Bedford ML Ambulance conversion - Part 3

Onto the cab and bonnet. Now, this isn't going to be a complex conversion - nor the most historically accurate - it's just a simple 're-badging' job. The grille of the Airfix Austin kit will be replaced with the Bedford grille from the Cooper Craft kit. So let's do a test fitting to see what work this entails.

First of all I will put together the cab's front end, thats he windscreen section and bonnet...

Now this doesn't look too bad at first glance. But even if you build this kit as intended the original Airfix parts are a little vague in their fit, so you do have to do some 'jiggling' (and sanding and filling) to get the whole bonnet/front-end section to play together nicely.

Oh, so close, but I don't win a coconut! The Bedford grille nearly fits onto the Austin bonnet parts. Some more sanding and filling will be needed to make a perfect fit.

Accuracy note: As I said, this is a fudged conversion. To do this job properly you would need to modify the bonnet as well as the grille. The vents in the bonnet sides - for example - are different on the Bedford.

The bonnet planning done it's time to continue with the parts of the original Airfix kit that go together as normal. So, let's continue with the cab interior.

The Austin/Bedford is novel as the cab is semi-open (it just has some canvas covers that act as removable 'doors'). Therefore I think it is easier if you start the painting process at this stage without the bonnet section or some of the interior parts so that you can base paint the cab's rear wall properly...

You can see the amount of parts that have to be squeezed into the cab, so it's
probably best if you base paint the basic cab surfaces before fitting these.

Having sprayed the base colour onto the cab's back wall and floor you can now start to add some of the interior detail. This way everything get's painted correctly - otherwise trying to paint the interior with things like the spare wheel and driver in place would be a pain in the butt. But that's for another post!

Next: Cab finalised and bonnet/roof to add...Let's finish this thing!

Colour: The traditional colour that most modellers associate with the Austin K2 ambulance is a khaki colour (and that is what Airfix suggests), but it also came in green and - importantly - the ones supplied to the Soviet Union were all painted in green schemes, so that's what I am going for.

Note on Cooper Craft kit: You may well be thinking 'but what about the rest of the Cooper Craft kit?' Well, don't panic, it's not going to waste. I have another conversion planned where the remainder of the Oxford truck kit will be being used. I don't like waste either! :)

Bedford ML Ambulance conversion - Part 2

Good old Airfix! After my recent troublesome conversions and resin kits it's nice to get back to a good old fashioned simple straight-forward Airfix kit.

Airfix's Austin K2 in just 5 stages! Oh that's so nice!
(Note: In this example of the instructions stage 2 and
3 have been swapped. It works either way though!)

Now I was going to start by trying to put together the Bedford bonnet and grille and test fit them onto the Austin's chassis. However, after studying the instructions for the Austin K2 I realised I could follow the Airfix kit construction until the third stage before I needed to think about adding the Bedford bonnet and grille. So, let's begin...

The chassis went together very easily, there were only seven parts and there were no fitting issues. Well, aside from a bit of confusion about whether the exhaust assembly sat above or below the drive shaft...

I did a bit of trawling around the web and I plumped for laying the exhaust over the drive shaft. The few examples of this build that I found also went for this configuration. Note that I have only fixed the wheels on temporarily with some BluTack, I want to remove these for painting and weathering the chassis.

The third stage turns the chassis over and you begin to work on the body, beginning with the ambulance's rear compartment walls...

Things got a little tricky at this point as the fit of the side walls (particularly on the driver's - right - side) was a little shoddy. I had to trim and shave off some of the the wall next to the driver's seat to make it fit. But that was easy!

I'd just like to point out that this kit has been around for a while and is very popular. As such there are plenty of examples of builds on the web which show how you can add additional detail to the basic kit to make it more realistic. Also there are some accessory sets available for it, if you really want to push the boat out (Wee Friends has better wheels for example). But I'm happy with the basic kit.

Well, that's all for tonight. It's been a good start and it's been really nice to be building an Airfix kit. I'm enjoying this one (...you listening Yag-6)!

Next: Now I try adding the Bedford bonnet and grille...And the cab.

Finnish Bedford ML Ambulance

Under the Rapid Fire rules - which I am using as guidelines with which to construct my Finnish Continuation War collection - there is no requirement for an ambulance. However, while trawling through the excellent SA KUVA Finnish wartime photo archive I happened to come across an intriguing photo, which piqued my interest...

Picture source: SA KUVA 

This is, of course, a British Bedford ML ambulance...But in Finnish service! Quite how it came into Finnish use is something of an enigma, however there are two possibilities.

There was a short window of opportunity - before Finland joined forces with Germany - when they were technically in the Allied fold and Britain did supply them with a certain amount of equipment. However, there was a second way that the Finns might have got their hands on this British manufactured ambulance. The Bedfords could have been from Lend Lease vehicles supplied to the Soviets, and in due course they may have been captured by the Finns.

However the Finns got these ambulances it offers a nice opportunity to add something else that's a bit different to the already highly eclectic inventory of vehicle models that I am collecting.

Modelling the Bedford ML Ambulance
The fly in the ointment when it comes to the modelling of this vehicle is that - as usual for this Finnish project - an actual Bedford ML doesn't exist in 1/72 plastic kit form. But, the good news is that a closely related version of this vehicle - the Austin K2 - is available in the classic Airfix RAF Emergency Set.

There is very little differences between the Austin and the Bedford ambulances, they both used the Mann Egerton bodies built onto a common chassis. In effect the only noticeable difference, externally, was the different bonnet grilles.

The Austin K2 ambulance, compare the bonnet sides and front grille design
with that of the Bedford ML photo at the top of this post.
Picture source: Wikipedia - The Austin K2.

Now, while my Finnish collection has been based on the 1/72 scale the Airfix RAF Emergency Set is one of their models that has been variously described as both 1/72 and 1/76 in it's time (the latest box has settled on 1/76, which I suspect is correct). But, looking at the kit parts I think you could easily get away with squeezing into a 1/72 project. So, in the end, the key discrepancy is that Bedford bonnet (or lack of it).

Once again I was in luck - of sorts - as there are 1/76 (OO scale) Bedford ML truck kits available. I found a very cheap plastic model - made for OO model railway modellers - by Cooper Craft (4017 Bedford ML Flatbed Lorry, £4.40). This model can act as a donor for the bonnet and grille portion of the project.

Cooper Craft's 4mm/OO Bedford ML equates to 1/76.

I am hoping that this conversion will be as simple as exchanging the Austin grille with the Bedford grille and that's that. But come on...This is me! It's not going to be that simple, is it?

The Cooper Craft Bedford grille does look a tiny bit narrower, plus the sides of the bonnets have different vents but I am hoping I can easily fudge that.

OK, that's the plan. Hope you like the idea...It will be nice to have some British kit in this project.

And finally. One of the reasons that it will be nice to include the Austin/Bedford ambulance is because it was the star in my Dad's favourite war film - 'Ice Cold in Alex'.

Next: I begin the build with a test assembly of the bonnet.

Another example of a Bedford ML in Finnish service.
Picture source: SA KUVA