Land Rover (Tintin and the Picaros)

Tintin and the Picaros (French: Tintin et les Picaros) is the twenty-third volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The final instalment in the series to be completed by Hergé, in Belgium it was serialized in Tintin magazine from September 1975 to April 1976 before being published in a collected volume by Casterman in 1976. The narrative follows the young reporter Tintin, his dog Snowy and his friends Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus as they travel to the (fictional) South American nation of San Theodoros to rescue their friend Bianca Castafiore, who has been imprisoned by the government of General Tapioca. Once there, they become involved in the anti-government revolutionary activities of Tintin’s old friend General Alcazar.

 

– courtesy of Wikipedia

The finished model:

The story:

If I’m honest, Tintin and the Picaros is probably my least favourite of all the Tintin albums.  I doubt that will come as much of a surprise to most Tintin fans – it’s probably everybody’s least favourite.  While the story is pretty good, and it’s always a pleasure to see General Alcazar in action, South America is probably the area of the world I’ve got the least personal interest in.  The constant revolution/counter-revolution of San Theodoros might have been of interest to Hergé, but it leaves me slightly apathetic.

Of course, Tintin and the Picaros also has another huge strike against it… Tintin changing his pants!  Picaros is the only time we see Tintin drop his plus-fours in favour of some stylish bell-bottom jeans.  Meh.

Still, it’s a legitimate Tintin adventure and as such deserves to take its rightful place as part of my Tintin build project.

Originally the vehicle from the story that caught my eye was the Zil 114 limousine.  Rajesh Sinha has a great write up on it, so you can probably see why I wanted to do it.  It’s the car that greets Tintin and his friends upon arrival, so it’s an active ride… and it’s also Soviet-chic.  The problem, of course, is how to model it in 1/72.  As far as I know, there is only a die-cast metal version – so, while there’s some possibilities there, it’ll be a challenge.

Still, there are a few choices for ground transportation (and maybe even a helicopter).  So, while I may yet try to tackle the 1951 Chevrolet truck that General Alcazar uses to spirit away Tintin from his captors, it will probably require some pretty major adjustments to a 1/72 scale 1939 Chevy kit from Minairons Miniatures.

That left the 4-door Land Rover Series III station wagon (complete with safari roof) as the only real choice.  Although it appears in only a few panels, the rough and tumble Land Rover is almost instantly recognizable as belonging to the Tintin and the Picaros adventure.  I mean, what else would Colonel Alvarez have used to transport our heroes through the rough jungle terrain during their visit to the famous pyramids of Hotuatabotl?

The Land Rover is obviously the right vehicle for that job.  To find out why, check out Rajesh Sinha’s Transport Journal entry – part of his series covering all the cars that appear in Tintin’s many adventures.

But, perhaps most importantly, there is actually a commercially kit for the Land Rover that is readily available – even if it’s technically a bit on the small side at 1/76 scale.  I won’t tell if you won’t.

The build:

The build itself was relatively straight-forward.  Having a kit right out of the box really helped as the main modifications were the addition of rear bench seating (and the matching extra door panel to scribe as a result), and the addition of a “safari roof” – basically a second skin that sits just off the main hardtop roof that significantly cools down the interior of the vehicle.  The safari roof should have been a very easy addition, but there was only one problem – my kit didn’t have a hard top!

For whatever reason, despite the words clearly described on the box, the packaging inside was for the soft top version.  To make it worse, what should have been a quick return to the store I bought it from, proved to be difficult as they were out of stock.  Luckily though, one of the friendly contributors to the online community gathered at www.whatifmodellers.com saved the day and mailed me an ancient resin hard top upgrade designed for the kit – completely free of charge!  Given the level of detail, it probably turned out better for all involved.  I got better than the piece I needed and a it fulfilled its destiny by going to a good home and being used.

Check it out and tell me what you think: