Ice Cold in Alex - 1/35 Airfix Austin K2/Y Ambulance

[jeaton01]

Silvia Syms
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... oHegQITxAB

[Stuart]

I looked up John Mills on IMDB. The only movies that I've seen him in are War and Peace,Dunkirk and Zulu Dawn... He's not credited for Dambusters, Battle of Britain or The Longest Day on IMDB if he was in those... the WAAF love interest in Battle of Britain was the gorgeous Susannah York

Ignore me Carlos - It's been a loooooong week. I'm getting him mixed up with Kenneth More - He was the chap in the Sink the Bismark, Battle of Britain etc. the Dambusters was Richard Todd.

He DID play the lead role in the original Dunkirk film though, which next to Alex is one of my all time favourites.

Ah yes, Susannah York - woops!

[Stuart]

Most of my bench-time recently has been spent working on the Austin K2. I've almost to the point where I 've got all the sub-assemblies ready for painting.



The fit of this kit is ''interesting''. It's not that it's bad, in fact it's generally very good, but in the case of the body, it's rather vague. If you build this kit, my advice would be to dry fir, and then dry fit again. I built this slowly up in sections, from the outside in rather than how the instructions would have you do it, gluing at the bottom first and then working my way up after drying. I also had it pretty securely taped together throughout. Even then, I've had to trim about 1mm off the length of the interior walls to get them to fit (you can see the gap on the left of the wall here - yes I 'over trimmed it', but I did that on purpose to improve the fit. Once the roof and interior is in place you won't notice).



I suspect the problem in the dividing bulkhead between the cab and the back. If I built this again, I think I'd try actually fitting the interior walls to the exterior parts, to give that bulkhead something to square up to. I've also test fitted the roof assembly and found that to be out as well - I've had to remove the location pins between the two parts to help improve the fit.

The other future issue is going to be the fit of the front of the cab to the chassis and mudguards - it's very vague indeed. But that's a problem for tomorrow. Oh yes, and the frames for the upper stretchers don't fit well either.

That all being said, I am finding this an enjoyable and engaging, if sometimes challenging build. I'm currently toying with the idea of putting the body on the chassis before paint - any thoughts?

I have picked up a set of these to liven up the interior.



Cheers!

[Stikpusher]

Looking good so far Stuart!
Time for paint on the interior soon.

[Stuart]

Looking good so far Stuart!
Time for paint on the interior soon.

Thanks Carlos. It's getting there, just a few more bits to fit into the cab and time for primer I think.

[Medicman71]

Ambulance stowage? We keep all that in compartments now.

[Stuart]

Ambulance stowage? We keep all that in compartments now.

LOL! No such thing in those days, just a couple of eye level cupboards. It's not much more than a mobile box to put the wounded in. It's interesting to see the design though, space for four stretchers or you can lower the shelves for the top two and they become bench seats - presumably for the walking wounded.