Hi

This is my Canadian RG31 that I'm building from the Kinetic kit. I find the kit's engineering and fit to be excellent. There are a few challenges in the instructions as to placement but other than that, everything is just fine with this kit. It's a real fun build so far.

The suspension built up quickly and since then, I've been working on the interior and here's some WIP photos. I modified the kit seats to be shorter as they are too tall as provided. I also added masking tape seatbelts and modified the gunners seat to look more realistic by sanding the rear frame support very thin and then opening up the lattice work of the frame itself. To give the vehicle interior an overall more authentic look, I added some wiring and cabling, spruced up the dash a bit by adding Mike Grant cockpit dials and placards(excellent product Mike, thanks!)and a drop of future, scratcbuilt an air conditioner unit under the right rear seat and built up the radio set with extra bits, some coiled wire and a scratchbuilt handset. I also added some small scratchbuilt comms equipment to the left hand window pillar opposite the gunner.

The last picture shows the roof tie downs I added from the Trumpeter Styker update set as well as the subtle (I hope....lol) non-skid texture that I added with Rustoleum's Terra Cotta Fine Textured Spray rattle can.

Sorry about the so-so photos, they're taken with my iPhone and a flash so the quality isn't the best but you'll get what I'm trying to do. Please let me know what you think.

cheers
Bob















Next, the RWS I think... More later.

Wow, looks much better then mine Bob nice work.

Thanks Alex, yours is very nice too!

Here's a few shots of the RWS. The green parts are from the AFV Club RWS kit and the tan ones are from the Kinetic RG31 kit. I bashed the two together because the Canadian launchers are different. I'm using a Dragon L7A2 from their Modern Machine Gun set to represent the Canadian C6.







Sorry again about the quality of the photos. I'll try and take some better ones later.

cheers!
Bob

Bob why did you swap out the kit RWS for the AFV club one? I didn't find the kit one all that bad, it was actually quite nice.

Great start Rob very nice crisp detail in that dash board

Thanks Paul!

Hi Alex
I definitely liked the looks of the Kit RWS but the AFV Club parts were just that much better. I already had a couple of sets of the AFV Club RWS kit because I had intended on converting the Kintetic American RG31 to a Canadian one but hadn't gotten around to it by the time the Canadian version came out.



Bob

Hi Thrillseekers

Here's a few more update shots. I found that all of the major components fit very nicely together. This is also one of the best kits I've built in regards to suspension and all the related undercarriage. It's the first one where all four wheel mounts touch the ground. No wobble, no parts out of line....perfect! ( I didn't believe you Tony but ya proved me wrong!)

Enjoy and let me know what you think.











Bob

Nice Work, I have the US RG-31 and, I think this is a great help

Thanks Geoff, I appreciate your comment and I hope this article will help.

Additionally, I just want to make a comment on how nice this kit really is. It's not Dragon and it's not Tamiya but overall, I'm impressed with the level of detail, the fit and the engineering. I haven't had any problems so far and the only thing to do really was carefully nipping the parts from the sprues, then a little bit of cleanup and it's off to the races. The instructions are a little confusing in a couple of spots but if you go carefully, all becomes clear (waaaay better than some Dragon stuff I've seen!). There are a few sink marks to fill and some knockout circles to take care of, but nothing major and they are mostly hidden from view once assempled. Kinetic has done a really nice job here and I applaud them for the engineering and fit of this kit. I'm having fun with this one!!


Bob

Looks great so far. How did that Rustoleum Terra Cotta do for the anti-slip? Does it seem like it will be visible as anti-slip once painted?

Hi Thomas, thanks for your comment!

Yes, the Rustoleum Fine Textured Spray works very well as a representation of anti-slip coatings. It's subtle enough to be in scale yet shows up well under a thin layer of airbrushed paint as a fine and slightly gritty textured surface. Just mask and spray it on. Go lightly for a finer effect and heavier if you want a deeper grit. It can be sanded easily in spots to represent surface wear and you just airbrush over it. I've used it before on other 1/35th vehicles and it works great and I highly recommend it. I use the terra cotta flavour because I think it has the right scale effect but there are others you could try. I picked mine up at a big box hardware store in a large can for 7 or 8 dollars and it's lasted me for years. Great stuff!!


Bob

Looking good Bob. I have some pics of the beast if you need any. You coming up to the IPMS show?

Jim

Your lucky Bob,mine came with a warped upper hull and has left me with some really unsightly mismatched lines.

Also be careful when it comes to the decals. They proved to be quite tricky as they wanted to fold up onto themselves and one even fell of after a liberal application of micro-sol.

Again, looks real nice can't wait to see paint on it.

Hi Jim,

Thanks! If you have any interior pics, it might not be too late for me to add some insides that might be missing. I haven't put the windows in yet so I could still play 'ship in a bottle' and squeeze a few things in. I hope to make it to IPMS and it would be nice to see you there.

Alex
Sorry about your misfortunes. I'll watch out for the decals. Any hints?

cheers

Bob

Best bet is just lay down lots of water, micro sol and then seal them with a flat coat as soon as possible.

I have one partial interior image for you, courtesy of the Calgary Highlanders

Thanks Alex, I'll take your advice with the decals. I have that pic already but thanks. It's one of the few interior shots I could find. This is the one that helped show me how the frame on the back of the gunners seat looked. the kit one is solid so I sanded it thin And cut out the open spots in the frame.

cheers
Bob

Good Day Thrillseekers!

Here's somne pics of some the progess that I've made on the RWS and C6 mounting cradle. I was all set to mount the C6 as is in the same cradel as the .50 cal, but my reference photos showed me that there was an added C6 cradle on top of the standard M151 mount. This would have to be scratchbuilt so I took care of that quicklty with some thin styrene card and some stretched sprue bolt heads. Now the C6 mounts quite a bit higher in it's new cradle like it's supposed to. I've dry fitted the C6 here for illustration. Still havin' fun....!

Cheers
Bob













Sorry about the picture rotation. It's correct in Photobucket, but when I uploaded them here, they switched on me. Everyone tilt you head to the right......

Wow, nice job on that cradle. Love the little details.



cheers

Thanks Rick, cheers!

And I notice that the pics in my latest post have magically rotated themselves.....weirdness....

Bob

Did you get my PM?


cheers

Mine too - Need your e-mail address...
Indeed, nice job on the C6 cradle.

Jim

H Rick and Jim
I sent my home email addy to you both, cheers!

I hope to have the RWS and then the upper hatches and rear door finished in the next day or two. Then I can start adding paint. I'm going to show it opened up with the 3 upper hatches and the rear door open so as much of the interior as possible can be seen. I want to sprinkle some papers and little bits of personal gear (water bottles?) around for that 'lived in' look, but nothing major that would hide the seatbelt detail and other inner workings. No packs or big boxes or the like. I used some latex glove material to make some rubberized tarps and they're stowed under the left hand seats. I also have to scratch up the four holding-open mechanisms for the rear upper hatches but that should go easily. More soon....

Bob

Hello again

Here's an update on the RWS with C6 for my Canadian RG31. This is complete now so let me know what you think. I'm toying with the idea of adding some wiring/cabling on it but then I'd have to do the grenade launcher chains and I don't have any PE for that....waddya think?











Next....more interior scratchbuilt parts as I try fitting stuff in through the windows and hatches because I've already glued the upper and lower hulls together. Ha! FUN!!

Thanks to Rick Saucier for some great interior shots!!

cheers

Bob

Excellent modification on the RWS, looks really good now. With additional cabling and wiring it would look even better.

For missing PE chains I did this trick for years ... twist 2 thin wires together, squeeze and flatten them with flat pliers and voila you have nice, small chain.

cheers
Walter

Thanks Walter, I'll give that a try.

cheers

Bob