Friday 30 December 2016

Holiday modelling

I've just had a week off work and have taken the opportunity to get a bit more modelling done. I few weeks ago I ordered some bits from Peter Pig and QRF for my african collection.
I've been basing figures on 12mm washers and have done around 100 so now need to start painting.
Here's a couple of photos of some painting trials I did this week.
First is some Peter Pig naked militia

Next are the first of my regulars (the good  guys)


I've been looking for 15mm helicopters to go with my Mi-4s and decided to go with QRF. After reading some negative comments on them I was a bit worried about buying these but will reserve judgement until I've finished them. They will need a little filling and sanding but theres nothing wrong that can't be sorted with a bit of  time.
 MI-8
Puma
These come with whitemetal castings for the rotor blades and landing gear where supplied. The Puma has cast wheels in the retracted position which I think is a bit of a mistake as in wargaming the |Puma will most likely be used as an assault helicopter where it would have it's wheels down. I think I will make my own landing gear for these.
Next up is Peter Pigs Centurian Shot from their IDF range (AK47)

Its a nice model but I found it difficult to fasten together, I prefer to solder white metal, and there isn't much contact between the track castings and the body to enable it to be soldered so I will run a fillet of epoxy under these to strengthen them.
Next is a Peter pig BTR 152.
This is a nice model and went together well. It consists of a body casting, a rear panel and 6 wheels
Finally I've got a couple of QRF models, a BRDM2 and a VAB 4x4.  The BRDM is an easy model to assemble consisting of 4 wheels, a turret, a body and a gun barrel.
I'm struggling with the VAB as I don't know how the gunners hatch goes, Ive not been able to find any photos of this variant on the net anywhere.
 BRDM2
VAB
Thats it for now but hopefully will get some more done soon

Sunday 26 June 2016

Zvezda Ural truck

I made one of the Zvezda Urals up over the last week. Its a lovely little model which went together very well with no glue, its pushfit assembly, however I will glue this one together to make sure it stays that way. The detail is the best I've seen on one of their kits so I'm hoping they do more post ww2 stuff like Bmp 1s, M113s etc
Here's a few pictures, I'll start with the box artwork.
The kit consists of 2 sprues

A few pics of the assembled truck



The canopy can be fitted or removed as it isn't really necessary to glue it in place.
Hopefully this week I'll get a second one made then put them in the queue for painting eventually. I'll gradually work my way through the boxes of stuff waiting for the paintbrush.

Saturday 18 June 2016

MI-4

Not done alot this week but did manage to get the first helicopter painted. Just need to make another 2 or 3 (a couple of transports and a support version).  I ended up with a few of these as I had to buy them to get the other aircraft I wanted, the An-24s, Yak 40s and L410s.
 It still needs a bit of finishing but I'm quite pleased with the way its turned out.
I have also received a couple of Zvezda Ural trucks which look very good. I will get one made up during the coming week.

Sunday 12 June 2016

more on airport control tower

Ive done a little more work on the control tower, changed the upstairs windows, added a handrail and painted the roof. I will finish it by painting the walls an off white.

During the week at work I had time to draw the rest of the airport building walls so printed those off yesterday and added them last night. Just need to make the roof using a card former covered with slaters corrugated.

I'm working on a couple of plastic aircraft kits, an AN-24 and a L410 Turbolet. These are 1/100 scale and will hopefully look nice sitting in the airport.
AN-24

L410 
Lastly Ive done a little more to the bar building. hopefully I will get these finished this coming week.




Saturday 4 June 2016

a couple more pics

Just a couple of photos of some Peter Pig items and a small check point I'm halfway through making. Ignore the paint as it won't stay this colour.
ZPU-4

A Merc for the boss
Needs more sandbags then painting properly.

mud hut and a bit more card buildings

I only have 1 day off this weekend so not much time to do any modelling but I've had a go at making a mud hut from a bit of polypipe covered in clay and started a couple more buildings for the airport board


I shall make a couple more huts later then make a mold of the best one and cast them in resin hopefully along with some oil drums and shipping containers. All I need is the time.

Sunday 29 May 2016

Card buildings

After a long break from modelling Ive finally started on some more bits for an African based game. I need an airport as Ive recently acquired several 1/100 aircraft from a DC3 to an An-12.
Ive started making some card buildings as I want to do this cheaply.

Control Tower
Customs building
Bar to put outside the airport.

Ive also managed to obtain a few Mi-4 helicopter kits which will look ok for early 80s Africa, I'll keep a couple and maybe put the rest on ebay at a later date
Lastly Ive started basing and painting some figures, French Legion from Peter Pig
Hopefully over the next few weeks I will get round to making some french vehicles to go with these such as Berliet truck, Peugeot P4 and an ACMAT 4x4