1/35 Dragon SA-9 Gaskin Build log...

Chibrit · March 30

I love the orange box kits and have been waiting to build this one for a while. The Vietnam Diorama project is on hold as I needed a little break, so now it's time to build what should hopefully be a quick SA-9 Gaskin. This is planned to be a weekend build, but we will see how we go. This is my first in progress post, so hopefully I will get better at writing and photographing my progress!

This one comes with Soviet Motor Rifle Troops, I might save these for a later diorama. Not too many parts and it looks like there will certainly be some stuff to add to the spares box after this is complete!

First stop, the wheels. These are made from very shiny rubber, so will get a light sanding and have matte black/charcoal paint applied before weathering. Rims kept separate for painting.

Wheels and missile pod parts. Many of these parts needed some sanding to get them to go together relatively square, still undecided if I will be adding the spare missile pods to the side of the vehicle, so I will build them all just in case.

Main hull body cleaned up before assembly and partially assembled missile pods.

The missile pod doors all had massive ejector pin marks on, as these will all be open and ready to fire, these will all have to be cut off and sanded!

Missile pods complete, main body assembly begun. I am going with all doors closed for this one. Everything goes together quite well, though the main hull top has a lot of holes that need to be drilled out to fit parts to, be careful when doing this, as often, the hole markings inside the hull are quite large and can sometimes result in the hole not being in quite the right place once drilled. Had to fill and re-do a few of these in the end, but no big dramas.

Lower body and suspension complete, top section done as well. This kit had a lot of small parts with flash on, so lots of removal necessary. Unfortunately, one of the small bars that support the fording plate at the front was broken on the sprue, it's such a thin part, I know that even after repairing it, it will still be delicate, so leave that off for now until I can get the courage up to try fitting it!

Main body and launcher complete. Still haven't put that fording plate on yet....! The upper and lower hull fit wasn't too bad, but definitely required a little sanding and filling. Leaving the observation widow in the launcher off for now, I will paint the frame separately then fit the plastic window and attach it before weathering begins.

Everything gets a coat of Vallejo Black Primer! The fording plate did eventually get attached, it was a slight nightmare as I initially got the parts mixed up, so had to remove and re-glue them. The broken part just about held, but I slightly screwed up attaching this, luckily those parts are mostly hidden and the plate looks like it is in just about the right position. Tyres lightly sanded before painting.

The tyres get sprayed with Monument Hobby Charcoal and the rest gets a light grey highlight added to the black, this will partially show through when everything gets painted green giving subtle colour variations.

First coat of Vallejo Russian Green, lightly applied to make the best use of the grey highlights. The instructions say that the rocket pods should be painted silver, but photos I have seen show these to be painted a variety of colours, or camo or something else but silver. I'm going with these being painted the same colour as the hull for this kit, maybe not accurate, who knows, but I think it will look more like the photo references I have seen.

Now a slightly lighter shade of green is added to large surface areas to simulate fading and create some additional shadows. This was a mix of Vallejo Russian Green and a little Light Sand. It might look a little chalky and light at this point, but bear in mind, the whole vehicle will be getting a slightly brown wash later on , which will bring those greens back. Light chipping and scrapes have been created using a sponge and some of the same light paint mix that was airbrushed on.

The only decal applied! I decided not to go with the soviet parade or Russian Naval Infantry decals supplied with this kit, photo references for Soviet vehicles in action show that most just have a unit number, so found a random number from the spare decals box. Vallejo German Black brown has also now been applied with a sponge to simulate wear, rust and chipping.

The chipping may look a bit much, but everything will be softened with a series of washes and then further knocked down with some mud and dust washes.

Decals still drying, but it's okay! More updates to come soon...this is moving along pretty quickly!

Chibrit · April 1

Build Update!

Another round of washes added. These are just acrylic washes mixed from various browns and blacks mixed with water left to dry overnight.

Sadly, the rocket pods did not fit on the launcher assembly, there was not quite enough space, so I had carefully try to file down the two sprockets on one side to get them to fit, this whole assembly will now need a clean and a repaint, lots of plastic dust everywhere and lots of paint scraped off! I really should have test fitted these earlier...oh well!

Another acrylic wash mix added, building up layers of grime.

Vallejo European mud and umber pigment mud mix added, still drying in this photo, don't worry, after it's dry it gets a blast with an airbrush to clear off any unsealed pigment powder or unwanted dust.

Mud dry and wheels have now received initial mud and dust wash, in this case the wash was just a little umber pigment powder in water, after an initial, darker acrylic wash.

Next phase will be a airbrush of dust and some additional mud on the wheels, rocket launcher cleanup and hopefully we can call this one finished...updates coming soon hopefully!