Christer A

2024-04-19T03:47:08Z

A group build might be something that revitalizes the build-mojo...

Count me in!

Maybe with a Panther/Cougar-combo or something similar.

Or a AF-2S Guardian...

Or a Cutlass.

Or a Crusader?

The possibilites are endless!

February 3

Stickers are on!

I choose the second option since that had the least amount of "white" in it. I can live with this

Time to do more weathering!

February 3

Oh dear....

I friend of mine gave me a Christmas gift:

A Third Tempest then?

Well why not?

To make life MORE interesting, I decided to add some stuff to it:

The headline says lowering the blood pressure? I think I must be doing something wrong then:

😨

Anyway.

What's up the the Early one and the TT?

Well, the early one got a dark clay wash:

Then I started with some streaks of different kinds.

It needs some dust and pigments, but that will come after final assembly.

Time to get cracking!

Oh, that TT will get a separate update 😇

January 28

17 hours ago, Bjorn said:

Wasn't that a B/S 16 Caproni Ca.313?

I always mix up the restauration job of the Caproni with the B18 that was raised from the seabed at Härnösand and which was done for which purpose.

January 27

The only thing I remember about a B18 was with the drama "Tre kärlekar" that run on 8 episodes during 1989. A replica B18 was built, and for many years this was displayed at Flygvapenmusem in Linköping.

The Drama is possible to see on SVTPlay here:

https://www.svtplay.se/tre-karlekar

But it's viewable in Sweden only.

January 18

Anything with a BFG in the nose is always a win in my book!

Gimme gimme gimme!

January 8

Thanks guys!

I had a lot of fun painting this, and I really hope the decals will behave nicely.

January 7

Decal time!

These are not the thick Tamiya decals of old, but something closer to the more thin ones that is more easy to use.

Micro Sol works quite well on them, but I learned the hard way not to use Mr Mark Setter:

Not totally sure what it does but it feels like it makes the clearcoat bubble ?

I've hid that bottle deep in the cupboard, marked not for use...

Efter another gloss coat I started with the weathering:

A clay wash, some streaks and exhaust staining was the order of the day.

After a final flat coat I called it a day:

Off to the RFI !

January 7

Well, I missed the deadline quite a bit, but life happens.

Anyway, during the vinter vacation I took the plunge to get this into the paint booth, warts and all.

One shiny primer coat and off we go!

For this kit, I'll use Real Colors primarily just to see how the turn out.

To start with, Azure Blue with some splatter on top.

With some lightening and postshading this was the result:

Then, attention shifted to the topside, where I had a lot of work trying to get that canopy to fit, but some proper clamps solved it in the end. I just hope the inside wasn't a total mess...

Mid stone was the next paint to go on:

The dark brown splatters was e little too heavy so a lot of layers ensued, but I arrived here at the end.

Off course, it had to be repeated for the Dark Earth...but now with some Panzer Putty masks:

Lightened version of DE in the center of the panels:

With a final filter of thin DE on top I was quite satisfied how it turned out.

Gloss coat and decals next!

January 6

I guess those are not new tools then?

January 5

Thanks!

I had to make some more touchups , no rather re-paint the green areas again.

So, more masking ensued:

But it gave me the look I was after, so that's something!

Except that one should not dribble paint onto the turret hatch!

Yeah, that'll have to be sanded down...

Now one basic painting is done, what's the next step?

A cleracoat perhaps, and the few few decals?

Or should I start the weathering process?

January 3

Thanks everyone!

@Fin, It's a decal for the control panel. The cockpit is so tiny and I didn't really see a need to delay this build by getting an etched set.

Order is now restored, since I had to use filler at last!

There was a rather unsightly seam line that I couldn't get rid of, but that's probably a builders error and not a fault in the kit.

I did paint the RLM76 areas as well, with the usual loop of lightening the surfaces afterwards but not pictures of this state. Instead, I carried on and steeled myself before doing that dreaded mottle camo on the sides.

Removing the crown cap of my Iwata AB helped a lot, so did reducing the pressure and getting real close to the model!

Still, it's very hard and I'm far from an expert but I think this is the best I can do in 1/72.

All masks were removed and the main painting was completed:

That blue band a the rear was a sorry sight though:

Hopefully a light sanding and a repaint will solve it.

Some RLM76 had seeped in under the masking on the lower engine cover:

I think that could be covered by some inspired weathering.

Ok, let's repaint the blue and then hit the model with a gloss coat!

December 30, 2023

There must've been something on all that mulled wine that has been drunk during this week. I'm never this fast with building and painting!
Since the speed is up, a nice coat of grey primer was shot onto the model:

The lower engine cover and rudder got a dose of yellow as well and was masked off. But there is also a blue band over the rear fuselage that Tamiya supplies as a decal...After thinking about it for a while i decided to paint it instead. A "correct" reference claims it's painted in RLM24 but no such pot exists in my paint collection so I decided to mix something up by using Tamiya X-14 and X-4 instead. I got a shade that was close enough for me, so that was good.

After masking that band as well, I started with the top side and RLM 74.

Luckily, my trusty Gunze pots came into service and what a nice paint that is to work with. Together with their Self Levelling Thinner it sprays just beautifully!

But a nice smooth solid coat like this looks a little dull and lifeless.

For my next step I mixed some light grey to the RLM74 and postshaded here and there, and finished it off with a thin coat of standard RLM74 on top.

That's more like it!

For the RLM75, my idea was to just mask it up using tape, but no, the demarcations are soft!
Freehanding that in 1/72 would be challenge so I used my trusty masking putty instead.

Perhaps not straight enough for some edges but it'll do.
The RLM75 coat was subjected to the same lightening as before and in the end I arrived here:

Mhm, that looks promising.

Stripping of that goo, and this is were we are right now:

Success!

Time for even more masking, and then RLM76!

December 28, 2023

Thanks!

I'm steaming on ahead with a wash and light drybrush in the cockpit.

Hopefully some of it will be seen afterwards in that cramped cockpit.

With that done, I then started with the fuselage:

Tamiya has made the engine covers as loose parts, which could lead to some issue but not so!

Everything goes together beautifully, and virtually gap free as well.

The tail also got glued together. The fin attaches from the top which feels quite weird but it ensures that the rudder gets the proper angle towards the center. I guess this was done to counter the torque from the prop?

With all that behind me, the wing was also glued in place.

So far no filler has been used, and it looks like I wont have to either!

Time to ponder which decal option to choose...

December 28, 2023

Thanks Keith!

I dread the idea of properly weathering those tracks and not just make a shoddy work with hairy stick painting as was don now...

Well, it's December and I do have one and a half week of winter vacation to burn through, so why not paint this beast some more?

I had and idea that I could maybe freehand paint this NATO camo?

But no, there are too many nooks and crannies and the paint dust goes everywhere!

Bummer.

Oh well, time to break out the Symbiotic goo instead.

The brand I'm using isn't that stable, so even after shaping all sausages it's still somewhat runny, at least when viewed for a few hours.

That means that I cannot mask it all and let the goo stay on the model, but I need to remove and reapply it.

So, that's NATO Brown and NATO Black (Tamiya paints) in place, time to respray the NATO Green areas then.

I also took some time to replace the outer wire on the barrels with some spun tin wire from and arts & craft store

Let's hope it will look good under some paint!

December 27, 2023

I have a friend in the northern part of Sweden that I've never met in person, but in this day and age that's no issue.

We like to swap Christmas gifts to ensure that we actually get some plastic under the tree every year.

This year I have him an Academy F-8E and in return I got this.

With two weeks of vacation over the holidays I wasted no time to get started. It looks like a little gem in the box and the details really pop with little paint:

That narrow little cockpit was a little gem of it's own.

A little wash and some weathering and all the major parts can come together!

With a little luck, this could be done by Epiphany 😇

December 11, 2023

On 06/11/2023 at 16:42, MickE said:

Oh in answer to your query, the return rollers do have rubber tyres.

Thanks Mike! Then I'll paint those ones as we.

Also, thanks for the cheers from the rest of you!

I seem so have entered into the usual mid build slack-off hence the lack of updates for a long while.

There has been some progress though, so there's that.

I've panted the tracks red-brown and went over the rubber pads with dark grey:

Brush painting those pads was no fun at all...I guess there should be some metallic grey on the other side as well?

While pondering that I took the liberty of priming the turret:

Nice and sinister looking

One application of Tamiya NATO green later and here's where I am currently.

Time to slap that hull together and start camo painting!

November 20, 2023

Thanks to the extension I was able to pull this one over the finish line!

Final assembly showed a lot of issues that I didn't have the energy to rectify so in the end I just decided to get it done and call it a day,

WIP here:

Thanks to everyone for all the cheers! The stash is still quite stacked with FAA items

November 20, 2023

I seriously lost my mojo for this one back in August. Yesterday I decided to just finish it. One finished item is better than none, isn't it?

Off to the gallery then!

November 1, 2023

Now where did October go?
I think I know where...

My employer deemed it necessary to send me on a business trip to Bengaluru, India. The purpose was to visit our office there and start to build bridges with them in order to get a better understanding of their and our needs.

That was for one week, but all preparations and such zapped a lot of energy, leaving precious little time for modelling. For some reason I did not bring my Gepard with me

But since the last update there has been some progress!

The tracks are now fully assembled and is able to reach all the way around. There are quite a few extra links as well, so this should go swimmingly.

I still think it would be best to paint and weather the tracks separately before attaching them.

Also, it seems that there is no camo as such behind the wheels and all that so I just sprayed some Tamiya NATO green there. I guess it should be quite grubby later so the pea-green will be quite subdued. I hope!

With the tracks done, it was time to finish off the turret.

First impressions was that it's big and not t all like sleek looking at all. No aerodynamics, no sloping armor or such , just a big box with lots of gagdets, boxes and thingies.

Attaching all these greeblies took a long time.

Around the turret hatch there was some periscopes again.

This time I managed to mask them and slap some liquid chrome on the back:

It probably would not be worth it to add some holographic confetti to it, since it cannot really be seen.

Another thing learned is that Takom REALLY likes to make subassemblies out of a lot of parts. I understand why they're aiming for it but it always leads to some tricky to fill gaps.
This box is my latest favorite:

It's a dual lid solution but it's made out of 9 parts:

Madness! I do like to glue things together that's for sure but surely this could've been made simpler? On the other hand the details on all sides of the box are both good and distinct which would've been hard to achieve with plastic molding and relatively cheap tooling.

It sure is a lot of plastic parts to stick together!

But that's not all, so the brass sheet needs to be utilized as well.

It was probably not the best idea to deviate from the destructions , since it was quite the challenge to get the gun rear ends in place.

But mild violence solved it, and all of a sudden I had a "finished" turret".

A quick dryfit of the gun barrels and this is how it looks

Those Oerlikons are a very loose fit!

That'll be interesting to sort out and get a good symmetrical finished gun...

I'll probably replace some parts of the wiring for the muzzle velocity sensor, since the plastic looks a bit boring compared to reference picture.

With everything in place it does have some nice swoshability with all the moveable parts. The guns can be elevated in tandem, front and rear radar can both rotate and move up and down but also the turret hatch can be opened. Exactly why the hatch is so detailed on the inside is a mystery, since there are no internal bits in the turret itself?

I guess Takom either intends to do a super detailed kit later?

In any case, this thing is now ready for painting.

Let's see how that goes...

October 24, 2023

I hope you'll have a better experience than what I had with my Valom example...

It looks like a top quality kit though!

October 5, 2023

On 02/10/2023 at 18:28, Milan Mynar said:

It looks like good detailed kit.

I know nothing about Gepards or Leopards, but kit wise this is a good one!

Not as magical as a Tamiya F-14 perhaps but really good.

I managed to finish basic painting on the wheels

They should be fun to weather 😁

Then I opened up the last plastic bags containing all the tracks...

I think I counted 3 identical sprues, and a whole bunch of rubber clamps.

Each track-"pad" or whatever they are called needs to be cut and sanded a little, and then it's clicked together with the little fork-looking thing. Now, I didn't use any TETC here at all to secure this, thinking that they are moveable in real life so why not here?

Correct me if I'm wrong

In this stage the track is very flimsy but after adding the outer rubber clamps it all starts to come together quite nicely, with decent mobility.

Thanks to good quality clippers, it doesn't take ages to put it together either since there is very little cleanup to do.

October 2, 2023

6 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

I know what you mean. I've just spent two whole afternoons painting the 42 wheels on the HVSS units of a Sherman.

John.

42 wheels!?

Yikes!

2 hours ago, Farmerboy said:

Hi Christer, great progress so far, l am following the same route as you ( mainly aircraft) but only brave enough to tackle a Tamiya Hellcat, no fit issues and minimal parts.

What sort of track come with this kit, individual or link and length,

I fitted the wheels and did a basic paint and weathering job before adding the tracks, all that ahead of adding the main body of the tank, then went back and added more at the end of the build.

Worked for me!

The links are separate and joined together with a rubber clamp. I actually haven't opened these bags yet 😨

I think I need to play around with them for a bit in order to figure out the smartest way to tackle them.

Until then, there is plenty of stuff to do!

October 2, 2023

Thanks guys!

There has been some movement on the Gepard.

I've started with the turret:

But I need to stop about there since all the little periscopes must be added and they definitely need painted surrounds for that.

Those Oerlikons was a small dissappointment though

The fit of the barrels was quite bad, so here I need to break out the filler.

Hopefully that will turn out well in the end.

Then I took a bit of break from gluing stuff together and mounted all wheels on tooth picks, and shot some primer on them.

Well, since the primer was already out, I just continued to the hull as well.

There are still some stuff that must be added to them so I'm quite far from main painting I guess.

I wonder if it's possible to complete the hull now, and and the tracks later?

The front wheels are blocked by skirts, so they need to be added before the hull goes together.

Making the tracks seems to be quite and undertaking though!

I'll cross that bridge when I need to.

IT started to paint the wheels with a basic coat of Tamiya NATO Green:

For the rubber, I actually took the hairy stick out for a spin, but it does take a lot of focus to do them half decent. Only 12 of the big ones left to do!

I wonder if the smaller ones have rubber on them as well?

Time to look that up!

October 2, 2023

Thanks guys!

Gosh, is it already October and I haven't even updated once? Shame on me!

At least I haven't been unproductive...

As usual , I started with the ~~cockpit~~ big guns.

They had to be drilled out to accept the resin gun barrels and was done with no major hassle.

Suitable satisfied with the dakka-bits, my attention then turned to the ~~cockpit~~ main wheel bay:

"Everyone" seems to paint these in aluminium these days, and who am I to argue? I also looked at the Arma Hurri-instructions figuring they might be a bit more up to date on matters. After a quick squirt of black floss primer and some AK XTreme metal I hade the foundations laid out.

The insert for the front spar/wing bit is slightly too small though, so that will need some help from fillers to sort out.

I also added the rest of the bits, in my efforts to have a complete wing.

One dark wash later and I was ready to call the bays done for now.

The front part of the radiator was also installed.

After all this, now is the time to look at the cockpit proper!

I'm using an old etch set to spice things up a bit even though the cockpit will be closed.

It's a bit strange to paint it all with so much aluminium and not Interior grey/green as one is used to...

The control panel looked nice in bare plastic but the Eduard etch-sandwich will look a little better I think.

Now I just need to focus on this one, and not fall for the lure of a Gepard SPAAG...