Ricks' Ramblings

[Rick Lowe]

And with a Hiss and a Roar, we're off again for 2026...

1/200 RNZAF Boeing 757 *Real World*

Another for the Brother-in-Laws' Air Fleet.

A cheap slot-together kit; so other than a bit of sanding seam lines, no other issues.

Spray White primer, then Vallejo Grey and some details in a couple of Silvers.
No early wip shots, as a Boring Grey Airplane is a Boring Grey Airplane; it only really came to life when I started adding the markings.

It was going to be for Christmas 2024, but I didn't get organized in time, and some of the transfers arrived just this January (2025).
So you'd think that with almost a year to get it done, that would be plenty of time, right? I thought so, too...
I eventually started the markings on the weekend before Christmas; but as I also had the next week off, that helped immensely.
And it wasn't getting delivered until the 10th of January, so that was an extra margin.

Transfers comprise a set of 757 windows and doors from Our Kit-who-lives-under-The-Hat, and OldModelsDecals for the RNZAF-specific ones.
I got to a point with the OldModels ones where they were getting a bit hard to see, and I was thinking too many would make it look a bit toy-like, so I didn't use a lot of the smaller ones.

One happy coincidence I was glad to find, is that the 3 pieces of fuselage cheat stripe supplied are just long enough to reach from behind the Roundels, to where they finish at the tailplanes. This meant I only had to make one angled cut at the rear and not make three separate bits; I could apply them as one piece along the fuselage behind the wing roots and didn't need to work out the other angles to cut them before and after the wings.
There was plenty in the third strip to do the forward bits and around the nose.

I would have liked the coroguard sections on the wings to have been part of the transfers, but that was not to be.
Masking wasn't a great idea over transfers, so the model has none.

The base is half of an acrylic snow globe, filled with builders' bog and with a tube down the middle to take the knitting needle stand. Painted black and with a nameplate and a felt base.

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[Rick Lowe]

And the completed shots.

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[PR19_Kit]

You can get Corrogard decals for various types, including 757s, from various vendors.

But most vendors are in the US so the postage will be ten times the price of the decal of course.

[Rick Lowe]

Naturally...    Still, BiL was happy, so that's the result I was after.

[Rick Lowe]

1/76 Challenger Tank **Real World**

A real-life conversion of the Cromwell Tank, to get a 17-pdr-armed tank into service as an alternate to the Sherman Firefly, as more tanks with the harder hitting gun were needed.
The hull was lengthened by 1 roadwheel, and the hull area under the new turret widened above the trackguard level to provide for the larger turret ring required for the turret to mount the bigger gun.
The hull m.g. was deleted along with the hull machine gunner, as with the Sherman Firefly, to provide more room for ammunition.

Based on a Matchbox Comet kit, which like the real vehicle was lengthened; also changes were made to the upper hull.
A new turret was made, with the gun from a Matchbox Sherman Firefly.

A few years ago I found a mix to lighten Humbrol 66 to be closer to the WW2 shade, which involved mixing either 8th Army or Afrika Korps Desert Sand into it; so I tried one of each, and they did the job nicely. 
I couldn't tell you which one I used for this model, though.

Spares box markings.

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[Old Wombat]

Nice!   

[NARSES2]

Nice!   

Indeed, shows the how high the turret was on the real thing. 

[Pellson]

Great job, in particular with the extension. 

[scooter]

Y'know, I swear that's the same style turret they slapped on top of (the mighty) TOG

[frank2056]

That's a impressive tank and turret! Almost like a British KV-2

[Rick Lowe]

Thanks, folks. 

Scoot; it's not quite identical, but darn close.
The TOG turret is sort of a cross of this, and the Centaur one (with all the large rivets).

[Rick Lowe]

It's been an... 'interesting' year so far:

finding time to get to the board (when I'm at home and not house sitting)
the WiPs needing more to finish them than I had thought
still not having found a box of 8-9 finished models to photograph
rebooting* my laptop and now I have to reload everything from the backup stick - hope that goes ok...

*(I had something start to load and when I closed it down, it locked my files - almost like a Ransomware attack, but this came from M$... though from where I stand, I fail to see any difference...    )

So all in all, not much progress for 2026. That will change; but in the meantime, posts will be a little more sporadic than they have been. *sigh*

[NARSES2]

Hope you can get things sorted out mate 

[kerick]

That's a impressive tank and turret! Almost like a British KV-2

I was thinking the same thing!

I hate it when real life gets in my way!

[Rick Lowe]

Thanks, folks. 

Yeah. this 'Life' thing keeps intruding... ah well.