gregair

Thanks, looking good!

Any updates?

Looking very good. What colour did you use for the wheel bays?

Thanks for the info. Did you lighten the green and brown at all or are they straight out of the bottle?

Very nicely done. Was this the Esci A-4E ? I've been thinking seriously about doing one myself, which Tamiya colours did you use and did you mix them at all?

What a beautiful Mig-21, very nice.

Hells teeth thats absolutely fantastic, awsome job, thanks for showing us this beauty!

Thanks guys. Thanks for the name correction "Bullardino" I have fixed it.

A very nice Mig, cool colour scheme too!

After stalling on the colour scheme of a very irritating 1/48 Mig-23 build I decided to try something different. Here is my Italari 1/35 SLM 200 Miale, it is a very nice kit with photo etch included and was built straight out the box other than drilling open the holes in the "hood/sheild and adding copper control wires at the stern for the rudder. Hmmm, just noticed that I need to paint the "metal bracing straps" on the wooden cradle that the sub rests on! The parts all fit very nicely. I really enjoyed this kit and it was nice to start and finish a kit in one month for a change. This was my first maritime project and I am now really keen to do more from Italeri's interesting range of mini subs.

Absolutly beautiful..all three of them!

Whoooo absolutly beautiful WELL DONE!

Aaah 5 Squadron SAAF! Looking brilliant!

Very nice. So good to see a modern airliner with some weathering on it! I flew on a British Airways Airbus recently and I could not believe how dirty the wing was, the one section was litrally black, a thick sooty black layer, I have never seen that on an airliner before and I fly 3-4 times every month for the last 8 years.

Cool

Here you go...the strange bin on the front of a sad looking Ratel 20, must have hit a big hole or trench going pretty fast...Ouch! This photo is fairly late, I think it was taken during 1987 or 1988 so there were still some around at that stage. Got this photo off the net and don't know who to credit for it.

Thats beautiful,an interesting scheme too, well done.

I am not totally sure about the bin, I think it was origionally used on the recovery Ratels but later was filled with sand bags to give extra frontal protection from Zsu-23s used in ground role. I believe they were used in early 80's

Very nice, well done!

Thanks for the compliments guys, I am really looking forward to finishing it. Haa haa Shaun, don't worry about it, the facinating thing about this hobby is that we often learn something new! I am not certain but if I remember correctly the bar in front of the AA mounting was to prevent the gunner shooting too low in that area, especially to keep his fire above the right side troop hatches and right hand door whilest troops were deploying under fire. The Baxmod Ratel 20 has the later welded indicator and steel plate type headlight guards etc, so you could probably do your version straight from the box. I spent a long time on "De Brug" during training...April to October we lived with our tanks / tents there......melting hot and dry in the day and freezing cold at night! G-Range, Storemberg, Glen Hope, Jonker Loots......ja Broer...De Brug! I am hoping to take my son to School Of Armour in the next few months..maybe we can meet up for a beer? Do you know an Armour guy called Wiegnand Van Braakel? Dave, thats a bummer, I have sent you a pm

Come on Dave...show us more of this beauty!!!

Hey thanks Dave, whats happenning with your Ratel 90?

Hi Thanks very much for the input I appreciate it, however there were various mods to these vehicles over the years. The photo attached is my vehicle (bright colour is from the early morning sun and discolouring of the photo) as used in July 1988, at the time it was referred to as a Ratel 20 Mk2. Note in the photo the 20mm barrel has been temporarily removed as is the towbar. We were using it as a command vehicle at the time and besides the 3 antenna on the turret there is another one near the spare wheel. This vehicle had the newer turret with the lower profile crew commanders hatch, yet retained the headlight and indicator light protective"cage" type guards. (you can just see headlight cage covers in photo just below the name) As you see in the photo, these Ratel turrets smoke launches were further apart and had no protective plate around them. I cannot remember the drivers hatch hinge for that time period but I have to disagree with you (sorry) everything else on the kit is accurate for this version which I am depicting as the photo shows. Yes I was origionally School Of Armour (E-Squadron Tanks) but my Citizen Force Unit was Natal Mounted Rifles, Olifant Mk1A Tank unit, but during this particular excersize I crewed this Ratel (Photo below), they were wonderful vehicles. What unit are you in? I am now away from home for 5 weeks so can only complete it when I get back.....then to start my Olifant Mk1A Thanks again for the input.

Thanks guys, Col, I'm out at sea for the next 5 weeks, so I will finish it when I get home

Thanks. Probably the Bl%&dy Infantry!!" ha ha. The crew commander needs some work too. Actually, to reduce radio chatter, if there was not too much bush, crew commanders would sometimes raise their hand to indicate that they had recieved and understood messages from the troop commander. A troop would heve consited of 4 vehicles.