Umineko

Hobby Easy in Hong Kong are selling it for GBP 29.45 + post http://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/n6nliogfiljzzbakihua.html G6 seems to be out of stock everywhere, will have a chat with my contacts at Takom and see when they are likely to do another production run

Manufacturer won't share anything, to be fair it's still in service and they can't release technical information without approval from the SA Government and that's not likely to be forthcoming... I'm still pushing for it though and hopefully sales on the Rooikat will make them the idea a serious look... have a couple of possible angles for reference still open to me

they are a mix of things mostly grafted from my wife's garden bed and dried out, the grasses are a Woodland Scenics product.

Bit of an update on the Rooikat for those that are interested, the test shot had issues it was a sort of mix between a 105 and a 76 without being either one, the kit is to be issued as a 76 now and the relevant problems have been pointed out and corrected, this necessitated re-cutting molds and that delayed things, it's still in the works and slated for release this year

Pushing for one but it's difficult to get the reference materials they need to do the kit together, took more than a year of scratching and begging to get enough material to do the G6, need full photographic coverage, dimensions and technical drawings if possible... these companies won't even seriously consider a project without them.

Just sent the guys at Takom all my stuff on the Eland so you never know your luck and still pushing to get a Casspir through.

The G6 Rhino has been selling like crazy... and without giving anything away for certain there are other things in the works

The initial Rooikat test shot had some issues not the least of which was the fact that they were trying to make the 105mm version which isn't used by the SANDF but had the 105mm gun combined with the optics for the 76mm version, there were also some issues with wheels and radio antenna mounts.... these problems have been sorted and the kit will be a 76mm SANDF machine. don't know what the exact release date will be but early 2017 is likely as for a Ratel... well you never know your luck

Are you on facebook boet? there's an oke on there importing them at very good prices... better than you can get one from Hong Kong with postage added.

I don;t think so Alberto, the diorama was inspired for me by watching an old man lay a branch of cherry blossoms in front of a Zero-sen fighter at Yasukuni... it was one of the most moving things I have ever seen.

The rock faces are made with woodland scenics rock molds which are rubber reusable molds for casting plaster into for model railroad scenery... there are a limited number of molds so many are duplicated and simply inverted or cut up into pieces... the plaster rocks were then coloured with spirit based wood stains to replicate the red granite common to northern Afghanistan. the entire Diorama weighs in at around 35Kg which means it doesn't get moved very often.

brilliantly done and very original idea

Some bits and pieces for my next diorama which is in the works now...

It wasn't the easiest of builds Rob... but having said that if you make absolutely certain the chassis is straight the everything fits where it's supposed to... the most difficult part is the plethora of tiny fragile parts and the multitude of molding gates. but the end result is worth the pain

Eventually this one will find it's way into a diorama, it's my Mirror models Diamond T wrecker with a few mods to represent a post war civilian truck... essentially built from the box with the exception of adding the larger wheels from the Tamiya Dragon Wagon after finding a photo of the real vehicle similarly converted... was a bit of fun getting it all to fit but here it is...

Another of my older dioramas, this one titled "Douki no Sakura" (Cherry Blossoms of the Same Season) was named after a popular Japanese wartime song about soldiers who like the cherry blossoms from a single season would likely die in battle and be reuinted in the Yuaskuni Shrine for fallen soldiers in Tokyo. it depicts the aging lone survivor of a tank crew paying his respects to his fallen comrades (accompanied by his family) in front of his old tank recently unearthed from the pacific jungles.

This is a diorama I did a few years ago now set during the Russian Afghan war depicting a patrol encountering a recently destroyed tank in a narrow mountain pass... the title of the piece was "foreboding" Kits used were the old Zvezda BTR 80 and the Tamiya T-62 with Verlinden interior.

Ja, I should have... I've swallowed enough of it

lack of adequate reference material apparently... working on rectifying that

This is my Olifant Mk1A constructed using the AFV club Centurion and a conversion set put together by a good friend of mine in South Africa. was a lengthy build but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

G6 Rhino will be out this month... not sure yet about the Rooikat as there were some issues with the initial test shot which have be identified and sorted... still waiting to hear as to when that one will be released... as for others... well yes there are others in planning, of course things are driven by sales so how well these initial releases do will determine if the others get the green light.

the stack of something is a collapsible telescoping antenna array, you'll find them fitted to most Soviet era command and communication vehicles, the antenna is only raised when the vehicle is parked and has numerous guy wires to stabilize it. the BTR-60PU is a command and communication vehicle and the telescoping array is found on all of them though the actual antenna varies depending on the equipment fitted.

This is my Baxmod 1/35 scale resin Casspir, I've made quite extensive changes to the kit to improve accuracy and detail and to construct it as one of the South African Police Casspirs used by Koevoet (crowbar) units The basic kit is reasonable but needs a considerable amount of work, but it's the only game in town at this point in time. still have to scratch build and add the Hispano Suiza 30mm cannon to the roof and then she's pretty much done