Rooikat

Steven Van Dyck
The suspension comes first in this build, something to pay attention to as mistakes can be made on the steering parts position. The leopard figures will be changed to caracals or "rooikats".

Steven Van Dyck
Two corrections had to be made. First, I had reversed all main suspension parts in the front four wheels. Why this is made possible by Trumpeter I don't understand, last week the construction seemed to make sense but now I saw the double flange was missing. I also corrected the telescope spring claw, this was sitting in a crooked way. Everything is just not fitting well in this suspension, risking to cause a camber. Also a reprimand on Panzer Art, they copied the wheel hub space too shallow. Therefore I had to remove large parts of the hub and also reduce the diameter of that to make the hub fit again. The detail is worth it. I also doubt that the steering arm allows for a full turn radius, as it is clamping too close around the shock absorber.

Tom B.
Looks like quite a challenge you have to tackle there... anyway I´m definetly keeping an eye on this. The Rooikat is just a really cool vehicle 👍

Steven Van Dyck
After all this build went quite fast, it's already in line at the spraying booth. I made an effort to drill trough every eyelet on the turret, costing me 2 drills. I now painted the tyres already, but this is for the next update.

Villiers de Vos
A very nice build. I am looking forward to your painting phase.

Steven Van Dyck
Thank you, Villiers, and thanks for the likes.

Steven Van Dyck
Some pictures of the tyres and the primed PE meshes. I received today the Olifant MBT from Hobbyboss, but I doubt I can fit this to the same dio.

Steven Van Dyck
The first two colors are done. After the primer and the Deck Tan I wanted to use Tamiya Red Brown 2 but this is too dark and too green (?). Then I shadowed with some dark red and sprayed Gunze RLM79 over the Red Brown. This came out great. For tyre masking I was able to reuse the DEF models Saladin masking set.

Villiers de Vos
Perfect.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Villiers. The painting is done now and I'm comparing it to my G6 Rhino, painted in the same camo style. It's almost ready to do some weathering, but I have to repair a piece of railing. I also added a shot of the intended diorama setting. I need to reduce the frame by 1/3 and I will add a tree stump with the two cats on it. This will look like the picture I found at africageographic.com..cal/caracal-in-tree/

Villiers de Vos
You nailed it in both cases. Two thumbs up!

Nathan Dempsey
Looking great Steven.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks. The Rooikat now has a diorama base and some trees made out of a branch. The cats are fixed in this with some compound glue. Because the tyres were still extending out of the hull, I had to further reduce the hubs and insert brass axles. Two Djiti SANDF figures are also added.

Rui S
Nice camo 👍

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Rui! I realised that some termite mounds could enrich this flat diorama, so I did some investigation (mangoafricansafaris...hree-cheers-termites) and built them up in plaster. Then I covered the result in AK Dark Earth paste, which is of course too dark and will be lighted up with pigments.

Nathan Dempsey
The termite mounds are a cool idea.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Nathan. Today you see the painted cats, based on a photo spread in a book about cats I found in the recycling store.

Steven Van Dyck
Mig's Dark Wash seemed ideal for this camo, though it started eating the license plates that were not properly sealed. I just removed some carrier film and it will turn out okay.

Villiers de Vos
Very good. I have one of these in my stash and I have bookmarked your build.

Nathan Dempsey
The camo and wash are looking great.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks for the nice comments. I now added some fabric that is painted green to look like savannah. The figures are painted in camo. At last I found a masking method but I did not entirely do the pictures right. Now the trees are refurbished a bit with the Greenstuff leaves clipper.

Steven Van Dyck
This dio was thought to be finished today, but I noticed I forgot to remove the masking from the vehicle. Branches made from dried tree roots (much more crooked than their overworld counterparts) and Noch sponge mass were added to the dry stumps and the resin block with the cat. A copper pin was inserted in this to assure the position. This was also done in the 4 outermost resin wheels of the vehicle, but I removed the front left one as it proved near impossible to find back the holes I drilled under the grass! The figures got a freehand correction of the green camo color and were placed so as to find out the position of the cats in the tree. This should put the viewer on the way to discover them, but I did use a shallow outline wash and some eyeliner to make sure you could discern them. I'll add a picture of the removed masking, but this will mark a temorary departure of the SANDF theme until I find the courage to undertake the next project: Olifant MK-1B MBT (HobbyBoss 83897, 1:35)

Steven Van Dyck
Now the unmasked Rooikat is visible, but the front clearparts seem like they cracked internally. Too bad, this project is finished.