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61

General Discussions / Re: M102 105mm Light Howitzer instructions...

« Last post by Stuart on December 30, 2022, 11:54:36 am »

Have not seen the model either, but I am curious if the model includes the stakes to secure the baseplate to the ground while in the firing position. The M102 was always "nailed down" while firing.

Also, I am wondering if the kit includes such things as ammo boxes, aiming stakes and an aiming circle for use in making a diorama.

62

General Discussions / Re: M102 105mm Light Howitzer instructions...

« Last post by Tracks on December 27, 2022, 09:18:51 am »

Rubicon Models has not posted the instruction sheet for their M102 105mm Light Howitzer kit (Product Code: 280126), and I do not have this kit (it wasn't used in WW2).

Rubicon Models used to be pretty good at posting their instructions for their kits. They would post them just before the kit was released or shortly afterwards. The great thing about this was that people were then able to as questions within the "Official Assembly Instructions" thread. I wonder why they stopped this practice because it was very useful, and at times, informative.

Anyway, can you share some pics of the sections and parts in question?

As for Section 10, most of their kits can be assembled either deployed or in transport mode, and sometimes both if you do not glue the parts (depend on the gun). When assembling, people should read the instructions carefully. Rubicon Models instructions are usually very good and at times has lots of details and side notes. However, people sometimes rush through without carefully examining and noting any special options/choices/drilling/warnings/modifications. Not sure how common this is, but I have a friend that does this all the time.

Sometimes Rubicon Models does make a mistake or two, but that is where their "Official Assembly Instructions" thread becomes very handy and people can ask. Or have questions if something is not clear or misleading.

Well, I guess that was a long answer to say, "Can you take a picture?"

63

General Discussions / M102 105mm Light Howitzer instructions...

« Last post by Ari Marsson on December 15, 2022, 04:13:41 pm »

Gents, received my M102 105mm Light Howitzer kit today.
Nice kit, as expected, but have a couple of questions re the instruction sheet...
.
Section 8.  What is the rationale behind not glueing parts A17 & A18?
.
Section 10.  Are the labels 'On-Tow' and 'Deployed' transposed?
Using parts B03 & B04 gives a lower barrel elevation more suitable for travel...
Needless to say I only realised this after building it!

64

Work In Progress / Re: Project of the Month - Dec 2021 - M3 Lee & Grant

« Last post by Rubicon Models on December 14, 2022, 01:43:28 pm »

Soviet vehicles and equipment in plastic:
Plastic AT-Guns  - these would be popular; especially the ZiS-2 and ZiS-3 AT guns.
BA-64 – one of the most produced Soviet armored cars.
Note: The BA-3/BA-6 and BA-10 from Rubicon Models are very good model kits.
BT-5 or BT-7 - a BT-7 is coming soon?
T-60 or T-70
SU-76

And of course the Medium Tank M3 (AKA the Lee) was also used by the Soviet Army in WW2.

We had not been updating the forum a lot this year due to limited resources handling social media.  We currently are focusing on Facebook only, hopefully, this will improve next year.

Here is an update on the Soviet related projects you mentioned:

Plastic AT-Guns  - these would be popular; especially the ZiS-2 and ZiS-3 AT guns.
>> ZiS-3 drawings are done, awaiting mould making.
>> ZiS-2 is still on the wishlist.

BA-64 – one of the most produced Soviet armored cars.
>> BA-64 is still on the wishlist.

BT-5 or BT-7 - a BT-7 is coming soon?
>> BT-7 & Variants drawings are done, awaiting mould making.

T-60 or T-70
>> No plan at this moment.

SU-76
>> No plan at this moment.

M3 Lee/Grant
>> Drawings are done, awaiting mould making.

65

Work In Progress / Re: Project of the Month - Dec 2021 - M3 Lee & Grant

« Last post by Rubicon Models on December 14, 2022, 01:31:47 pm »

Not even a "Project of the Month" for quite sometime now. Maybe RM needs some good ideas?

We'd announced halting "Project of the Month" feature at the beginning of the year.  There are just too many open-ended projects and we would like to spend time finishing them all firsts before starting new ones.

Being that said, we are still starting new projects, but not at the rate of "at least" one per month.

66

Work In Progress / Re: Project of the Month - Dec 2021 - M3 Lee & Grant

« Last post by Tracks on December 14, 2022, 10:39:41 am »

All quiet on the Rubicon front.

it has been pretty quiet here on Rubicon Models website for these last few months.

Not even a "Project of the Month" for quite sometime now. Maybe RM needs some good ideas?
How about some more Soviet WW2 stuff?

Soviet vehicles and equipment in plastic:
Plastic AT-Guns  - these would be popular; especially the ZiS-2 and ZiS-3 AT guns.
BA-64 – one of the most produced Soviet armored cars.
Note: The BA-3/BA-6 and BA-10 from Rubicon Models are very good model kits.
BT-5 or BT-7 - a BT-7 is coming soon?
T-60 or T-70
SU-76

And of course the Medium Tank M3 (AKA the Lee) was also used by the Soviet Army in WW2.

67

Wish Lists / Re: Cold War Armor

« Last post by somtec on November 19, 2022, 03:01:14 am »

second that for the m48, m60s m109, t62 bmps

68

Wish Lists / Cold War Armor

« Last post by Stuart on October 27, 2022, 11:09:26 pm »

Rubicon's Face Book page recently mentioned that they were "considering" producing cold war era vehicles. I for one hope this comes about.
While WWII holds my interest, it is during the Cold War that I aculally did my soldiering. To that end I though it might be productive to see what others think about the idea, and list those models that would be the essentials in any cold war line. By that I mean the major players initially, then if the line takes off in popularity, the nice to haves could be added.

These are the ones that I think of as essentials

M48A5
M60A1 and A3
M109 Early versions
Chieftian
FV432
T62
T64
T72
BMP 1 & 2

Of course to complement the ground game, a forward pass, in the form of an AH 1 Cobra would be most welcome

69

General Discussions / Re: A Gentleman's War

« Last post by Tracks on October 21, 2022, 11:49:10 am »

Just a quick follow up:
A member in my gaming group picked up the new starter set called "A Gentleman's War" and brought it with him one day for a show and tell. So I finally got a chance to get a better look at what is inside and this includes the two armored cars. Looks like the SdKfz 222 is made by Italeri and the Humber is made by SK. Both look nice and are more than good enough for tabletop miniature gaming.

I had offered to assemble (not paint) his armored cars, and even though he was very tempted to take my offer, he too likes building things and wanted to do it himself. So I cannot do a side by side build comparison of the Rubicon Models and Italeri SdKfz 222 model kit.

I did take a good look at it, and from what I saw of the Italeri kit, both the Rubicon Models and the Italeri kits look nice and are vastly superior to the resin and metal kits available. This including the Blitzkrieg Miniatures model. The tabletop gamer could choose either the Rubicon Models or the Italeri kit and be rewarded with a very good model. That being said, I will stick to Rubicon Models. I'm just surprised Warlord didn't ask RM if they could use theirs. No team work in this industry. That is for sure.

As for the Humber armored car, well, it is the very first plastic model of the Humber Mk.II/IV. This one looks like it comes from SK - the look and style of the kit itself gives it away. I was able to give it a good look over and it looks like a very good plastic model kit and a great addition to our gaming hobby. This plastic model should be far superior to any resin/metal kit now available. Sadly though, we cannot just buy this model by itself. At least not yet.

That being said, I did notice something strange. It shows that the model kit can be assembled as a Mk.II or Mk.IV. However, the location of the spare tire (in the instructions) is the same. On the Mk.IV, the spare tire should be on the side and not on the front, but maybe some Mk.IVs had it on the front? Overall, this should not be a problem. This will only give rivet counters nightmares. Also, with a little extra skill and work, the kit could easily be modified so that the spare tire could be moved from the front to the side. But like I said, I don't see this as a big issue, and most tabletop gamers will probably just assemble the kit as a Mk.IV without realizing this. The important thing to take away here is that we now have one very good plastic model of the Humber Mk.II or Mk.IV armored car!

70

Wish Lists / Re: Focusing on the more useful kits – wake up and smell the molded plastic!

« Last post by Tracks on October 08, 2022, 10:12:23 am »

I have updated the list at the very start of this thread to include a few bits of new information (new releases).

Still hoping to see the QF 6-pounder AT-Gun mentioned earlier turned into a 57mm Gun M1 / QF 6-pounder (American/British) AT-Gun combo kit.