Monty's Caravan

Well, that's another model cleared off the 'unbuilt' pile!

This time an old Matchbox kit, 'Monty's Caravan' (if you've been following this blog for a while, you'll already have seen the Daimler Dingo Scout Car from the same set).  The Kit is still readily available in its Revell form for anyone who's interested.

Before I write about it, here's the finished model.  I have assembled it without the awning and steps at the rear for the time being.

This was a little bit of a tricky build.  There are some very small parts to deal with (and my fingers don't feel as slim as they used to!), some of which are easily broken, and some quite delicate joints that don't have very large glueing surfaces.  To prove this, I started the build by breaking several different parts of the suspension and drive shaft getting them off the sprue (which is why the rear wheels look a little wonky).  On the other hand, in common with most Matchbox kits, the parts fitted well, had minimal flash and on the whole the instructions were clear and easy to follow.

As well as the Daimler, the kit comes with a mini-diorama of Monty and two of his officers at conference on a cobbled street.  Sadly, my Monty arrived missing an arm, and one of his subordinates lost a foot (since glued back on) in the construction process.  Hopefully more on those in the future.

Not really an ideal gaming model, but it may see use occasionally representing a more generic command trailer.  The actual caravan can still be seen at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford
(I really ought to visit one day).  It was apparenlt made from a captured Italian General's caravan, mounted on a Leyland Retriever chassis.  Waste not, want not, as some people say!