D9 Doobi from Balaton

Came across this one at a modelling fair. Despite the price I had to go for it. 

Now, this is what I got 

Big chunks of resin, beautifully casted and with a rather simple and logical breakdown. 

Detail is very crisp with hardly any casting imperfections. 

To clean the parts was rather easy 

The interior is fantasy and has almost nothing to do with the real thing. As almost nothing of it will be seen either, this is not a big deal for me. 

 

Oh, the tracks. I am anxious so see how that will work out... 

A fret of PE, an acetate sheet for the windows and a colored one to tint them are also included. 

Now you have the Takom D9 in styrene - but only in conjuction with a 1070. Price is even higher and availability problematic. So, if you do not detest resin, this kit is still up to the task, as I will show you... 

starting with the interior.  

Painting and a bit of weathering 

 

Resin tracks. That sounds like trouble. But not so with this kit.  

Breakdown is logical, casting perfect, cleaning easy, assembly straightforward. 

Looks good, doesn´t it? 

I did not like the thin transparent foil for the glas parts Balaton Models provided with the kit. Glued inside they would look too recessed. Glued outside looked ridiculous. My solution: chopping up a CD-cover and sanding the bullet-proof glas pieces into shape.  

some done and inserted 

 

The drivers compartment with some PE parts and DIY handles 

Now I have to remove them all again, tint them green and color the rims in black to simulate the seals. 

some more detailling done. 

a few PE parts from the kit and some DIY stuff 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost a year later this is back on my bench. All windows are tinted with transparent green. The seals are imitated by a black rim around the glass and the frames. A very last one and I am good to finally put some color on that one. 

Test fit of the drivers compartment reveals a perfect fit.  

Hydraulics of the rear hook have been further detailed. 

 

Depicting wear with the hairspray-technique lead to mixed results. No catastrophy as more paint layers will follow. 

All bits and pieces added to the drivers compartment. 

Last pics in all its multimedia glory. 

Finally ready for paint. 

 

One arm of one of the supports for the actuators broke of and wasn't seen again. So I had to scatch a replacement.  

Looks good enough for me.  

 

...the chassis is ready for primer too. 

With that done, some bits and pieces that fell of during handling reattached and the rest of the hydraulic hoses connected and routed,... 

And off we go with paints. Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1500 black with 40% Levelling Thinner is the foundation. 

Base rust tone mixed 1:1 from Tamiya XF10 and 69. Protected by Gloss varnish. 

Various rust tone with water diluted Life Color paints, then decanted Hairspray. 

My mix for Caterpillar-Yellow: XF3:X26:H313 16:2:1. 

As the Israelis add the armored cabin later I suppose that cabin never saw Caterpillar-paint. So I didn't paint it. It will receive Israeli Sand Grey only at a later stage.
Now onto chipping. 

The result after chipping 

 

Unfortunately the paint did not stand the vigorous handing in places. Grrr. 

The stripped area half way repainted (and the back of the blade) 

 

 

Finally some progress again. After another layer of hairspray israeli sand grey was applied. I used the mix I found at idf-modelling.com with Tamiya XF20, 27, 49 and 57 in equal amounts. Lower parts received a mix with more XF27, highlighting was done with more XF20 in the mix.
Now onto chipping again. 

First result after chipping and a motivational dry fit.  

I mistakenly used a non permanent marker to color the seals of the windows. This resulted in a mess when I chipped the cabin with water and windex. Luckily it didn't ruin everything. Only little hairspray chipping at the cabin. The details will be painted. 

Some areas turned out well, others less so. I am not happy with the drive train yet. Doesn't look harmonious. I'll have to redo some parts/areas. 

 

The overall impression is not too bad, but a lot of detail work still lays ahead. Stick with me. I appreciate some company on the way. 🙂 

Getting through the paint layers with water/Windex and a stiff brush alone did not do the trick at all places. So I used 2000 and 3000 grit sandpaper to go after the look I wanted.  

Happy how the blade turned out. 

Drive wheels are ok, the idlers less so. Hope the oils will improve the look. 

Same here. Oils will have to fix the shortcomings of the techniques applied so far. 

Pretty happy with the main body though. J 

That's the look I was after 

During handling about a dozen details broke of and will have to be reattached.  

for a little vignette I need some reinforced concrete slabs. That is the mould I build with chicken wire for the steel reinforcements wrapped around the knobs of the Lego bricks. 

to fashion some reinforced concrete pillars I build that mould with wooden pegs at the ends. Through predrilled holes of the pegs the wire was guided through the mould. 

 

The result after filling the moulds with plaster of paris. Still has to dry completely before I can break it up. 

A rough sketch of a little vignette I plan for the D9. I will probably go either for the photographer or the dogs. Haven't made up my mind yet. 

 

Finished color fading with enamel wash and oils - mainly sand colored ones, only the engine covers received brown-gray. 

A dozen lights or so were mounted. The kit provides them in opaque resin which I did not like. So I cut squares from a CD-cover, painted them silver first, them camouflage and drilled into some of them little holes from the underside to simulate light bulbs (the ones where I didn't do that were already mounted before I got the idea).  

Looks like I will be able to attach the tracks without too much slack or too big a gap. For that I had to ignore the instructions and skip two links per side.  

A few more details added. Some are intentionally left off so far as I will probably break them off anyway while handling this beast. 

Mounting the blade will be tricky. I sweat to come to that point. 

Starts looking like a Doobi. 

 

Doesn't look as if anything major has been done, but everything test fitted only is now glued in place. This was as tricky and fumbly as expected.  

The ripper with all the added hoses and fittings 

The main actuators have been left in Caterpillar-yellow to create some visual interest 

 

 

 

 

 

Two handles and two mirrors have to be attached and the code number painted. Apart from that, I call this one done. Now let's give him a decent vignette.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some progress on the base. A cardboard frame was build and varnished and a little street corner created. 

Continued with the base. I was too slow so the plaster of Paris set before I applied the rubble.  

I had to switch then to Elmer's glue - thick for the big pieces and sprayed on diluted for the smaller stuff. Let's see how much stays in place once everything is dry and I turn the base upside down. 

A bit of debris was added. A broken photo etched plastic crate, broken window frames, a metal beam and quite a few wires to represent corrugated metal.  

Befor all of this a little street corner was created. As you see: you hardly see anything anymore. 

Time to add the last bits and pieces to the Doobi and then to blend it into the base with some pigments. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lost the antenna mount. So I had to build it. 

The antenna itself comes from EMP3D. 

Here it is installed - together with some last fragile details and some detail paint. 

Final touch ups.  

Ready!