Rocast Models

Hello everyone,

I can finally say that the GSE items will be restocked this coming Friday April 22nd.

All GSE as well as accessories will be back in stock, except the open baggage cart for which I am making a newer version of it, so the baggage carts will be updated and a new type will be added in the near future.

I had a lot, and I mean a lot of trouble to get the photo etched parts right until I was able to find the cause and also got the chance to improve them. As it happens when you are forced to change the method you used to do things, a time for fine tuning is always required, yet after all these years.

Obviously I am not happy having the GSE items such a long time out of stock, because I don’t want to have an empty shop and people feeling disappointed about it, but it takes me a big deal of time and patience to have things completed, specially when you have elderly under your care who do not care much about you needing time for work.

These have been very stressful days for me, but I still love doing what I do and I will continue with the production of these items. Some time ago I mentioned having restock monthly, but I think it will be even better to produce more units of a certain item if the stock drops to X quantity.

I am also learning as a “businessman” to run this as best as possible, for this reason I am also going to be working on some changes in the shipping methods. I want to stop using the medium or big envelopes simply because I don’t feel safe about them, I feel the need to add a lot more bubble wrap which ends up sometimes costing me extra money to ship for the extra weight, that is one reason, but the main one is that I feel safer shipping goods in a box.

I will be adding two new box types, so these will be called “small”, “medium”, “big” (the currently small one) and the “large” (the currently named big).

This will ensure that the new type of packaging will arrive as safe as possible, because as you know, I am progressively dropping the plastic blisters for some specific items and making new cardboard boxes such as these:

The Commander FMC15 will be shipped with this new product box since it seemed to me the blister was too small for all the parts to be properly placed.

These new product boxes will include a 6mm thick foam sheet in order to protect the contents.

As I mentioned before, not only one has to learn to make/design/produce what you actually sell, but these changes in the shipping methods will also require some time and tests before I can set them in the shop.

The online platform I am using does not have the shipping methods very well programmed in the coding, in terms of product dimensions / package dimensions, it does not understand how much products fit in a specified box size, so several adjustments in the settings need to be done.

I will do my best to have this new type of shipping (small-medium boxes) set up for Friday, if not, all will be as it is for now.

The small envelope will still be used for certain items.

Lastly, one of the changes I will be doing for the next batch of new 1/144 figures will be this:

The upcoming restock of the figures will come as presented in the image above, they will be attached to their supports and will require their removal. This is similar to what plastic kits are, but for this particular production method, smaller supports are required.
They are actually very easy to remove, so it won’t be a big problem, if one can paint such small figures, one can also remove the supports.

These are things that I feel I need to do because of how time consuming it is for me to actually cut one by one and package them. I ended up cutting and packaging 400 figures for the passengers only, so you can understand a bit better why sometimes it took me so much time to restock things.

That is all for now, I will be writing another entry prior to the restock to inform about the shipping changes (from envelope to cardboard box).

Take good care everyone.
Best wishes,
Guillem

Hello everyone,

In recent days I went through a cold which prevented me from working for a couple days as much as I wished, but I have managed to work on other areas and move some projects forward.

Before getting into details for the specific projects, I would like to say that I am aiming to restock GSE and figures on April 15th at the latest.

As most of the GSE parts are completed, I am focusing on making PE parts for them as well as finishing packaging, this includes the making of the instructions for the new TUG660 model. As the open baggage cart model is out of stock, I may be doing a remodel on these and create a third set type which will have some sort of cloth covers.

I am also making more units than what I used to produce before for certain items.
I will be updating the product page galleries as there have been some minor changes in some GSE models, those changes are related more to material than shape changes in the parts, for example, bodies resin casted instead of resin printed (keeping the same quality and detail) some changes in the stairs truck by switching from the 1,5 metallic rods to 1,5 plastic rods as well as resin printed handrails rather than resin casted handrails.

Onto the individual projects:

The first step on the B747-8F/400F project will be presented in the next update. I had to make some decisions which I will discuss in the next update. Things are getting much clearer in my mind about this, and there was only one way to go with it in the end. The set will be mainly made for Revell’s version of their 747-8i and 8F although with some modifications it will most probably also be usable for Zvezda’s 747-8i.

Without changing the 747 subject, I would like to present a very early progress photo of the winglet.

The winglet fits the Zvezda kit, but I still have to check if it fits the Revell one as well. There is a lot of work to do on them, adjust the leading edge and its profile line, sand the overall wingtip down to remove some marks and adjust the lower section of the airfoil.
I am also considering what to do with the wingtip light, thus far it is engraved, but I may make it separate from the wingtip and have it done in green/red translucent for better finish and save you on painting them.

If I go this route, the wingtip light will be hollow to allocate a very small led should you like to add lighting to the model.

GSE:

The 1/72 Schopf F59 is progressing very well, however, I had to remake the cabin for better production and at the same time, more enjoyment for building. The interior is 95% completed, while the body also had to be remade.

Both the cabin and body are going to be resin casted.

The new belt loader TUG660 was completed, instructions will be designed shortly.

The new model is more detailed and better represented after new references I was able to find. It also includes a driver figure and will include the 5 baggage pieces.

For reference, the model with some other GSE around. This is the furthest I can go in terms of rising and lowering parts with rods and tubes as I am using a 0,5mm rod and a 0,6mm tube. In order to keep things in scale this was necessary.

This is one of the main differences from the previous version, there is a structure that pivots with the rod/tube for lowering/raising the conveyor. Also, the body (resin casted) comes in one piece now.

The antennae pack is coming along very well:

These antennas are quite small, I am still thinking if I shall provide the mixed set or make sets of the same type of antenna. Since there are several types on an aircraft, I think a mix is ideal, later sets will follow for radomes and a set of pitot tubes.

The antennae list on this set is:

1- ELT S65-1231 (x12)
2- UHF S65-1227 (x12)
3- ELT S65-8282-406 (x12)
4- UHF S65-8282-330 (x12)
5- UHF Satcom s65-8282-336 (x6)
6- Glideslope S41422-6 (x12)
7- UHF S65-1016-10 (x18)
8- ADS-B/L BAND (x24)
9- GPS S67-1575-133 (x21)
10- Marker beacon S35-1000-1 (x9)

That is all for now, I am continuing on packaging items, making their PE and progressing on the new projects, for the next update I will dedicate an entry solely to the B747-8F / 400F project.

Best wishes,
Guillem

Hello everyone,

I am glad to finally present to you a final version of the B787-9 cargo holds which were started way too long ago, they took me more much time than I expected.

This set will be available separately (FWD hold / AFT hold) and it is mainly designed for Zvezda’s B787-9 item 500787021.
I am aware that there is hopefully a B787-9 version from Revell coming this year, so I hope these cargo holds will fit in it as well. Shape should be similar, and hopefully plastic thickness will be the same.

Now, due the situation in the world, I am not sure what will happen with Zvezda, but I do still have some kits which I had plans to make some items for, galleys and cargo holds for instance. This has me somewhat confused as to what to do on the B747-8F/-400F project which is due to be started for the (and using as base) 8F Revell kit first, but I am also looking to do this project for Revell’s 8i (conversion).

Anyway, here are some pictures of the final result, I must say that I have to rework the LED wiring as it is a big mess currently, and I will be posting a mini guide with some tips and tricks for the assembly of those as well as the LED addition which won’t be included in the set (you may find several options for colours such as white and yellow).

My idea is to run the positive and the negative all the way through the landing gear, behind the wheels and into a cavity behind the model base (tarmac diorama).

A general view with the doors opened, I think that once there is a livery on the model, it will look more realistic, you can also imagine the light hitting the ramp coming from the interior which can also be a nice night time diorama.

Everything is incredibly tight inside, sanding a bit the containers was necessary, specially around the area closer to the nose and closer to the tail. Having to deal with keeping the LD3 dimensions as similar to the real ones while dealing with the plastic thickness was a very difficult thing to do, there wasn’t much margin for anything.

Latches are glued right on top of the plastic profile, so it is important to keep a good order while assembling this, because painting of the plastic profile first, can make things easier for later adding the latches.

You can see here the R2 door (and L2) door opened. For my build, I plan to open both L1, L2, L4 and R1 (possibly) R2 and R4. The forward cargo hold was designed so that it gives space to install the middle galley module, in a later update where I will publish the mini guide, you will be able to see, that the FWD hold LED cables have to run through the middle galley ceiling in order to head to the center of the aircraft and down the landing gear.

Some containers were strategically put, however, you can really leave the area empty to see the main area of the interior.

The cargo holds were designed keeping in mind the forward and rear galleys, so that there is also room for these in the model. Lots of constraints here and there in terms of space, but everything can fit.

This makes me think of doing this in a different manner for further projects as I gained more experience with this one, hopefully the next cargo holds won’t take me as long as these.

Here is a video of the cargo holds, but one thing I should add, light seems way brighter in the camera, in person they are more dim and thus more realistic to scale:

Of course, lighting this up reminded me of how it would be to have this in the whole main deck for the B747-8F/-400F, for sure the larger cargo doors (nose and side) will allow for much more detailing so I can’t wait to continue with this project.

My time is quite limited because of stock preparations as well as fine tuning the F59 in1/72 scale which again, did not think would take me this long, but I am taking my time to detail it as much as I can.

Although these cargo holds are finished, time to make the instructions and the first units has to be considered, but, the important thing is that they are done and production will start as soon as the GSE catalog is established.

Thank you all for reading and stay safe,
Guillem

Hello everyone,

This weekend I had some time to work on the B787-9 cargo holds in order to see the final result and have these already done for my future airliner project.

I am glad to say that they are now ready to start production, so the first units will be produced shortly.
I am currently preparing the upcoming units of the various GSE models, stairs truck is completed, the towbarless pushback AST-1 and the loader FMC15i are also nearly completed.
I am also taking the chance to produce units of other things; LD3 containers, Envirotainer containers, ground cones, chocks, baggage, towbars and will soon start with the production of the JST-25, belt loader (the new version), container transporter TF-10-FTC and also the catering truck.

As you can see, I am trying to make units of all the GSE vehicles (or at least, most of them) so that all can be available upon restocking.
I am still unsure when all will be ready as this does take quite some time, specially because I still sand down the base for the bodies of some models such as the AST-1, belt loader, JST-25 and the towbar pushbacks for which I hope to make more units.

I will most surely restock the B787 galleys at the same time for the release of the B787-9 cargo holds which will be after the GSE restock.

Now for the finished cargo holds:

The cargo hold ceilings are designed similar to the real aircraft, however, the light rails were made a bit wider so that you could have room to add some LED lights.

In the picture above, I have used one as a test, the LED used is the SMD 0805.
Before I install all the LED lights, I will be adding some LD3 containers at the far end of both walls in order to hide the length as due the original fuselage design, there is no more room for the few remaining container positions.

Despite the cargo holds for my own project being completed, I will take the chance to improve the decals. I need to increase the gap of each container markings so that the vertical black lines are visible. I will also take the chance to increase the size to some specific decals.

The process to assembly these cargo holds was as follows:

Glue the ceiling parts and the rear walls of each cargo hold:

For colour reference, I have used Model Air 71.270, it may not be the exact one, but it is the closest one I had in hand.

Then, I painted the rails in duraluminum colour from Vallejo Metal Color series. After that, I painted the walkways in a black grey color from Vallejo 70862 (RAL 7021) which gives a better effect than black to simulate the rubber type material.
Once all was painted, I applied a gloss coat in order to star the work with the oil paint.

I have used sepia oil color thinned down with turpentine to give the side walls a bit more interesting look, texture/depth. Later I highlighted the flat areas with the same paint used for the main colour used for the body.

After another gloss coat to seal the weathering work, I added the white decals prior adding the different markings. Because I laser print the decals, it is not possible for me to print certain colors simultaneously, however, this may change once I can finish my silk screening setup.

That is all for now, please note that other extra details for the cargo holds are not visible here yet, they are the doors themselves, the latches and hinges. I may use a spare fuselage to represent this, as it may still take me a while to make my own 787-9 project.

I hope to be able to share some more things next weekend and inform of more progress on the production.

Take good care everybody.
Best wishes,
Guillem