Ukrainian subject - 1:35 ZiL-131 from Charkov - FINISHED PAGE 3

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Hello!

I got this one for christmas some years ago:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 Emergency

I tried to find this one in Polish service, but when the War started I thought - it would be fitting now to do it in the Ukrainian colors, and I had this nice photo:

ZiL-131 from Charkov

I intend to get as near as I can with this one.

And the ICM kit looks nice out of the box, but when you start to think about it some major simplifications become apparent - especially after you compare it to the Bronco kit - for example where are the brake chambers? Or why doesn’t the steering wheel connect to the steering box in any way? To make this one really accurate you would have to take the chassis from the Bronco kit and only add the shelter/workshop - then again the Bronco offering is so detailed the build might just become tedious. So I said I’m staying with the ICM kit and I’ll TRY to keep it MOSTLY OOB.

So I started building the chassis:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

The winch and front axle are just dry fitted at this point. I painted the recesses black to aid in airbrush-painting the chassis later, and the Gunze paint doesn’t need to be stripped for glueing with lacquer thinner, which is what I do.

Planning a few steps ahead I noticed a pitfall: The instructions tell you to use the following sequence: Chassis-Engine-Winch-Front axle-Fenders(this is important)-the remainder of the cab. The problem is the fenders aren’t exactly straight:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

Now I think if I put those fenders on the frame I wouldn’t be able to straighten them properly. And if I glued the cab together with the fenders, I would not be able to fit that over the engine on chassis (the engine is too wide - it’s an american style V-8!). That’s why I decided to make the cab first, then to put it on the frame and just then to install the engine.

So I started with the dashboard:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by PawelBy the way the kit decals are somewhat funny - they have this funny foil on top of everything that doesn’t want to come off at first. The data plates in the middle are my fabrication.

Then I prepared the doors and started glueing everything together. I thought about painting the doors separately - but the other cab parts are warped enough to make me think I wouldn’t be able to fit the doors properly later. So I’m glueing them in place and I’ll paint them red later. Here’s how it looks like now:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

And here’s the general state of the project for now:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

The idea is to put the most of the cab together, paint everything up and then assemble it - I mean the parts from the picture above for now.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

2

nice work so far. Cab interior looks great. Interesting subject. Is it a medical vehicle?

3

It looks to be coming along well. Great job on the cab interior.

4

WOW! That detail is amazing Pawel! I haven’t built an ICM kit yet but they look great. Can’t wait to see your next build update. Please take care and stay safe.

tjs

5

Co0ming together very nicely.

Notice the windows on the cabin are different than the kit. I wonder if both sides are the same or not?

Bill

6

Hello everybody!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

keavdog - it’s not a medical vehicle, it’s a mobile workshop, used for emergency response in case something breaks, in this case in service of the heating network in Kharkov. The cool thing the kit has all the workshop equipment inside.

Gino - thanks a lot!

Tom - thanks a lot, and yes - despite some problems this is a very nice kit. I generally recommend the ICM kits.

Bill - good catch, it took me literally months to catch that window thing. In the moment I have no idea about the other side, because I couldn’t find another photo of this machine showing it. My guess is they bought this machine from the military that used it for some special equipment that interfered with the windows so they were deleted. Sometimes they do it so that the sunlight doesn’t interfere with radar screen reading. Unless proven otherwise I plan to keep all the windows on the other side to show off the interior better.

Thanks again, and have a nice day!

Paweł

7

Cool subject matter. I like it. Coming together pretty good. You are doing a great job at it.

8

Excellent work–and we don’t really get to see eastern European vehicles other than AFV that often.

9

lurch, Cap’n - thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words!

I got a chance to use my airbrush in the last days and this is what I managed to do:

First a little Tamiya primer from a spray can:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

On top of that I put some red - Humbrol 60:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

I masked the hood stripes with 5mm Tamiya tape strips, I have also masked off the doors. Then I sprayed satin olive green - Humbrol 163. After taking the masks off it looked like this:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

I installed the windshield (to protect the fragile upper edge) and started thinking about mounting the cab on the frame. But the fenders, especially the front edges were a little crooked. I used a little CA to glue a popsicle stick across to straighten them out, and I hope that when I glue everything to the frame and let the glue dry really well, then maybe it will stay somewhat straight:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

The popsicle stick will then be removed, of course. Then I can also intall the engine and winch and the front axle.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

10

Looking good. The painting is coming along nicely. Can’t wait to see the box all painted up and installed as well.

11

That’s so cool Pawel! And coming along great! Love this!

12

Gino, Gamera - thanks a lot for your comments and for the kind words!

As I wrote the kit isn’t very detailed, at least when it comes to the chassis, so I’ve been strugglin’ to make the engine bay look a little more like the real thing.

Here’s what it looks like OOB:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

To even think about installing the engine after the fenders have been installed together with the remainder of the cab (this is contrary to the kit’s instructions) you have to cut off the drive shaft and the funny “pot” on the rear of the engine - I read on the net, that it’s a centrifugal oil cleaner, but I’m not sure if it’s true. Since it was already cut off I decided to make a new one that’s not so conical but more cylidrical. Out of the box the air cleaner is upside down and there’s no trace of he carburator, neither. So I started detailing the engine and it’s bay and here’s how it looks like now:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

It’s still far from perfect, but it starts to give off the right vibe, so to say - and I’m leaving it like that now.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Paweł

13

Looks great Pawel! I never open the hood/engine bay so I’ve no experience with that type of stuff- I really need to try it one day.

14

Wow, I want to echo Gino’s comments on the exterior paint job. But I like how your engine is coming along. Good job so far. I’ll be looking forward to the box being done.

15

Isn’t ICM a Ukrainian company?

16

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Gamera - thanks a lot and yeah, give it a try, motor are a lot of fun!

Tiger II - weathering the yellow seems to be a challenge, there are many models online with the box just painted plain yellow and that doesn’t look good. And thanks a lot!

Cap’n - yup, it’s an Ukrainian company.

Have a nice day!

Paweł

17

The engine bay looks great.

18

Excellent progress Pawel! She’s really coming together for you.

tjs

19

lurch, Tom - thanks a lot for your kind words!

I’m moving on with the build. As you can see on the real thing photo, it has a winterfront - I decided to get me one, too! To do this I mixed some Miliput, rolled it to a flat “pancake”, then cut it to size and draped it over the kit part. Worked like a charm:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

It was almost a pity to paint the black part, it matched the black vinyl so well… But I put some primer on and repainted it anyway. At the same time I installed the winch. I wound some nice thread around the drum and painted it “Leadbelcher” from the Games Workshop paint line. I have to find a hook yet, the kit doesn’t include one:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

And with the hood on:

1:35 ICM ZiL-131 by Pawel

I hope you like it - thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

20

Looking good. The winter cover for the front came out great.