Lieuwe

Hello Raccoon, Thanks for the heads up, the tires on by friction only so should be easy to turn round. I have little faith in my skills to fix the fuel tankholders, I'd probably destroy them in the process. I am very much a beginning modeler. I will look at the air reservoires and see if I cant make something myself, sounds like a manageable scratchbuild project!

I managed to get the Zil's main subassemblies together and primed, the chassis and the wheels were brought together and coated in Mr Hobby black surfacer 1500. It was the first time I used this primer and I loved it! Definately on par with Tamiya primer. I weathered the chassis and wheels using MiG's light dirt wash. My goal was to show a vehicle that has been driving on dusty tracks and roads, not one that has been driving off-road. I intend to finish the vehicle in the kit-supplied markings for a Soviet Afghanistan vehicle with a nice two tone camo. My first experience with the decals though has made a dent in my confidence though, the Afghanistan vehicle has a large decal on the rear of the truckbed. The decals on the dash were horrible, little adhesive power and massive silvering even when applied to quite a glossy surface. I've hit them with decal softener and then gave them another gloss coat hoping they will stay stuck. Applying the larger decals to the irregular surface of the wooden truckbed lid seems like a disaster waiting to happen though. Wondering if there are aftermarket decals for these kinds of vehicles?

Nice! I have the same kit in the stash, do you mean that the trailer is somehow inaccurate?

I continued with the contruction of the chasis, most parts fit together well and two main beams have locating slots for the cross members. Various parts however do have some large seams and ejector pin markings that needed attention so they to have had some Mr Surfacer applied. One thing I will need to fix is the front driveshaft that snapped in half after glueing. Trying to think of a way to fix this that will still look good but also be strong enough. On a positive note my D30 that I want to have the Zil tow has arrived, oddly enough it appears to be cast in almost similarily colored plastic.

Haven't really look into that, my plan is to build this out of the box as much as possible.

I recently got back in to modeling by building the Zvezda BMP-1, I didnt really take many pictures of the building progress. My next project will be the Revel release of the Zil-131 truck as pictured below. I have a Trumpeter D30 howitser on the way for it to tow. My goal for this model is to learn how to do multi color paintscheme's better, do some weathering that is more dusty then muddy and generally get more practice in basic skills. The box, instructions and the decals are the standard Revell style. I'd have prefered a sturdier box to keep the model parts in but this is not a big problem. The instructions are clear enough, the decals however appear to be the satin finished Revell ones. When I built models when I was younger I remember not being very fond of these from Revell due to their tendency to silver. Luckily there aren't a whole lot of them. The kit is a rerelease by Revell of a ICM kit, clearly visible on the sprues as they are marked ICM. The quality of the parts looks to be great, very little flash and nice sharp details. I think most of these details will look great after paint and a wash. I am thinking about doing it in a green and tan comeflage paintscheme used by the soviets during the war in Afghanistan. The tyres look ok, I have seen better in models but I have seen worse. The complete lack of manufacturers logo's look odd but perhaps that is the soviet way. First step in construction, building all the stuff that goes on the chassis. There are a few ejection marks in places that might be visible so I am filling them with Mr. Surfacer. I hope to get the chassis done in the next week, I plan on assembling all the parts that need to be painted black with the rest of the chassis and then paint those. The engine needs to be a aluminium color so I am approaching that as a seperate subassembly. I will be doing the same with the bed and the cab. First impressions of the kit are really good, fit is nice and details are sharp. Some parts could have done with locator pins but that is a minor concern. Depending on the rest of the build I might do more ICM soft skin vehicles, especially if this is their normal level of quality.

I was told by some ex Marineflieger folks the box on the rear deck is to control the Chaff / flare dispensers the MFG 104's sometimes carried on the rear fuselage on both sides. Just curious, did you find any clear images on which you based yours? I looked and looked researching my illustrations but failed to turn up something worthwhile.

Recently I have started updating my website again and I have created a facebook page a while ago; http://www.lieuwedevries.com You can check out the facebookpage at https://www.facebook.com/lieuwedevriesdotcom Recent additions are aircraft walkaround photography and some Pilatus PC-7 profile illustrations I also have a Harrier on there!

Normally I try not to redo work too much but seeing how this was ten years old and in need of some real rework to become usefull again here is my new years project; A spitfire Mk. IX.

The tail he has on there looks correct for an AM? the C model tail is much wider.

I don't remember it being quite as dark or with any blue hue as ADC grey but perhaps that is due to the paint weathering or my memory failing me, last time I saw the underside of a NMF 104 was KG101 when it was still at Niederrhein / Laarbruch.

Isn't ADC grey too blueish? If it's the same colour used on Michigan ANG F-4C's then it certainly is.

Those would be a light gull grey.

Make plenty of errors myself as a returning modeller! Your Phantom is look great, hope mine turns out as nice