Rubicon Models Kettenkrad

 Nice tiny Rubicon Models 1/56 scale Kettenkrad. It's so small, I forgot I finished it last month! It's been sitting hidden the bust I've been painting off and on, so I completely forgot about it. This is built (mostly) out of box, with the exception of the molded on mudflaps that I removed and the addition of a tailpipe to the muffler.

This is painted in Tamiya, Vallejo and AK Interactive acrylic paints and weathered using AK and Ammo enamels. Decals are from Rubicon, with the exception of the Goliath number, which I took from an old GW Cadian decal sheet.

SS Wiking Sdkfz 250 Neu

I happened to pick up one of Rubicon Models' 1/56 Sdkfz 250/1 Neu kits a few months ago on sale and I'm so happy I did. This was just an amazing model to assemble and paint. I was astounded by just how much detail went into this kit, considering it's made for wargaming. Assembly was a breeze - the pieces fit well, instructions were clear, and there was virtually no flash. The only small criticisms I have are that the fit between the upper and lower hull is every so slightly askew, leaving a very small gap between the pieces if you fit after painting the interior and that the MG shield has a rather large mold divet on the reverse which is tough to fix. Honestly though, these flaws are so tiny they're hard to notice and I didn't bother fixing them.

Painting the AFV itself was mostly straightforward. It is primed in Krylon Red Oxide with hairsray applied after for chipping effects. The interior is Vallejo Olive Green, chipped and with highlights of 50/50 Olive Green/White, then washed liberally with Vallejo European Dirt wash and some thinned GW Earthshade wash on the floor. The exterior basecoat is Tamiya Buff, with hard-edged camouflage of Tamiya Red Brown and Flat Green. I then added decals from Rubicon and Italeri, sealed, and did my normal oil rendering. Once that was complete, I added so dry pigments around the lower hull in the track and wheel wells.

A shot of the gorgeous interior detailing including a full instrument panel, seating, stowage bins, and weapons racks. This is not the historically correct interior color (exposed surfaces would have been Dunkelgelb) but I wanted the color to pop to emphasize the detailing.

A shot of just how tiny this AFV really is. Hard to believe you could fit more than 2-3 guys fully kitted out in here.

Product Review: Rubicon Models 1/56 SdKfz 250 Neu

This isn't really a new release, but I haven't seen very many product reviews done for this kit and, after picking one up for my late war German army, decided to do one myself. My only prior experience with Rubicon was their extremely inaccurate and poorly modeled Panzer III kit (which I'm given to understand, they have since re-tooled) and their Opel Blitz (which is a decent kit) so I was a little hesitant but decided to take the leap...and I'm glad I did.

The kit itself consists of two sprues, an instruction sheet, and a German decal sheet. Having assembled a few Rubicon kits, it appears that their AFVs share the same decal sheet. On the plus side, this presents the ability to model all sorts of different vehicles and leaves a lot of extra decals leftover. However, this does prevent the modeling of unique vehicles, so take that as you will. The instruction sheet is clear and concise, as well as pointing out additional steps that need to be taken if you've bought one of the many expansion kits.

The plastic quality is decent enough, though even after washing I've noticed a slight glossy sheen to many of the parts. Whether this affect priming and painting remains to be seen (I'll update this if it does). The mold quality is fantastic - there are very little mold lines and flash or slippage is non-existent.

Assembly is fairly straightforward, though early on it requires several holes to be drilled to place parts and, in a few cases, it's unclear which hole needs to be drilled if you aren't using one of the expansions. My advice is to go slow and dry-fit parts before gluing. The only problem I ran into was that the slot to fit the side stowage bins isn't long enough, so they don't sit flush with the vehicle hull unless you remove some of the plastic on the back of the the bin to make it fit correctly. Three crew members are included - a driver, MG gunner, and commander - which is a nice addition and (unlike many kits in this scale) they are properly scaled and proportioned. I used the driver, but decided against the other crew...though I'll inevitably end up using them elsewhere. Another great option for this kit is the ability to easily split it into sub-assemblies for easier painting (seen below) that (as I dry fit them) seem to go together flawlessly once complete.

All in all, I'm very happy with this kit and highly recommend it!

Pros:

• Extremely detailed and accurate kit
• Pieces included to make the initial and later production models
• Lots of optional kits available from Rubicon to make the different models
• Extra crew included

Cons:

• Being a very detailed kit, this may be complex for beginning modelers
• Some very minor fit issues
• No stowage included