Puch - Serbian Military police

 Back in 2009, i have started to build this Revell kit

featuring Mercedes/Puch jeep that was in the inventory of Yugoslav people's army (JNA), Army of Yugoslavia (VJ), Army of Serbia and Montenegro (VSCG) and eventually Serbian army (VS).

Revell offers us a short wheel base jeep with canvas roof with options to build either Mercedes or Puch jeep.
The versions that exists are the following:
short wheel base with canvas roof,
short wheel base with firm roof,
long wheel base (3 doors) with canvas roof,
long wheel base (3 doors) with firm roof,
long wheel base (5 doors) with firm roof.

Unfortunately for modelling community that wants to build this vehicle in Yugoslav/Serbian inventory, Revell failed to meet such a demand. Namely, JNA and later VS had all other versions in its inventory apart from short wheeled canvas roof one.
I was inspired by a photograph featuring two short wheeled ones in the inventory of the military police, with two different green colors applied.

After thorough inspection of differences, i had to make the following alterations:
- scratchbuilt new roof
- enlarge rear door
- insert large back seat
- scratchbuilt auxiliary seats
- correct the front doors
- scratchbuilt MP sirens

Few more images of this specific vehicle that my camera manged to caught:

2009
As far as the modelling is concerned, i started with easy modifications and building.
Bottom of the jeep had some holes that needed to be filled.

The same was the issue with rifle rack that is suitable for German army, but not for this vehicle, so the holes for German rifle rack were filled as well.

The wheels had "Mercedes" logo which had do be deleted as well. I used Testors liquid cement to soften the plastic, than sanded it, and in the end, another drop of liquid cement to further melt the remnants of Mercedes logo.

2018
Then, almost 9 years passed until i got hold of this shelf queen. Meanwhile, i hope that i acquired some knowledge, some tools, some skills and a bit of determination to finish this one. As Churchill said:

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

To start with the exterior:

The rear door are larger than the one on the canvas roof Puch, represented in the kit. They look like this in reality:

 So i used thin styrene to repair existing ones, leaving the room for the handle.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/winston_churchill_163144

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/winston_churchill_163144

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/winston_churchill_163144

As the model is complex, with large windows, i decided to make lower part of the vehicle separately from the roof top which will be installed later. There are a lot of paint job included in the inside, so i will work it step by step. This is also the reason why spare wheel holder (circular shape) will be installed in the end, as it should be covering both lover and upper part of this vehicle.

I must admit that certain amount of visible dust comes from sanding, and will not be present in the finished model.

The inner section of the door have a certain black mask, which i presented with another styrene part, later to be properly colored.

Modifications were continued on the driver's rifle rack. As pictured here:

I have made the rack using tin from a beer can:

The rifle itself should be Yugoslav M70 version of AK47. The visible differences are black handle made out of plastic, instead of wooden one, and the longer wooden front grip with characteristic 3 instead of usual 2 holes:
M70


AK47
 

So i just used one of DML AK47  and painted it conveniently slightly painting wooden paint on parts of a barrel to simulate extended wooden grip, as that will be largely invisible.

 

The biggest challenge is the roof.

During the years i had several attempts to adapt existing pieces of canvas roof to look like the metal one. It took some cutting to accommodate proper angles, a lot of putty to flatten the surface etc. In the end, i dropped the idea and left it on the shelf. I knew i had to start it over from scratch. Thanks to one friend that provided me with enough styrene, i started to calculate dimensions and to engrave lines on the roof.

The sides with large windows were constructed, and there was a lot of dry fitting:

Then, jointing sides had to be trimmed and softened, which required sanding,usage of putty, and further sanding...

Initial paint job was done on the front screen as it is made of transparent plastic.
The next challenge was to build ventilation ports (at least i thin that's what they are).

First, i have engraved a panel line on the side wall behind the last window. After that, i have glued small plastic rods to stimulate borders between holes (murky images to follow):

I later constructed a frame to cover it:

Next task was the antenna mount that had to be constructed as visible on the picture with rear door.