More RCW Holes Plugged

I'd never really thought about the Austin Kegresse.  That probably applies to most people, even those who know what one is. I was aware of this armoured car/half track combo due to Tom Hillman's excellent "Armoured Automobiles of the Russian Civil War" booklet*, but never thought about getting one. After all no one made a 15mm model, and the conversion looked horrible to do.

If you don't know what they looked like, here's one on display at a Polish museum.

And then the world invented 3d printing, and one turned up on the Butler's Printed Model site. I'm a recent convert to the use of 3d printed models, but Chris Kemp at the Not Quite Mechanised Blog has bought a few over the last few years.

I ordered a pair. One of them was nice and clean, the other came with a lot of supporting resin still attached.

I have to admit I had a little panic when I got them out of the box. The uncleaned model looked like it had melted, and the resin felt quite tough to cut away. I emailed BPM and asked what was going on. They directed me to a video on how to clean them up. Basically you grab the extraneous bits with a pair of thin nosed pliers, and pull them away. I should have read the website front page properly.

This is nerve wracking at first, as there is some fine printing on the models that looks fragile, and exactly how much force should be used is something you have to work at. It took a while, but I soon had the model cleaned up and ready for painting.

The front tyres look a bit scruffier than they should do, but that's a trick of the light.

The models were not at all ridgy, unlike the previous 3d models I've bought from Syborg. Slightly more expensive but worth it if they make the same models (which they don't in the case of what I wanted from Syborg).

They are very light weight, but rigid, and they took the paint well. I admit it isn't a very sophisticated paint job, but they look okay. I have avoided painting any slogans, names or insignia on them so I can use them for both sides.

Yes, a bit of an oddity, but they've turned out well. Don't know if they'll make the table of Tuesday. We'll see how things go.

*This is a brilliant piece of work, as is everything Tom has published on the RCW. My copy is very well thumbed. Thoroughly recommended, worth every penny.