similar proportions and windshield rake so I thought I'd try modifying the CF, and got permission from Dragos. After decoloring, the model outlines looked nicely realistic so it'd be a shame not to do a few recolors before mangling the nose into a Transit Mk1.

Anyway, the 3 British vans are real examples from Bedford CF brochures, with colors off their color swatches - recently I've spent a lot of time searching for real photos to base recolors on, and sometimes found useful leads for other projects (like the LARC-V - send me a PM if you'd like to test build it). Luckily these had front quarter photos with the rear doors open so I could guess what the back side looked like. Since the only blurry photo of a Philippine Bedford CF I could find was an unmarked white van, the joker in the pack is the what-if window van - as in what if my cousin had started his used car business when he was a baby in the 1970s.

Dragos did a good job with this design - even the spread parts layout is actually needed to accommodate tabs, as I found when trying to compress the graphics. I only made a few real changes, one was enlarging the original wheels scaled down from 27". Another was adding parts: rear half bumpers, front signal lights, gas filler cap, and side mirrors. Lastly, I wanted a seamless windshield so I added side pieces that attach over the sides instead of under (same for the rear bumpers).

As usual, these will be available in a new folder after moderator approval.