[Mars NAVITAS Rover space exploration vehicle wood model kit ROKR 1:38]

Thanks to all . Indeed, a moving model is the logical next step for achieving perfection

[Mars NAVITAS Rover space exploration vehicle wood model kit ROKR 1:38]

Here I share with you this model I gave as a present to my father, an unusual wooden solar Rover, from ROKR. The interesting thing about is that it actually runs powered only with the sun, no batteries! perfect for Malta . Me and my brother did the pilots.

 

 

I wanted to add a video, but I can't. Here is the facebook post; https://www.facebook.com/100011567494457/videos/pcb.991400558244869/702161984376126

 

[ICM Mujahideens Talibans Afghan soldiers 1:35 model kit soldiers built & painted]

These are 1:35 Mujahideens produced by ICM. Built many years ago, I just painted them a few weeks ago. They are certainly very nice, I tweaked the poses to make them more active, and added one extra men, many years ago using home made body putty. The pickup is a diecast I bought during holidays in Hungary .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[US captured Kubelwagen + French M8 armoured car 1/35 scale (bottom page)]

Thanks . I bring you two more kits, recently pictured;

 

M8 Armoured Car; built a very long time ago, and finished a few years afterwards. Following a straight out of the box, as for France in 1944.

 

 

Kubelwagen US captured; I bought in a lot about 3 or 4 Kubelwagens built but not painted, and hence I started a titanic search in the lookout for strange and unique Kubelwagens. I found a captured one that was genius, and I gave it a medical box as was used often, which I had to scratch build using a ginger fruit box! pilot is a casted resin man improved.

 

[WW2 French Chasseurs Alpins 1/35 figures Heller]

Thanks . They fought very actively in ww1 and ww2. The difference between the uniforms is almost non-existant, these I believe use more modern rifles, and later in ww2 they adopted green uniforms, but basically you could use them for both conflicts. In ww1 they fought actively in the Vosges mountains during all the war, and in WW2 they were flown to Narvik in Norway to fight the germans, plus they also saw limited service defending France from Italy. Before buying these soldiers, I wasn't aware of them, and although they appeared in some photographs in a few books I read, I had overlooked them and didn't know of their importance.

[US captured Kubelwagen + French M8 armoured car 1/35 scale (bottom page)]

Thanks . Yes, the russians made very similar camouflages, albeit if with white and green. I haven't made a russian one yet in this style, but I will soon do it, as I am running out of russian interesting camos...

 

Here the GMC CCKW of Heller; really, a poor kit. Very fiddly, and the shape might be a bit off. But anyway, I pulled it through and made some nices pictures of it. Yes, I succumbed to the standard green, but couldn't find anything else and for once I went with the simple version. Last pic was difficult to get; I threw sand dust while my brother took the pic in burst-fast mode. The result is impressive, possibly my most realistic model kit movement pic.

 

 

 

[WW2 French Chasseurs Alpins 1/35 figures Heller]

Here are these Chasseurs Alpins from Heller. I bought them in a small toy shop, which had them for years. At first I thought they were some kind of parade unit,I just learned afterwards their history! painted a good few years back, but only did pictures of them today.

 

Rather straightforward, changing a bit the poses. and printing a "Le Figaro" newspaper for one of them . I have another set of them, which I am between trading away or building in other poses...

 

 

[Black Dog Stalker Grinder 1/35]

Very cool! looks like a GI Joe to me

 

[Imam Ro 63 look-a-like 1/32 Model Kit conversion Dornier do 27]

Many thanks for all the comments .

[US captured Kubelwagen + French M8 armoured car 1/35 scale (bottom page)]

And here is my last 1/35 photographed kit I have left to show, a Land Rover. This was built by my father, I helped with some technical difficulties, I made both pilots and I did some weatherings to give it more realism. He made it to give it as a present to his brother, in memento of their Africa Safari they did in the 1970s. Sadly the kit was missing it's canas cover, so he had to scratchbuilt the rest. His eyesight is not very good nowadays, but I still thought it nice to share. (the "beer only" trolley was scratchbuilt too )

 

 

Just realized I still had this to post! the Fiat 508 Coloniale. A lovely little kit, quite easy to build yet rewarding, of a unusual subject. Thankfully, the back of the box gave you very good options, one of them a tree leaf camo that was wonderful. I very carefully executed it, handbrushing it took a good few sessions! if only all the boxes had such good choice of versions, I wouldn't have any unpainted kit in my collection . I took the extra step of printing Todt Organization flags, to add them, as I thought it fitting, as the poles looked weird without holding anything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Edgley EA-7 Optica - AviS - 1:72]

Super cool! seems to defy aerodynamics . Very perfectly made.

[Imam Ro 63 look-a-like 1/32 Model Kit conversion Dornier do 27]

This is quite a curious piece of conversion . I bought a Dornier do 27 Revell, in 1/32, dead cheap on eBay (8 GBP maybe? ridiculously cheap), and, due to my tremendous dislike of anything post 1945, which at that time was still fervent in me, I looked how to convert it into something suitably worldwartwoesque. I found that the Imam Ro 63 had it's certain similarities, and so I did that, transform slightly without too much work into it.

 

I added epoxy to the tail, painted over some parts of glass, and hand crafted decals so they looked right. At least is a nice what-if WW2 would have kept on and on.

 

Yes, sounds quite bonkers . But don't tell me it is unique! anyway, here are the pictures;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[US captured Kubelwagen + French M8 armoured car 1/35 scale (bottom page)]

Many thanks FrancisGL .

 

A few more kits in my collection;

 

 

Flakpanzer Gepard Tamiya; I bought a lot of kits in various conditions, and this came built, painted in standard green, lacking one gun and damaged decals and some broken pieces. Hence, I took to restore it, I casted the gun but the moulded piece broke, so I did again from scratch. I repainted as "gepard", in a real camo which somehow, for the fun of it I guess, was painted as such . Curiously, I left it half finished for a few years, and when I was going to finish it, Takom released it's version of it! I hand painted the logo and added weathering. Couldn't resist myself to do a bit of photoshopping on the 3rd picture and made it firing .

 

1

 

GAZ Jeep; this is a kit I restored also, but this I bought built, but unpainted. I repaired it and made a new windglass. I used it as testbed for airbrushing, to test my skills on the airbrush I am still learning how to use, my first model kit airbrushed.

 

 

[US captured Kubelwagen + French M8 armoured car 1/35 scale (bottom page)]

FrancisGL, thanks . The Horch is a curious vehicle, between the reconaissance car and the transport truck.

 

I bring you two more kits;

 

T-34/85; one of my oldest 1/35 builds. Bought it when a local model kit shop was closing down, and hence it was on sale, as usually they were prohibitively expensive, at least compared with any 1/72 model kits, those days that buying off internet seemed impossible.

 

In those times, as I believed I would never have many 1/35 kits, I set myself on trying to detail the interior, without much info available (about 20 years ago.)

 

 

 

 

 

Puma, Norway 1940; following the boxart of a vintage model kit, that showed a very striking camouflage . I couldn't confirm it's veracity, but can't rule it out either, and was fun to do. Kit bought in a model kit exhibition, at first I thought about getting rid of it, but then decided to build it. This is the very early kit from Italeri, a bit lacking in some aspects, but gives a nice feeling of sort of very early WW2 vibe.

 

 

 

[Magnifying visors - Opinions??]

Many thanks for the replies . Indeed, if it is good optical glass sounds much better than others that state are acrylic resin.

On 4/18/2022 at 6:18 PM, dogsbody said:

I use this. It fits over my reading glasses. When using that and the magnifier lens on my light, I can almost see the hairs on a mosquito's man-parts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

Dogsbody, do you find that fixed magnifying lens better than the optivisor, or just as a useful add on? is it very big?

[Best magnifying/lighting method for bad eyesight?]

The problem is that due to his current condition, it is not recommended to get new glasses until it is more stable, as the bluriness and distortion goes varying from time to time. When he indeeds gets a new glasses, I will mention it. But in the short term, I think I will get one of those optivisors.

[Magnifying visors - Opinions??]

On 10/6/2017 at 5:43 PM, Big Person said:

I bought one of these from Ebay, can't recommend it highly enough. Absolutely brilliant and comfortable to wear too.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adjustable-Hands-Free-Head-Magnifier-Magnifying-2-LED-Glass-With-5-Lens-Loupe-/382177298887?epid=653066357&hash=item58fb8ac9c7:g:kBMAAOSwzN9ZeLw6

BigPerson, thanks for your recommendation. I am looking to buy them. Do they seem solid? at first glance they seem a bit fragile. Do you still have them?

[Best magnifying/lighting method for bad eyesight?]

Many thanks . At first I thought this as cumbersome and expensive, but maybe I will buy them and see how they go.

[Best magnifying/lighting method for bad eyesight?]

My father has recently had AMD (macular degeneration) diagnosed in his eyes, which makes it now impossible to model, because of distortion and bluryness. With a small magnifying glass he can read, do crosswods, etc, so with a good magnification and lighting, he should be able to model again.

 

I have bought him fresnel lens, but these are plastic and flimsy, and really don't do the job. One of them is 3x and rigid, but is not enough, and besides, the plastic is not really suitable, as is not very clear.

 

I have looked at the Tamiya working station, but besides being around 150 GBP, the magnifying glass seems very small.

 

What would you recommend? I was thinking of getting some glass magnifier, something mounted on a stand or similar, and probably better if coupled with a strong light, but have browsed pages on end on Amazon and eBay, and it seems either too small lens, or dubious general quality.

 

Thanks for reading .

[Warriors of Light – Ukraine Su-24M “41” 2016]

Very realistic, great job. That 3d camo must have been hellish to achieve!

[1/72 Airfix Vickers Valiant]

Tremendous beast . I just saw a Youtube video of it, and now I need it in my collection!

[US captured Kubelwagen + French M8 armoured car 1/35 scale (bottom page)]

Thanks . Here I bring some more;

 

Italeri Cannone da 47/32 Mod. 39 with crew; a nice little set. Built & painted for the north african campaign.

 

 

Horch; a kit I bought in a flea market for just 10 €. A kit I was looking for for a very long time! much bigger than what I expected. Painted as a real sample seen in a wartime pic, operating in Greece. I interpreted the black and white pic as this, maybe a bit fancifully, but probably impossible to determine the real colours! (no attempt has been done that I have been able to find to make a colour plate out of it) the bonus men that come with the kit are wonderful and give life to everything.

 

 

 

[Supermarine Spitfire 1/32 "Malta's 1000th" Revell model kit RAF]

 This is the old 1975 Revell kit (original edition!), finished just a few weeks ago. Built by my father, pilot sculpted by my brother, painted by all three . A huge kit, and one that still looks very nice today. One of those old kits with plenty of mechanisms everywhere. The original pilot was unable to exit his cockpit! so a new one was sculpted, with flexible compound, so he can squeeze in and out .

 

[Arado Ar 196 1/32 Revell - (winter sea camo, scratchbuilt floats)]

Many thanks . Done, my brain must have slipped . Indeed, the effect can be realistic, but it's not what you usually expect or see in wartime pics.

[Leopard 2A4 - Revell / Italeri 1/35]

Very realistic build, I love that finnish camo.