DocRob

Ahh, the track thing, always a tiny challenge in itself . Your wheels and tracks look great, love the tri tone camo. Cheers Rob

Thanks Phil. No, there will be nothing towed by the RSO. I don't like to build guns and the dimensions of the vehicle without something attached suit my idea for the dio in a better way. I read, that they were not easy to drive, with their high center of gravity and narrow silhouette. Another problem were the steel wheels which were impossible to get traction with in icy conditions in Russia and were also problematic on tarmac in France. I guess, the max speed of 15 km/h prevented from worse, often. Cheers Rob

Good luck with this one Mike, seeing the resin parts it will be not the easiest kit, but seeing your other builds, I'm fully convinced it's in the best hands with you. It's good to see some objects a little bit apart from the mainstream like you did with the Floh. Cheers Rob

The Radschlepper Ost (RSO) is mostly finished now and ready for weathering. I added all the windows after airbrushing the frames with self made masks. The side windows had to be sawed for the half open look in the doors (summer setting). The front window is opened and I cut a mask to fit the swiping area of the wipers. The headlights and the still to be added taillight with license plate were treated with Uschis chrome pigments. The fit of the hood is not perfect and I hope I can camouflage that with some weathering. Final assembly of the RSO proved to be a bit tricky, specially with everything painted and due to many detail parts which tend to break while using pressure for everything to glue in order. This pic shows the inside of the door, weathered with my new AK pencils. They are nearly as hard as normal artist pencils and just a little bit more waxy. After applying different green, grey and brown tones, I blended everything with a damp brush. I like the effect and compared to normal washes it is not necessary to seal the surface with gloss varnish prior to using the pencils. A big advantage to me, you minimize risks with too many coats, maybe reacting awkwardly with each other and don't loose detail under too many coats of paint. I will try the AK pencils on glossy varnishes too but think they are better suited for matte finishes. Cheers Rob

Nice Martin, personally I don't like the mustard / spinach camo on Russian vehicles, but under a heavy coat of grime it works . Cheers Rob

Nice gal, err, meant plane . Love the contrasting paintjob. Cheers Rob

I payed 35€ for 37 pencils Nope, I haven't any, but I will use the AK pencils on my RSO and will write about my experiences. It is planned to use them 'dry' and streaked with water. Maybe I will add some thoughts to how they compare to normal artist pencils, wich I normally use. Cheers Rob

Muchas Gracias Martin, when I bought the kit, my first thought was tri tone camo. That held until I started to build and had a closer view at the RSO and the Colour scheme prints and found, that the dark grey suits the vehicle better. With a tri tone camo you disguise the contours of an object, which are very specific and interesting. The Panzer Grey has the more desired look to me specially contrasting the planned dust weathering. Often there are subjective thoughts which lead to certain preferences, esthetical, setting wise or other. If I would build a Tiger for example, I would never chose a North African setting, I simply don't like Tiger's in monochrome Dunkelgelb. Cheers Rob

Thanks Phil, sure do , it will be a summer setting, so a lot of dust will be involved, some chipping too. No need to be ashamed, it's a hobby, grown men perform, so do it your own way and your own tempo. You're supposed to haver fun with your big cat, that's why we all are doing this. If I remember it right, there are still some month till deadline . Cheers Rob

The issues you mention don't show on the pics. Isn't it always like this, the flaws of ones kit are mostly known only to the builder. I can understand you not liking decals, it's the same with me and I have my Lozenge covered Fokker ahead of me . Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, it's a fun project, as the kit is superb with only a few tiny fit issues and I still love the tarctoresque look of the RSO. I'm glad now, that I went for the grey finish, which fits better to the vehicle than tri tone. Cheers Rob

Love those seats, but stay with my 1/48 F-4 from Eduard / Academy with lots of resin and PE goodies and last but not least the great HGW stencils (no stenciling nightmares ). Cheers Rob

The Giant with the Maultier is a nice setting too, nothing too difficult in scratching a Giant for this one . Cheers Rob

Wow, great pics, love the RSO (the other one, not my actual build ). Could intrigue me to build one. Cheers Rob

I loved both, the Banjo track and the movie. It's one of those, which are rarely produced anymore, raw, hard, loosely scripted and most important of all, not designed to everybody's taste (translates to boring). They made some fine movies in the late 60's and 70's Cheers Rob

Thanks Harv, I hope I have some powder left for further enhancements . Cheers Rob

Great work on the plumbing , Danny and I guess it pays off, because it will be very visible on a F-16 compared to other frames. Love the work you put into the bird and follow with interest, even though I have no love for the F-16. Cheers Rob

Wow, can't comment that quick, than you build . I love the way, your Hellcat turns out, with the masked markings instead of decals. I found it always easier to integrate painted markings into a paintjob and weathering, specially considering the size. I'm eager to see your weathering on gloss paint base, specially the mentioned sun faded effects. I have no idea how you will realize that, but I'm buckled in and follow. Cheers Rob

Basic painting is done with the RSO. Now everything will be glued together, the windows with their painted frames will be added and other tiny parts. I tried to give the dull grey a little depth by using different shades. The base color is Lifecolour Schwarzgrau (Black grey), the lighter parts are Anthrazit grey and more stages got some drops of ivory. I decided against white, to let the Colour rendition not be too cool. That will help to get a nice looking dust coverage, while it hinders the starch contrasts a little. The volume effect is hard to see on the pictures, which where taken a shade lighter than in reality to show the details better. Cheers Rob

Sweet work, your Matador will look great. Cheers Rob

Good to see you continuing the P-61. I liked what you did then with the interior and details and look forward to your progress. Cheers Rob

By the time I was a kid times were different. Many things like exploration of space or deep sea had an 'anything goes' approach, everything seemed possible. People where hopping on the moon and little DocRob was glued in front of the screen or reading books about Cousteaus expeditions under the sea. That was no Jules Verne stuff, it was reality and it translated into a deep addiction to these subjects. Then there was Sci Fi, mostly in the form of Star Trek (Shattner /Nimroy) and Space 1999 and the gerat German Space Patrol Orion / Raumpatrouille Orion (No idea if it is available in English), but my screen time was limited by my parents and some of the stuff added to me being fascinated about these subjects. After a while the simple and often repeated plots started to annoy me more and more until today which lead to not showing any series of Sci Fi on TV anymore. Beside the plots I do not like the simple and ever same lame animated CGI. But that changed with me sitting in a cinema and watching ALIEN and sweating and wincing with my fellow attenders, how that Giger creature not only ripped apart the crew of the Nostromos, but also did the same to the boring and still reflecting the spirit of the 1950's, now old school Sci Fi. There was something new, it was dirty, it was tough, well designed with a simple but catching plot, it had everything the old stuff lacked, it was believable. Not in a way like real live, but in itself. I have the same problems with Sci Fi like Ernie mentioned, with stuff that would not work that way in reality, but if something tells a redefined story like Alien or later Aliens, I skip these concerns, because the story works in itself. Besides Alien and even more Aliens had a lot of metaphors in their story which enhances the audiovisual experience to a new level in Sci Fi. Having designed 3D animations for fun in my earlier years, I have to admit, that a well made stop motion animation is far better than the most computer generated animations with their always flirtation to hype effects, like the addition of lens flares in every possible setting in the late 90's until now. This in small describes the lousyness of CGI, blow up a defect in the believe of creating drama with it. Sorry to get me drawn away on that subject, but one last and pity thought about it is, that I lost my old finished model of a Dropship from Aliens while going to Spain. I would love to give it a new paintjob and weathering with my tools and abilities of today. Cheers Rob

After Jeroen tried them successfully I had to get me the complete package of AK's weathering pencils. I use normal pencils a lot for weathering, chipping and highlighting. I'm eager to try these on the gray canvas of my actual RSO build. AK states, that you can use them dry (of course) and with water to generate streaking effects and deposit effects with them. I will report a little about the results in the RSO build log. Cheers Rob

That looks awesome, nice and quick work and it seems like sanding down the oil canning effect a little pays off. Cheers Rob

Good to see this one continue . Can't wait for the finish line. Cheers Rob