DocRob

Hola Friends of Russian Heavy Metal, I have started a hurry up project, building a resin kit of a Lada Niva as a present for my wife for Christmas. It is planned to add a wooden base, showing the shape of the island were we life. I wrote down the story behind this project in the 'what did you just get thread' and copied it here, to get the whole picture together. After a little odyssey the postman brought me this little gem, directly from Hungary. It's a 1/35 kit of a Lada Niva, made by Balaton and will be my next project as a Christmas gift for my wife. There is some personal history behind the Niva, which started with a completely different car though. Since getting the drivers license, eighteen years old, my wife wanted to own a Citroen 2CV, but never really managed to get one for multiple reasons. We were very close to buy one in Portugal some years ago, which was in perfect condition, but we had to be back in Berlin four days later, with no possibility to change and found it too risky to do the 2700 km with such an old car. Later we settled on our steep little island in the Atlantic, where even my biased wife realized, that a 2CV would not be sufficient for the type of terrain here (I buried my plan of owning a Goddess, a Citroen DS23 as well for the same reason). To stay with classics, we tried to buy a new Lada Niva instead, which is well suited for our nice offroad tracks. Three years ago, it was possible to buy a Niva in the mainland of Spain, but it was seemingly impossible to import one onto our Canary Islands. A year ago we tried to buy a new Niva in Germany from a retailer, specialized on Lada Niva. By that time he refused, because it would be impossible to get it legalized in Spain, because the Spanish Lada dealers ceased business meanwhile and you couldn't get a Lada Niva homologized anymore. Out of pure frustration (and a lot of desire too) we bought our Jeep as one of the last dinosaurs, with the Landrover Defender - err - rejuvenated . After some wine, there sometimes are some sentimental remarks about the missed chance of having a Lada Niva from my wife. When I saw the resin kit of the Niva I knew, i had to build it for my wife and now I'm on a tight schedule before Christmas, as there should be a wooden base, with the shape of our island, also. Cheers Rob

Exactly what I thought, looks very realistic. Cheers Rob

That is bad news Bill, but you will stay out of trouble with the Aviatic's. They are great to work with and you hear that from me, for whom decaling is always the worst nightmare. I used Tamiya gloss white as basecoat and Tamiya smoke for pre shading. As there definitely is a decal curse, I had some trouble with the WNW crosses as well and finally I had to glue them on partly with Pledge, because they were lifting in parts. As you go for the Aviatic decals, you could also try their linen stuff, which looks great for the lower wing sides. Cheers Rob

I dunno, it's hard to say from this perspective. You should consider how you want to present the Scammell, I think the angle shown in the pics is not conclusive for the later presentation. Cheers Rob

I like the look a lot. The dust coat ties everything together. If you'd like to add something, I would apply some dust deposits on horizontal areas, which are cornered by other elements, like on the fenders or the engine deck. There is also the possibility to add some dust in another colour, maybe a bit more reddish, which would enrich the colour palette. You have to love these III's and IV's in late(r) war outfit, with all the added armor, being it Schürzen, extra sheets for the turret, track links or even wood or concrete. How to make something obviously outdated at least partly capable. The weird look of all these additions makes these types interesting to the eye. Cheers Rob

You can clearly see by the design of the taillights/back door, that this is the 1,7 Liter variant not the usual 1,6 Liter . I will not let my wife see this video, I will keep the Jeep . Cheers Rob

Lots of Jimny's around here, some friends own these Suzuki offroaders. They are like a Japanese Lada Niva's, lightweight, small engines, but very capable off the paved tracks. My wife test drove a Lada Niva off road near Berlin and had lots of fun with it. Changing gears is not done by having only the idea to do so, it takes some effort. It's a real old school driving experience, but that's exactly where the fun begins. These SUV's equipped with fart sensors are truly boring. On an island, where the largest possible distance is about 45 km's you want to have fun while driving. Like I said, our Jeep is perfect for me, but I could have lived with the Lada. Cheers Rob

In Berlin they were quite hip, when I left and in Germany many hunters and farmers own one as there are not many alternatives when it comes to truly offroad capable smaller cars and there are some around here on the Canary Islands as well.. I never saw a Moskvitch on the road though. They are relicts of another time and have lots of flaws, but on the other hand it's a serious off road car which even has some chrome parts on it. The good thing of the 'features' mentioned by you is, that you can repair everything with a Swiss army knife and a fairly large hammer . Cheers Rob

Thanks Jeff, yeah the rules thing..., it's weird here in Spain. On the other hand, the Lada Niva is a dinosaur and not able to fulfil modern regulations, specially concerning the emissions. It saw it's last update in the 80's, technological wise and design wise, so in this case, it's understandable, at least a little. The ability to get a new Lada Niva approved in Germany is only, because there are only a few sold. A mass sold car would not get permitted either, with these technical outfit. Anyway, I'm completely satisfied with our Jeep, which is a perfect car for me here, it's big for transports, has todo terreno capability, like they call off roading here, has a convertible top for the not so windy days and doesn't heat up in the sun, like modern bubble shaped cars. Be my guest while WIP-ing, nice to have you on board. Cheers Rob

After a little odyssey the postman brought me this little gem, directly from Hungary. It's a 1/35 kit of a Lada Niva, made by Balaton and will be my next project as a Christmas gift for my wife. There is some personal history behind the Niva, which started with a completely different car though. Since getting the drivers license, eighteen years old, my wife wanted to own a Citroen 2CV, but never really managed to get one for multiple reasons. We were very close to buy one in Portugal some years ago, which was in perfect condition, but we had to be back in Berlin four days later, with no possibility to change and found it too risky to do the 2700 km with such an old car. Later we settled on our steep little island in the Atlantic, where even my biased wife realized, that a 2CV would not be sufficient for the type of terrain here (I buried my plan of owning a Goddess, a Citroen DS23 as well for the same reason). To stay with classics, we tried to buy a new Lada Niva instead, which is well suited for our nice offroad tracks. Three years ago, it was possible to buy a Niva in the mainland of Spain, but it was seemingly impossible to import one onto our Canary Islands. A year ago we tried to buy a new Niva in Germany from a retailer, specialized on Lada Niva. By that time he refused, because it would be impossible to get it legalized in Spain, because the Spanish Lada dealers ceased business meanwhile and you couldn't get a Lada Niva homologized anymore. Out of pure frustration (and a lot of desire too) we bought our Jeep as one of the last dinosaurs, with the Landrover Defender - err - rejuvenated . After some wine, there sometimes are some sentimental remarks about the missed chance of having a Lada Niva from my wife. When I saw the resin kit of the Niva I knew, i had to build it for my wife and now I'm on a tight schedule before Christmas, as there should be a wooden base, with the shape of our island, also. There are not so many civilian resin car WIP's here, so maybe I do one. Cheers Rob

Well the plastic guns are not too shabby, but the Master barrels are always an improvement, a fiddly one though. If you pre drill the plastic body of the gun you can leave the barrel off for the painting of the plane and stick it in after. I love to burnish brass parts and dip them into burnishing liquid for some seconds and rinse them under water, to stop the process. Cleaning the parts with alcohol before is necessary and while in the burnishing bath, you should move the parts with a tweezer, to hinder bubbles being caught, especially inside the barrel. It's best to burnish before assembling the parts, because on CA there will be no burnishing process. The benefit against priming and painting is, that there is no actual coating which erases details on these delicate parts, like with paints. I also like the (adjustable by burnishing time) brownish black very matte effect of the burnishing process. If you prefer a more metallic appearance in the end, some steel pigments rubbed on help there. Cheers Rob

Can't see why you need this . Anyway, an interesting book with some nice ideas and inspirational dios. Cheers Rob

Looks like one of the better maintained Greek ones (Have they had Mig's?). Looks fantastic and nice save to an otherwise struggled project. Cheers Rob

Nearly forgot about ugly (in a unique way) Russian multi wheelers in desolate condition. Good to see you back with the Frog. Cheers Rob

An interesting plane design wise and you've done it justice. Beautiful painting and weathering as ever and the little scene tells a story. Cheers Rob

Thanks Hubert, for make me aware of him. Actually I have to admit, that I never heard about him. I may have seen some of his works though. He definitely has this smoothness in his works. Unbelievable what he can do with some paint and brushes. I will take a more intense look for his works, there should be a lot to learn. An artist, I do like a lot is Jean-Bernard Andre. He is more a diorama builder, often working with 'water, but a fine figure sculptor and painter too. His work is very poetic and in this way, a league of his own. https://www.jeandiorama.com/ Cheers Rob

Maybe these are the guys for you, they can be made to inspect battle damage. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dartmoor-military-models-48a001-wwii-three-luftwaffe-pilots-inspecting-aircraft--238180 Can't wait to see how you tackle the all black finish. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, mastering figures is like the holy grail in modelling to me and I'm always a little jealous, to see the smooth work of the masters. That smoothness or blending techniques or whatever you call it are the key to perfect figure painting, I think, everything looks so natural when done that way. I'm way on the patchy side of mastering the figures, but oils help me coming closer to the desired finish. Cheers Rob

Decals too, not only because of the reasons mentioned by Carl, but to make it worse, decaling mostly is one of the last steps, while finishing a project. Problems with decals, which I have with every build are a pure mojo killer. The only cure, use Aviattic Lozenge or linen decals. With proper preparation, they work perfect and that's to me a little miracle, given the huge areas they cover. Cheers Rob

About which hook I have spoken? Here is a very good description of the rigging process with Chameleon line https://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com/page6.html Cheers Rob

A shame, you should have used only half of the fuselage . Cheers Rob

You can rig a dozen of Camels with those. Remember to clean the holes with a drill or tip of a scalpel after cutting, it's not so easy to fiddle the Chameleon line through for the second time, even with cleaning. Cheers Rob

Thanks Phil, I have a well filled stash of figures and busts in different scales and materials for diorama purpose or stand alone, better you get the dust off your lurkers, and on you go... . Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Señhor, I'm blushing right now. Like you, I like the shearling leather jacket best, besides the gauntlets. I found it much easier to work with oils, because they blend better. I experimented with different types of thinners/turpentines for the first time. Oils leave a shine whn they dry, with normal turpentine, which is great for leather, but not so for cloth and skin. Here worked AK's Flat Thinner beautifully, drying matte enough. Like I said, there is a lot to learn with figure painting and I always have to force myself to do it, but there are tiny successes and more experience leads to better results. I used new good brushes this time and that helped a lot too. Another thing to mention is, the quality of the cast is important obviously and these figures were great, with crisp details. The eyes were problematic (aren't they ever?), they lay deep into the hollow, because of the leather caps and goggles. Cheers Rob

I know Hubert and I normally do so. In this case I waited, because I haven't made my mind up, where to place the figures in the dio. One of them might stand on a float of the Kamel or on a wooden plank leading to the plane, maybe the other is so close to the water, that I place him into the transparent Acrylic. Cheers Rob