The Land of Black Gold (Jeep CJ2A)

Greg Baker
I don't know why, but I seem to love taking pictures of that box... oh well. With all the Studio Ghibli mini projects recently, my Tintin shelf seems a bit bare. So I decided a couple of quick jeeps were just the thing!

Greg Baker
Man... that sure is... red...

Acki
It is. And I love it!

Greg Baker
Thanks Acki! More to come!

Martin Oostrom
And you'll be adding the 2 figures as well?
Like these off-the-beaten-track projects.
👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Martine! No plans to add the figures themselves, but I'm going to scratch up a bit of cargo (suitcases, sleeping rolls. And a couple of canes) to add to the back seat like in the comic. I tried to use a candle to carefully heat the front bumper enough to put an impact bend in it. It worked, but afterwards I noticed that I got the top of the flipped-down windscreen too close and it warped. Luckily I have a couple of spares. A small hassle instead of a major disaster... I'll take it!

Greg Baker
Ok... not quite finished, but I made myself laugh with the base... so I couldn't hold back!

Spanjaard
scratchbuilding the figures would be an interesting challenge....😉 you could use any figure that is in civilian cloths for Tintin, sculptin the head maybe a different story, but it should be easier than sculpting captain haddock for example
what did you use for the base, it looks really nice.

Greg Baker
I've thought about figures... but especially in 1/72 it gives me the heebee geebees. I don't think I'd be able to do them any sort of Justice.

As for the base... it really couldn't have been simpler. First I sprayed the plastic lid off a Pringles tube black, and then I filled it with "cookie dough" coloured "Angel Clay" - a popular item in Korea - super lightweight and dries solid. Then I glued a couple of spare jeep wheels to a piece of wire the same length as the axels and used it as a roller to make several track lines. Then nice thing is that if I didn't like the result, I just scrunched up the clay and tried again (and again) until I was satisfied. Once it dries out completely, I will spray it with some future to hopefully lock out any moisture just in case.

Spanjaard
thanks, it looks good.

Greg Baker
Added up the final completed pics. License plate added and cargo all loaded up. All done!

Łukasz Gliński
Never been much into Tintin topic, but the kit and base looks like 1/35, not 72nd 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Łukasz! The angel clay base shrank after drying, so it doesn't quite fit in the Pringles lid anymore...😉

Łukasz Gliński
But the clay itself is so impressive, that I didn't spot this issue. 🙂

Greg Baker
I can't really take any credit for that. It was literally the easiest part of the whole build. Open lid, grab angel clay, stuff into Pringles lid and roll some wheels around. The end.😉

Spanjaard
Fantastic Greg

Alec K
It sure is 👍

Finn
One of my favorites of you Tintin series

Greg Baker
Thanks Alec and Finn. You can see by the date of the earlier comments, this is one of the first Tintin projects I did. Still looks good, if I do say so myself. 🙂

Spanjaard
pretty good i would say!

Greg Baker
Thanks. Looking at the comments from you and Martin back in 2017... I'm glad a) I didn't try to do any figures then... and b) I'm glad I was finally able to deliver on that obvious need. 🙂

Daniel Klink
Tehehehe, fantastic i would say 👍

Spanjaard
I think you are totally right Greg 🙂

Matthew A
Made me smile ☺️

Greg Baker
Thanks Matthew. Then I've accomplished my task. 🙂