Rocast Models

Hi all,

Time for an update to the blog, and this time it has also been a visual update. It has been some time since I wanted to change a bit the theme and make it more “lively”.

Well, the material I needed for the photo etch process arrived at the beginning of the week and I have been able to start finishing units.

There is still some work to do, specially these next two weeks will be very busy as it is more or less the time it will take me to make all the PE, this PE will be made for the 1/144 GSE models as well as for the B787 galleys (front, center and rear).

I’ve been also working on a cargo loader to use as a video review on my new yet to create Youtube channel, I may be uploading a video first of the finished result that you can see in the photos below and later the build progress which is a 10 hour work put together in about 1h long video.

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Building this cargo loader was very fun and challenging, well, I have to be honest and say that I build it with some pressure as I was also working on the PE.

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What am I working on currently?

• Making the PE for all GSE and B787 galleys which, once finished, will allow me to restock those items at the store.
• Finishing production on the new GSE model; the container transporter for which I will be making a “quick” build this weekend, also planned to make a video of it.
• Working on the B787 cockpit crew figures (hopefully to be released at the same time).
• Working on the cargo loader (or cargo scenery) figures, I started this a long ago, and now I pushed it forward, also hoping to release it simultaneously.
• New container, this one is very meaningful to me and it was inspired by a video that my friend Frank sent to me, this new container was in charge to deliver the Covid-19 vaccines and it is therefore, a refrigerated container. It will include all its decals and markings.
• Take the new product photos of all GSE items for which parts were made new.

That is all for now, I will be most surely giving another update next week with more information on regards release date as well.

Also, the newsletter is going to be a bit different next time as I no longer work with the provider I had, due incompatibilities between plugins, php and whatnot.

Thank you all for reading and for your patience, it has been an incredible pressuring time for me, still is, because I still have to take care of some things at home besides all the work, but as long as I love what I do, that is the energy I need.

Stay safe everyone,
Guillem

Dear all,

I have not been able to find one of the materials needed for the PE process within my country this time, so I had to order it overseas. While I wait for this material to arrive and finish up finally all the stock units, I am working on some smaller stuff that I want to release as well on the same day.

I have been working on the TLD TF-10-FTC container transporter and I am currently also working on its driver figure.

 

There are also going to be newer stuff such as cargo operation figures specifically designed to be used with the Commander FMC15i which will make for a nice combination with this new transporter as well. I will also be making a new container but more news on that will be written in a few days, just to give a small hint, it is a very important container specially for these days.

I will also be releasing flight crew to be used for the B787 galleys and cockpit, Captain and First officer figures and I am also wondering if include a couple flight attendants in the set.

 

I am preparing everything for when the PE material arrives, because once it does I will continue with the stock and have it ready as soon as possible. In the meantime I am working on the last instructions remaining to do (or remake).
I will finally be working on a cargo loader next weekend and record the process which hopefully will be a good start for my future Youtube channel.

I am also going to be working on a change with the newsletter system because the one I am using currently is no longer working with my website version, but I can’t update my PHP because then it would be incompatible with my shop. So I will be working on a different method.

 

That is all for now, lots of stuff to do; there may not be many updates but there is a lot of work going on in order to restock those items soon.
Wish you all the best of health,
Guillem

Dear all,

How is everything going?
For me it has been quite a hard time this last month, trying to divide my time to work and help at home, but I am finally on a routine so I am doing fine at the moment.

I have been working on the new units and everything is nearly done being the photo etched parts the last thing to make.

I am also currently half the way done with the new instructions which had to be redone in order to show the new assembly with the new parts (numbered).

I am working on the windshields for the AST-1 and the TLD-JST25 Tow tractor, my aim is to provide them pre cut. A news on the TLD-JST25 Tractor is that the set will now include (your choice) four figures, either four with helmet or four without, but these four will be divided into two with “summer” clothing and two with “winter” clothing. This way you can exchange the figures at your liking and the same thing applies but with summer/winter versions with helmet. I am aware that perhaps in most parts of the world “summer” (short pants and T-shirt) are not permited, but I want to provide as much choices as possible, similar to the helmet which is the norm in Japan.

If you decide to make these figures interchangeable, you can always use glue stick (to stick paper) to temporarily fix those figures, this is something I often do to take the photos.

 

There may be a little surprise upon the restock of all those items, as I would like to try and make a new small GSE model to complement the cargo loader and maybe some other stuff.

Speaking of the cargo loader, I am looking forward to make a build progress video that will be the first one to upload at my future Youtube channel, this will be done during the next couple weekends while I will need the next two weeks to make the needed photo etch for all the GSE and galleys stock.

B787 rear galley will also be release then.

 

To be honest, it has been a very difficult time for the business recently, with all these changes it is risky to do to a small business like mine, but in the end I thought that was the way to do things and present those items in even sharper detail and allowing myself to have more time to continue creating.
I must say, I feel very enthusiastic to create and to keep going with more stuff, I want to go on with the 1/144, 1/200, 1/72 (and perhaps 1/100) GSE models, and of course, I am eager to continue with the projects once all of this restockig is done; the B787 cargo holds, the B747-8F cargo project, the 1/12 B737 cabin and so many others I want to make.

This change with the parts has paused me somehow, but the dream and hapiness to create more content is still there. In the meantime, I am also working on the 1/144 aircraft liveries, taking my time to make tidy and detailed instructions, the more complex those are, the more time it takes to make.

 

I sincerely hope everyone is doing well wherever part of the world you are reading me from. Temperatures are starting to rise here, hopefully that won’t affect a lot to the production, with the areation changes we did last summer, everything should be better.

Wish you all the best, stay safe and stay careful because we are not done yet with Covid-19.

Guillem

 

Hello all,

It has been quite a complex days here during the last weeks.

I am working on everything as much as possible, unfortunately there have been things at home that prevented me to progress more.
With my mother having an issue with her knee, I must do the work that she does at home as well as take care of my grandma as usual.

All in all there is nothing serious but rather a lot of patience is needed, so I have to divide my time to reach to everything.

Despite of that, I have been progressing with the new parts and been able to make more units of all the GSE catalogue as well as 787 galleys (including the new rear galley).

Today I wanted to comment on some improvements that I took the chance to do while preparing those new parts.

This is something that I have been doing for the last months, but I have to say that another reason why all is taking more time is because I am printing only with one printer again, like at the beginning.

The reason for this is that technology has advanced and my other two printers are inoperative simply because the latest one can provide me with sharper details.

It is a pity for me as I have two printers doing nothing (except some personal projects) but for me it was very clear to have all of the parts as detailed as I can get.

I am going to be switching to have more of these printers if the future sales permit, as I have already done a big investment (for me personally) on the silk screen decals.

The improvements that I did in some of the GSE models are:

– Better fitting of the tow tractor TLD JST-25 Cab onto the body. The fitting is so precise now that you can have a cab or a standard version at the same time, simply by adding the cab onto the finished model, so you can switch styles. I will be reworking the decals and include the bottom windows of the cab.

Please check all images in full size for better detailing

– Some more sharpening allowed me to highlight better the stairs truck TLD ABS1740 steps lights.

– I have tried with no success the use of clear resin for the cabins, and although I had a clear cabin, this type of resin did not fully capture all the details as a standard resin does.
I am talking about polyurethane resin here, as transparent resin for 3D printing will always end up yellowing because this resin dries under an UV source, and it is precisely anti UV additives what permits the clear polyurethane resin to not to turn yellow over time (it uses a catalyst to dry).
There have been other issues related to this resin, taking it forever to dry for such a tiny part, which made the whole thing non-viable.
Despite this, I wanted to improve the cabins and made better frames for the acetate windshields, and this time these windshields will already be provided pre cut (at least that is my intention).

Please check all images in full size for better detailing

– Better detailing at the back of the belt loader TUG660 body, now the body will consist of two sides that will need to be assembled together.

Another area I have been working on is the A320/A320Neo illustrations for the decal sets. I am taking this in more detail than before and trying to achieve a more realistic feel.

Please check all images in full size for better detailing

There is still quite a lot of work required before I can release those silkscreen/laser decals, making the illustrations and later the instructions is taking me a lot o f time and effort, but the overall product will be of higher quality than before.
Depending on the costs, I would like to supply the first page as a two profile photo to be included as a collectible. Once the A320 and A321 are completed, I will proceed with the A350.

 

That is all for now, I am continuing working to have as many units as I can of everything, I wish to finish soon so that I can go on with the current projects and to make further progress with the decals.

 

I am considering what to do with the few items I currently have in stock with the parts pre cut (and as sharpen as the new ones are), and what to do with them once I start the next restock with the new parts, so I am thinking about giving them away, including them in orders for those that frequently order from me as a shown of appreciation for all the support, I wish I could do this with everyone of you, unfortunately the current quantities are very few.

I would like to thank you all for your support and for your patience.

Wish you all have a very nice week and hopefully I will be able to update the blog again soon.
Guillem

Hi,

I wanted to write this short entry to say that I am still working on the new parts for each GSE model (except baggage carts and dollies which will be packaged as always). These are not “new” parts per se, but rearranging them so that they are on a base.
This takes quite some time because small adjustments on the base of some parts are required, but most of it is done. I am also testing to see the ease of removal from the base and so far all looks very good to me. Spares are still included.

There is no detail loss and the parts are well arranged with numbers beneath them, which is going to lead me to readjust the instructions with this extra bit of info as well. I may also do a complete change on the ilustrations but that will require some extra time.

I’ve been also working on the airliner decal illustrations (first for the A320/A321 family, then the A350), I already have the silk screens in my possesion but there is still some work to do with the laser parts of the set. I am working on the illustrations so that I can represent the aircraft as realistic and nice as possible, as I also wish for these instructions to be a small “collectable”.

Work goes on, as I am testing each GSE model, the new restock is being done, the B787 galleys for example are nearly done, and there will be more units initially than what I used to restock so far.

Wish everyone is doing well and wish you all a nice week.

Best wishes,
Guillem

 

Dear all,

In this entry I will be writing about something that I felt I needed to mention.

As you probably know, restocking is something that always takes me a very long time, it is often the case that a model becomes out of stock and it takes weeks for me to get it back in stock, this is not because I am not working on it, but for the reason I will explain below.

I have been taking some considerations and I reached a point where I could not be spending hours and hours cutting hundreds and hundreds of tiny parts cause I felt I was in a way doing something that a modeler should be doing instead and that no kit or manufacturer ever does, which is provide all the parts cut off their base. Can you imagine Revell or Zvezda or any other plastic kit manufacturer for that matter, cutting all the parts from their plastic burrs and baggaging them pre sanded and ready? It would take a lot of effort that I can actually invest in other matters such as Photo etching which I finally was able to fix.

I have done some tests with the cockpit and galley parts as you can see from these photos:

Click on the image to show closeup details

This is not much different than what I used to do long ago, and in my opinion it presents more positive points than cons.

• Customer won’t have to be worried to open a bag and have lots of tiny pieces lying around to pick a specific one.
• Now, thanks to the base, I can add numbers below each part to make things easier to understand in the instructions.
• Instructions will have a specific step that will show where the cut to remove the part off the base needs to be done at (even though this is quite self explantory).
• Having the parts in their bases makes it for a more tidy presentation, modeler can cut the part that need to be used whilst leaving the others on the base.
• Level of detail is still the same as the previous parts.
• For some specific parts, the painting may be done easier as they are already on a base.
• I still include spares knowing that some parts may be quite small.

The only con that comes to mind is the extra need of material, which in my opinion, is well worth it.

Here is another example with most of the AST-1 Towbarless pushback truck parts:

Click on the image to show closeup details

 

In my previous entry I was mentionig that I was not sure to do this with the GSE models, but seeing the results, I will certainly be doing these modifications to the following models:

• Towbarless pushback AST-1F 600
• Belt Loader TUG660
• Ground Power Unit Houchin C690
• Ground Power Unit TLD414
• Tow tractor TLD JST-25
• Stairs truck  TLD ABS1740
• Cargo loader Commander FMC15i (and all its double scissor extra parts).

Some parts will still be provided as they were before, such as the cabins, main bodies (in the case of Belt loader, JST-25, cargo loader, stairs truck).

All in all, the best advantage of this is for me to prepare these more readily and have them available more often, have time to work on other areas such as each PE, as well as have more time to work on current projects.

 

This process will take me some time but I am already completing the first batch of B787 galleys (all sections). So my objective is to update all those parts and have the items (all of them) ready simultaneously and therefore start this cycle with everything in stock.

I hope that you guys agree with me that this is a more plausible way to provide those parts, to cut off the base those parts, a small cut is all it’s needed, but this saves me many hours that I can use to produce other parts of the kit and also to have these items in stock more often, which is important for me to keep this thing moving.

On a last note, the A320/A321 (and neos) as well as the A350-900/A350-1000 silk screen decals have arrived home and will say only one thing; they look gorgeous.
I won’t be giving more info until I have everything ready (laser parts as well as the new instructions which will be presented as an A4 sheet, no bends).

 

Work continues to adjust all those parts but work also continues with the ongoing projects.

Wish you all are safe and sound, please take care,
Guillem