Luft46's Blog

This is the RF-8 aerosan, being the driver and machine gunner version with a partly cowled engine. There is another similar version with a more boxlike engine mount. I got this kit recently from a friend who orders way more models than I do. It came in a box of 8 kits and 3 lots of accessories but more on that later. The Ace kit along with a MicroMir Sprengboot came from a Russian website that includes boxtops in a flat form to save on postage. NKR models used to do the same so this doesn’t worry me. The reason for its sudden elevation up the list is that the plastic bag it came in has broken and the smallest sprue of one part was already adrift in the box. Rather than lose anything it will be started now, or maybe tomorrow as dinner beckons.

Over the past few months I have commenced three kits which have reached the stage of needing primer and have then stalled. These are the E-10 tank, the BV P202 and of course the Hanomag. Tonight i will unleash primer on them. In the case of the 202 and the Hanomag there has also been a little masking required. Mostly this has been toilet paper but also a little Tamiya tape for the 202 cockpit.

I have also dug out some Aerosan kits from a few manufacturers. Two are from Extratech and two from Ace in the Ukraine. The former are resin and brass joys and well the latter are Ace kits in all their limited run glory. Because the engine is the same in both Aerosans they have been able to use two sprues twice, a la Hasegawa but not at the same  level of quality.
As both companies do a Gaz 98 with the difference mainly in the engine area it will be interesting to compare them.
Below is my reference material.

The Tankograd book is the only one on the market AFAIK. It is quite comprehensive with lots of photos including some diorama ideas.
Below is the Extratech kit of a GAZ 98.

More later!

No other hassles apart from two cycles of PSR and this is now ready for primer. As it stands I now have three kits primer ready so it is just a matter of waiting for the right humidity conditions. In the meantime I will be doing some work on the small parts. This includes a MG42 in brass in 3 pieces from Eduard and a night vision set stolen from a Pegasus Hobbies E25 kit.

This is now taking shape. Yesterday I got the top deck glued on as well as the rear. The top deck had to be done in two stages with the front sloped portion done first then a saw cut made at the pivot point where it changes to a flat top section. I super glued down the top section held down by 2 pegs given by a friend. This type are quite strong and held the parts together well – see below

Next up was cutting out the rear section and attaching this. The front gun was cut and drilled and inserted into the saukopf mantlet – certainly looks like a pigs head to me in terms of its shape. Last up was the usual run of Milliput along all the joints. And to answer a query on the Whatif Modellers forum my left over Milliput is put into the gaps around my workbench that I built around ten years ago., still plenty to fill on the front.

The last photo is the Milliput line above which is a stack of modelling magazines still to be read.

The last few weeks have seen very little modelling done. The BV P202 is awaiting primer and the hot weather lately has made that unlikely. In the meantime I have started the Kora E-10 paper panzer in 1.72 resin. The only reason I am doing this kit is that I found some rubber tracks to replace the resin ones. I also have some night vision gear for a late war panzer. I have a house spider in the bottom of my window and she is working overtime catching flies today. Anyway below are some quick progress shots. My next post will be looking at the box of booty I bought back recently from a friends place which is 6 months worth of purchases.

BV P202

And the E10

After a break there has been some progress, albeit up against a cold. The cockpit is painted with the supplied

stick and seat fitted in the enlarged area after some dremeling. I added some simple Eduard seat belts and a spare instrument decal from a Hase 190. Not too much  added really as just finishing this will be an achievement. Also finished is the Bandai stand complete with plenty of lead set in Milliput (due to frequency of use this is now the first predicted word on my tablet keyboard when I type in M ).I’ve also  Aquadhered the wing on mainly so I can fit the canopy, this will be done tomorrow provided the second canopy works out!

I’m off for 2 weeks holiday so no updates for a while unless I see anything modelling related and have Internet access.
I’ll close off with a quick progress report.  I’m nearly ready to paint some primer. When I do the neglected hanomag will also get a coat. Next step is to cut out a canopy and do a test fit, try and fix that issue around the tail with the gap that won’t stay filled and paint the cockpit before  fitting the seat and joystick. My technique for vacform canopies is to fill them with blu tack and use a new blade to cut them out.

Last week I went to my LOS , Hobby Co and got this stand which is fairly reasonably priced. This will help the look of this model in a flying pose, frankly doing the undercarriage on this was not a good prospect especially given it is a swing wing. Anyway the undercarriage is white metal so I can use it on something else resin with chappy resin u/c.

Anyway that’s all for now

Since the last update ten days ago I am on my second PSR cycle. Also since then the exhausts have been worked on and the tailplane added. The exhausts involved dremeling out two big holes in the rear fuselage followed by attaching the engine exhaust cover. I then grabbed some spare exhaust onions as shown previously. These along with a small lump of Milliput were pushed into the hole. The Milliput allowed me to manoeuvre and fiddle with the onions until I was satisfied with their position. Unlike blutack the Milliput will harden and hold the parts securely, with a little bit of superglue at the end just to make sure. Next up the whole lot of the exhausts were  painted Citadel Abaddon black. Once that was dry the whole lot was brush painted in ModelMaster Exhaust Buffing Metalizer, despite what it says on the label its fine to brush, just not over large areas, it is a very hot paint so won’t work well with some plastics. The onions were also painted in MM Burnt Metal to offer a difference in colour. Of course with the hotness of the Metalizer some of the acrylic lifted which was why I found myself the next day putting thinned black paint into a syringe to inject down the exhaust, this work

ed fine and stopped me from having to go back and forward with paintbrushes to get it right. Mind you explaining what exactly I was doing with the paint filled syringe to my other half who of course chose that moment to come and see me was a little awkward. Most people don’t inject black paint anywhere 🙂 .
The RLM66 from Gunze is of course for the cockpit which was again dremeled out under the instrument panel to make it look a bit more realistic.
Next up is another lot of sanding and then a preliminary fitting of the canopy cut out with the obligatory new blade.

Tonight’s short modelling session was a little cleanup of the body joins from last time followed by some more filling into that joint and the main u/c bays. Next up will be more PSR tomorrow.