PST/Zebrano Gaz-03-30 Soviet City Bus - chassis and wheels.

 The chassis comprised of 12 parts, four of which made up the engine and exhaust. The chassis rails, rear springs and axle and the front axle/radiator fitted together reasonably well, however locating the engine to the gearbox to the chassis proved rather troublesome, the fit being vague at best, not helped by the V shaped arms that run from the clutch to the front axle. In fact I ended up having to lengthen the prop shaft to get it to fit, cutting it in half and inserting a short piece of .040" styrene rod;

Painting started with a wash with warm soapy water and a soft brush, followed by a coat of Hycote red oxide primer applied with my Badger 200NH. For the top coat I used my Badger 150 and Vallejo 862 Black Grey, a nice dull weathered black. At this stage whilst searching for images of the bus online I noticed that the chassis had two rods running from the rear axle to somewhere in front of the propshaft, quite where I couldn't quite make out as the kit differs from the prototype in the chassis layout. However, I decided to add an approximation of these from .020" styrene rod, scraping part of the paint away to get a bond;

Of course this meant getting the airbrush out again to blend in the new parts and touch up the paint where it had been scraped away, but that did give me an excuse to use my Aerograph;

To give me something to hold onto whilst painting the chassis I drilled a small (.8mm) hole in the top of the engine and inserted a cocktail stick to act as a handle.

The wheels were cleaned up, sprayed with Hycote grey primer (through the 200NH again), then sprayed with a mix of Vallejo 866 Green Grey and black. Once dry the hubs had a coat of plain black on the outer side, and black grey on the inner. This was done to give the impression of a bus that is cared for.

Here's the chassis right side up;

I also painted the radiator surround and the front bumper plain black, which contrasts nicely with the dirty chassis. The exhaust had a coat of Humbrol Leather, with it has to be said poor results. Humbrol paint isn't what it used to be I'm afraid.

Body next.

Paul.