The smoke is not the finished product, just a concept. Let me now what ya think.e

Then I’ll try my luck with the smoke from the rocket motor and the ‘blast port’ at the end of the missile tube.

Your ambition is turning this endeavour into a definite mini-masterpiece. You've even thought out about the ejecting sabot pieces?
me thinks thou needest to get out more! |)

I guess that a dual congratulations are in order. First and quite obvious, this thread has broken into a second page! Second is that the Roland launcher build has crossed into new territory and looking like quite something (especially considering it's 1/87). The smoke/exhaust, IMHO, doesn't need too much tweaking. The missile is pretty close to the tube (as in your inspiration picture) so one might consider a bit less is more in this case. (wish there was a thumbs up icon) As with all artistic endeavours there is a point when only you can judge that it's complete and not overdone. BTDT, the overdone part on some of my "experiments."

Cheers,
Jan

Am I correct in assuming that the missile tube with the missile firing is removable? After looking at your latest picture I can't help thinking that you may need quite a counterweight. The amount of weight forward of the tubes pivot point (tube, missile, smoke and shaft holding the missile) might be countered by running the shaft through beyond the back of the launcher tube, adding a weight to the end and having smoke from the back blast hide it..

How are the launcher arms attached to the turret? Is there a shaft that runs through the turret that connects each arm? Depending on how these parts connect there might be other "removable" solutions that would keep the mechanism from slowly drooping.

Keith,

Fantastic job, and in such a small scale too. Big thumbs up!

- Steve

Glad some of my ideas helped you out. I've had my share of kits where "constructive reengineering" was required to tame a noncooperative gun barrel or similar part. As for the national insignia, it really doesn't look all that bad.

On an sort of thing that this thread might be noted for. It was my birthday last week and my SWMBO had quite a surprise for me. I had gotten her a Sony Alpha A100 DSLR two years ago and have "borrowed" it extensively to document my builds. We've had a few "run ins" when either of us went to use it and the settings were all messed up for our respective purposes. Making a short story long, she presented me with my own DSLR as a gift saying that now her camera would remain set the way she wants it. She got me an Alpha A330 with in addition to the standard 18-55 mm lens a 75-300 mm zoom lens. I was delighted and as soon as I got it all set up I had to experiment with it. The BIG lens is astounding and from 20+ feet away was able to pick up the individual threads on window curtains. I also used it to take a picture of my Luchs but I had to step back from it over a dozen feet before it would even focus. Here's the result of that experimental shot with the lens at full zoom.

Cheers,
Jan

Happy Birthday and congrats on scoring a new camera! Pretty swift how you did it. I always set the controls back to how I found them on ‘our‘point-and-shoot. Never thought about annoying the wife to the point of her getting me one. Sheer genius!

Well I have lens envy. Your Luchs looks great. Good depth of field with that camera and lens.

And keep going off topic. It keeps things interesting between my build installments. Kinda like an intermission.

Thanks for the sentiments, Keith. Actually, I didn't consciously (perhaps subconsciously?) realized that my actions were going to influence the SWMBO's actions to that an extreme. Truth be told, I had mentioned a few times that we should consider a second DSLR as the P&S cameras don't do justice to the subjects. It turns out that my wife has been keeping an eye out for deals at our local Henry's Camera web site for any specials or deals. Turns out that last week they had a special on the A330 with a 18-55 lens and for $100 more they added the 75-300 lens to the package. I seriously believe that her actions were at least a bit influenced by a desire for the telephoto lens. After I took a few tests shots with the new camera and telephoto lens the lens ended up on her A100 and still resides there as I type. And what was she doing with that lens you might ask?

Now for a bit more off topic (sort of) stuff. I was doing some digging through storage boxes and came up with some mouldy goldy finds. Here's an Russian SU-76 I started to scratch build ages ago. Besides what you see I also found the side and back armour panels, the rest of the suspension and a rather crude attempt at a 76 mm gun that I'm too embarrassed to show. Here's a few little items that I also dug up. Three Rapier missiles minus the little tail fins, a Russian ATGM and an original TOW Launcher that I made from a picture in an old Soldier of Fortune magazine. Once I finish the build for a couple of campaigns I'm in I'll have to see if my current skills are up to finishing these old projects.

BTW, I found an Internet hobby place in Scranton PA that carries ROCO stuff. I haven't seen any in my area for at least a couple of decades. Here's a link to their Roland 2. I almost had a heart failure when I checked out the prices for the Minitanks. The want $18 for the Roland!!! Am I mistaken or weren't the ROCO items quite reasonable in the past? Dragon 1/72 Armo Pro kits at the same site are only around $12-$15. Heck, my local HB sells them for CDN$14! Man have times changed.
Cheers,
Jan

Ah, women and their ulterior motives. We can’t win. But as long as they’re happy, we’re happy. Those are some nice shots she took. How far away was that bird?

Wow, those all look good. Where you building these for the heck of it, or was there a master plan? The Russian stuff in a diorama perchance? Can’t wait to see them finished.

If I spend too much time on one kit I get frustrated and it quits being fun. Do you ever get that way?

What little building I’ve done has been on a knight figure and experimenting with the airbrush trying out bare metal and shadow effects.

Careful what you type, the SWMBO has a habit of occasionally reading over my shoulder. She took about fifteen "test" shots with the new telephoto including some macro ones. By rough estimation from what she told me she was a little over twenty feet from the bird. She also tried taking some other birds in our "back forty" but when she went to focus on them the birds flew off. Her guess is that the sound of the auto focus motor scared them off.

The missiles and TOW were made to practice my skills in building modern equipment that was not available in kit form. The SU-76 I started was based on 1/72 plans in an article in an AFV News. Also a case of something that wasn't available in kit form. I also recall starting a French Somua tank and IIRC the turret was almost complete. I'm devoting some time to sorting through all my storage boxes so who knows what I'll find next.

I used to get that way before my hiatus from the hobby. Since getting back into it I try to complete one build at a time, no matter how long it takes. My wife is always pleased when she sees a box from the stash in the recycling bin.

The metallic look and the shading on the knight look very good. I too have been distracted from my campaign builds. From my sorting and cataloguing of storage box contents I've set several damaged/incomplete vehicles aside for basically a "Tank Overhaul." The two I'm currently distracted with are a 1/76 Fujimi Sherman 105 howitzer tank and a 1/76 Jagdtiger by the same company. Broken off hatches, gun barrels and other odds and ends need repairing. The Sherman was also my first attempt at installing PE light guards and I had to scratch a new commanders hatch.

The Jagdtiger also had a wrecked left side suspension and I tried my hand at repainting it with the new airbrush. I've set up a Tank Overhaul gallery and if the picture displays below then I've done it correctly.

I figured any wife who didn't her mind husband using the acronym SWMBO must have a good enough sense of humor for some light hearted ribbing. Say ‘Hi’ to her for me and pass on my apologies! 20 feet!? Wholly smokes. That’s quite a lens.

Ah, the model treasure hunt. So you have an extensive stash of kits, but if there’s something not on the market to add to it then you create it from scratch. They all look good. I might have to try that, finding the plans and going from there, that is.

Annie said to say that there is nothing relating to a sense of humour with the use of the acronym. She expects the sentiment of its meaning to be OBEYED! BTW, SWMBO says that as no offence was taken, no apologies are required. As I haven't got to play with the lens since she commandeered it I can't comment too much more on it's abilities. I am still using her 18-200 zoom as there was an issue with the macro filters (4x, 2x, 1x) that she got me last Christmas. The filters have a 62 mm diameter while the new lenses have a 55 mm diameter. We have a 55-62 step-up ring/adapter coming this week.

Truth be told it is turning out to be a treasure hunt and in some ways creates an excitement akin to the finding of an artifact during an archeological dig. My stash is about 20 kits or so and pretty much all 1/72 or 1/76 scale. Some have been lying around for quite a number of years. Even when I had suspended building I occasionally couldn't resist a purchase.

You have to remember that during my previous active build period there was virtually no aftermarket items at all (at least not in my preferred scale). There was a company called Armtec that for a while produced injection moulded accessory packs for 1/76. I have a few of them somewhere and when I find them I'll post a picture or two. One pack has the complete set of road wheels, sprocket , idler, gun barrel and exhaust to build a scratch Hetzer. I believe that I have two or three of those. I also have two or three packs of German AFV machine guns with various mounts and ammo containers.

I've changed the URL for the picture in the post where you couldn't see it. Fingers crossed!

HI ANNIE!! I get it—so it is true that “If mama ain’t happy then no one is happy!”....

20 kits isn’t bad, especially in a small scale. I have less than that, but some are quite large, like a 1/32 F-16 I started 17 years ago.
I’ve know modelers who could open their own hobby shops with the stashes they have amassed. Garages, closets, attics, and even storage units full floor to ceiling.

So you’re telling me that a company built accessories for vehicles which there were no kits for? Would they be considered Before Market parts?

ROCO is still producing, and expanding its line of, modern German AFVs, yet they have discontinued the machine gun accessory. Only a few of mine have them and the others look incomplete. I found one suitable substitute but haven’t ordered any yet.

The tank looks good. The paint job almost looks like a leaf pattern. Have you tried a soft-edge mask like Silly Putty? It may work to produce a feather edge in that scale. Otherwise it is practice, practice, practice with the airbrush

Annie's response "Tell that fellow that at least he got part of it right! But if they have a pet cat then we know who really runs the household. LOL"

I've also run into a few individuals who as you say, could open their own hobby shop. I'm still involved in my "dig" and I knew that there were several incomplete models to be unearthed, so to speak. The latest finds were a 1/600 HMS Belfast cruiser that was about two thirds complete and painted and an old Fujimi 1/76 KV-2 with the lower hull and suspension completed and the turret about half done. I have a large 24"L X 18"W X 12"H box with a "ton" of sprues (or so it seems) of various colours in it. During our renovation/restoration period I panicked and just through then all in there without thinking about organizing them in any way. I am now paying the penalty for my lack of foresight.

Just to clarify, I had a vacation period at the end of July and was busy with the "honey-do" list for most of it. To my surprise my work decided to have an "inventory correction" shutdown for at least the first two weeks of August. This down time is proving to be quite profitable as far as sorting and reorganizing is concerned. BTW, I managed to find the two missing sprue from the KV, it's upper hull and turret top. The only thing missing is the turret floor ring. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Looking through my older back issues of AFV News it seems that for a while there was quite a market in vaccu-form kits. These kits often fell short on many details and in stepped ArmTec to fill the void.
Another find of the last few days was the ArmTec German MG sets.

Thanks, the repair went fairly well. I had to replace a couple of axles on the suspension and that was the hardest part. Most of the other broken off pieces only needed a little clean-up. I am still having a dickens of a time getting used to the new airbrush. For base-coat and main colour it's not too bad. Actually, I can safely say that this tank was used for practice and will need to be redone. I need to improve my fine line ability and like you say, practice is the word of the day. One fascinating thing about the Iwata as opposed to the Paasche is how little paint is used. I only need about 1/4 of a cup to base coat two models twice.

I've watched several tutorial videos put on Utube by an air brush magazine and have been practising on paper. I need to get my fine line shills improved enough to finish my Tiger I for the 88 campaign. My M119 howitzer is coming along and I am surprised by all the interest it has generated. I also have to say the people on this site have been great in providing information to help with the build and finishing. I even have a former artillery major that's been extremely helpful.

Now back to try and find the KV-2's turret floor and ring.

Jan

Less paint with a different airbrush you say? Hmm, I had never considered that as a side affect of a new airbrush. Just another reason to love it!