KFS 1/24 Bedford MK - Finished At Last

[Spence]

Morning everyone – I hope that you are all well today!

Here’s my completed Kit Form Services 1/24 Bedford MK, finally finished, after what seems like an eternity! Joking aside, this has to be one of the best kits I've ever had the pleasure of building and though it's taken the thick end of six months to complete, I'm pleased with the results and now look forward to completing a home for it to live it!

Though the model was essentially built from the box (which is almost an engineering study in itself...), I have spent some time personalising it – especially within the truck bed. Here, I scratchbuilt a full load of discarded pallets from strips of basswood, painting them using Chuck Doan's weathering ideas (which become more visible if you enlarge the images...) to produce seven distinct and individual items that add colour and contrast, to an otherwise bland finish. I also finally got to grips with the ‘hairspray’ technique and piggy-backed this onto techniques that I’ve used over the last few years with many of my other civilian/military models – this being especially useful on that tarpaulin frame, where tiny paint chips were needed.

I’d like to thank everyone who helped drive me through this project, especially Howard Whitehead (Mr KFS) who showed extraordinary levels of patience when bombarded with endless questions. Cheers guys!

I hope you like it. Now, where's that 1/72 Spitfire..?

Spence

[xlpainter]

Hi Spence unbelivable that is georegous mine is staying in the box i could never do it justice

simon

[Royster]

Wonderful! I wanna climb in Edited May 19, 2011 by Royster

[Warris]

Outstanding well done Spence

[borz666]

nurse!

Edited May 19, 2011 by borz666

[cjhm]

Superb, too many good things to mention individually but I do love the pallets

[JeffreyK]

:clap: :clap: man, that's great!!! With a suitable background to the photos, you'd never be able to tell if that was a model, even in those close up shots. Your models have been true show stoppers for a considerable time, and yet they're getting betterer and betterer.... Edited May 19, 2011 by JeffreyK

[crobinsonh]

Fantastic work - takes me back to the early 80's and spending a fair few days being transported around in the back with the rest of my squad.

[Mikey58]

WOW,really amazing work there!Fantastic weathering and those pallets simply look real,great job!

Mike

[jimbuna]

Fantastic...almost lifelike.

[Spitfire31]

What can I say? Marvellous. Shrunk reality. The pallets are works of art in themselves!

Looking forward to that Spitfire…

/Joachim

[T-Tango]

Ah, come on Spence, that's a photo of the real thing, thought you could fool us eh?

Seriously mate, that is superb, brilliant build as always.

[oldhouse]

Hi Spence !

Fantastic work !!! Great weathering !!! like the chipping on the wooden palets.

Greetings from Switzerland

Peter

[turnerdad]

Inspired, so many levels, beautiful. One of the best armour/vehicle models I've ever seen. Nice to see we have some top talent in the UK.

[Okdoky]

Hi Spence

Wowza Wowza Wowza !!!!!! What I would give to have the skill that you have !!!!!!! Amazed at the work on the MK and the pallets with the faded paint.

My one and only feeling with the pallets is that they are still a bit too regular even though you have them in variations of coloured pallets !!!!! I know that might sound odd, but the timbers forming the pallets, other than having one or two missing, are all very pristine in shape end to end.

If they were really hard worked pallets they might have suffered a few more chips, odd shaped splits, scuffs and wet rot that would make them a bit more irregular with some darker wood where rot or staining on end grains of the spacer blocks and main boards.

Hope you don't mind me saying, cause I know I would not have the savvy to do half the quality you do time after time !!!!! Just might help make them a bit more irregular.

Love your work

Nige

[Spence]

Hey everyone - thanks so much for your kind words on my Bedford! I'm really pleased that you like it and I'm so pleased that I chose to spend time building and painting those pallets - it looks like modellers may remember them more than the truck itself!

My one and only feeling with the pallets is that they are still a bit too regular even though you have them in variations of coloured pallets !!!!! I know that might sound odd, but the timbers forming the pallets, other than having one or two missing, are all very pristine in shape end to end.

If they were really hard worked pallets they might have suffered a few more chips, odd shaped splits, scuffs and wet rot that would make them a bit more irregular with some darker wood where rot or staining on end grains of the spacer blocks and main boards.

Hope you don't mind me saying, cause I know I would not have the savvy to do half the quality you do time after time !!!!! Just might help make them a bit more irregular.

Hey fella - you're probably right, but as they took over twenty hours to build and paint as they were, the last thing I want to do was add more steps into their construction! Maybe next time and maybe if I was only using a couple...

Have a great day - Spence

[mtd350]

Driven enough of these in my time to know someone's done their homework on this kit.

Oh aye........................... :gobsmacked: :gobsmacked:

A well deserved :clap2: :clap2:

[Okdoky]

Hi Spence

As I said I love all your subtle finishing touches as you cover every bit of the model in detail. So much so that each bit is indeed a work of art !!!! Having had to select pallets to go on my lorry or dump the ones getting past their best it was just summit that caught the eye and I know that your wish was to break up the colour in the back of the MK.

Having seen the attention to detail that you achieve on every nut, bolt and crease of the MK and all the other items that you surround your models with, it just amazes me how your brain is then attracted to something as silly as the shape of the pallet timbers.

I hope you don't think I was being disrespectful as I have said before, I am in awe of your work and every mm of the MK speaks volumes.

All the best

Nige

[Spence]

Hi Spence

As I said I love all your subtle finishing touches as you cover every bit of the model in detail. So much so that each bit is indeed a work of art !!!! Having had to select pallets to go on my lorry or dump the ones getting past their best it was just summit that caught the eye and I know that your wish was to break up the colour in the back of the MK.

Having seen the attention to detail that you achieve on every nut, bolt and crease of the MK and all the other items that you surround your models with, it just amazes me how your brain is then attracted to something as silly as the shape of the pallet timbers.

I hope you don't think I was being disrespectful as I have said before, I am in awe of your work and every mm of the MK speaks volumes.

All the best

Nige

Hey not at all! It's great to get feedback, because that helps you see things that you are blind to at the end of such a long project. I haven't started the diorama yet, so I may use some of your ideas in that.

Thanks a lot!

Spence

[canberraman]

One of the finest models, of any genre and any scale, I've ever had the good fortune to see - phenomenal!

Mark

[billybookcase]

Ohmygoshmygolly!

It seems a bit disrespectful to the rest of the model (which is the dogs danglies) but those pallets just blew my socks off.

BB

[Richard E]

Outstanding

And you mean we've got more to look forward to ?

Hey not at all! It's great to get feedback, because that helps you see things that you are blind to at the end of such a long project. I haven't started the diorama yet, so I may use some of your ideas in that.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Richard E

[emlra]

Crackin' job!

Well done indeed.

Rex

[Spence]

Hey everyone - thank you very much for your kind words on my Bedford! I'm really pleased that you like the model and that you've enjoyed the results as much as I enjoyed the journey!

Now - I wonder if there is something a little simpler that I can work on over the next few weeks..?!

Spence

[xffw45343tg]

Phenomenal work. Just the tie down shackle on its own is sublimely realistic let alone the rest.

Fantastic.