1/35 Toyota 4WD Pickup (Meng VS-002)

[The Cat]

Meng has released three 1/35th Pickups so far, one Land Cruiser-oid and two Hi-Lux-oids. I say 'oid' because they're not labelled as Toyotas, but it's very obvious what they are. In fact, the kit I have has an assortment of letters on its decal sheet that makes it easy to spell TOYOTA on the model's tailgate. The idea behind these is to build them as 'technicals' but naturally they're going to be adaptable to just about anything. I recently saw one that a guy had built as a Zombie Apocalypse truck, with crude metal armor over the windows. Looks sharp!

The other version of the Hi-Lux is different in that it has a great big Russian ZPU-1 heavy machine gun in the bed. I picked this one because its accessories consist of three different coolers, gas cans, water cans, ammo boxes, water and soft drink (Coke-oid and Pepsi-oid) bottles.

In short, it's configured for a Cat Day At The Range!

This is a fun little kit - a neat stress-reliever. I'm going to build it with the same color scheme as my IRL Tacoma.

Pic of it so far - chassis and bed assembled, with wheels done in Alclad Stainless Steel:

[solobob]

Cool. Jeez that's small.
Been trying to find a model of the Toyota Surf as I own a 92 model and would like to build the kit to replicate my real one. There is one out there but no longer in production, can't remember the brand. Might have to start googling that again.
How do you find the alclad to work with?

[The Cat]

Originally Posted by solobob

Cool. Jeez that's small.

I get that a LOT

Originally Posted by solobob

Been trying to find a model of the Toyota Surf as I own a 92 model and would like to build the kit to replicate my real one. There is one out there but no longer in production, can't remember the brand. Might have to start googling that again.
How do you find the alclad to work with?

I've been messing around with alclads since January, and I have to say I'm an Alclad fanboy now. EASY to use, I just lay a basecoat down of Tamiya gloss black lacquer, let it dry for a day, then go to town with the alclads. They dry fast and are every bit as tough as regular paint.

[solobob]

Do you have any drama's with clear coats and which do you use?

[The Cat]

None at all. I've used three different clearcoats, Alclad's own, and Testors Acryl Gloss and Flat.

I had to use the Alclad in this build between Chrome and Transparent Red. Alclads under the other two clears are docile to the point of indifference.

[The Cat]

Current pics. I'm painting it up like my own 1/1 Tacoma. Tamiya black lacquer. Interior is Model Master Grauviolett and Tamiya Nato Black. My bed has a thick plastic liner, so I mixed up some MM dark gray, close to Nato Gray, and let it dry. Then I sprayed it in the bed, let it dry, and peeled the masking tape off.

Grille piece is Alclad Chrome and Gunmeta., and I misted White Aluminum over the wheels.

[srspicer]

Looks nice. How much are the kits, can I get them anywhere or a specific site?

Scott

[The Cat]

Hi Scott, I got mine off eBay, and iirc it was under $30.

[mar10]

Nice. I like the finish you have on the bed.