Dutch that 85 looks super. Great job on the painting and weathering. Really nice kit. That looks like a hell of a scene you got started there. 

Yeah, very nice work there Dutchman. And that's a heck of a diorama base, looking forward to seeing where you're going to take it. 

Dutchman great work. The scenery seems quite ambitious - is this a concrete bunker to the right? Looking forward to seeing it materialize.

I managed to make some progress this weekend.

Tracks were assembled (using the wheels assembled temporarily on the hull as a template) and primed with a custom made tyre black, which was also used for the wheels rubber, as well as for an overall light coat of primer.

I used some old paint masks for the wheels, but I was not so satisfied from their dimensional accuracy. In the future I will stick to my old cheap circle templates.

Then the tank was painted green with Gunze's H319 acrylic and left to dry. I don't know if this choice is appropriate in terms of historical accuracy but I like the shade a lot, so I let it be.

After drying is complete, the hard part will begin (making it look less like painted plastic). Comments and criticism more than welcomed.

Hey Zvezda, looking good!  You are at the same stage I am.  Time to make that tank dirty!

Zvezda: Looks pretty darn good to me!!! I've read the Soviets weren't too picky about the colour as long as it was green. 

Thats looking good Zvezda. I can't wait to get stuck into my KV-1 too.

Cheers

Tony

Ohhhh, looks good!!! 

Looks really good S_D.

Cheers

Tony

    Sorry I don't have pictures to post but just want everyone to know I still have a dog in this fight so to speak.

     My Russian "Terminator" by Meng is an amazing kit, huge on detail and small fiddly things. It is well engineered and fun to build however my hangup has been gettin the paint laid down. I have a good base of the yellow and am working on how to get good coverage of the splinter camo from the 2013(?) Armor Expo. Wanna make sure the sub-assemblies all match up for the lines. Gonna look good.

     Finally got the indy tracks completed for both sides save the track pads, MAN WHATA CHORE, they weren't diffucult per say but tedious.

    Anyway guys yhanks for not kicking me to the curb and pictures are coming gotta co-ordinate with the wife.

Dutch, looks good.  Interested to see how your dio turns out.

armornut, no worries.  Looking forward to some pics!  Tracks can certainly be a pain.

So I am really close to being done with the KV-1.   Got the hull on the chassis, and did some work with oils:

IMG_0829 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

Then I tried something new as described by Bish on a recent build he did.  I applied pigment to basically the whole hull wet.  Just water and a drop of dish detergent.  After it dried, I removed a lot of the pigment using brushes and Q-tips. This is what it looks like now:

IMG_0832 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

I like the effect, but want to give it a day or two, then go back, and see if it needs tweaks.

I knocked the headlamp off, so I have to put that back on.  I will likely do just a little more pigment work, and then I will call this done.  Should be by the end of the weekend.  Gonna be a hot one, and the basement will be nice and cool. 

Dwayne: Looks good! I like the dirt and grime, there but not overdone. 

Good luck with the headlight, knocked one off a E-100 I did six months ago and set it aside so I could reattach it when I finished the model. I put it where I wouldn't lose it- and then of course forgot where I put it...... 

Thanks Gamera.  Actually, the headlight is in the bottle cap you can see in the bottom picture, just to the upper left of the tank.  Gotta get that on quick before I lose it again!

Great weathing job MC. Looks just right. Like Gamera said. 

Making slow but steady progress on the Su-122

https://pin.it/oga3icxjfto2wr

Nice A_A, it is coming along pretty well.

Cheers

Tony

The mouldings are pretty agricultural; this is the flow pattern on the belly plate:

These are the shell storage racks, to scale they would be better armoured than most Americn tanks! I thinned them down before they were installed.

And a lot of time went in thinning off the back of every wheel and return roller so the tracks would fit over. In the end my agricultural approach made an ugly job of it that can be hidden by judicious painting and weathering...

AA: She's coming right along. Nice work on attaching all those little doo-dads to the hull. 

LA: Ack, not sure which looks like more work thinning down all those parts or cleaning up all those track links. Good luck! 

That's a lot of Indy links right there. I'm thankful that my KV-1 has link and length tracks. BTW, I've finally made a stat on it !

Cheers

Tony

S.Dutch: very intriguing scenery of your dio. Should I suppose that snow is coming after the trees?

Dwayne: the effects are terrific and very ‘metal-looking’. How do you achieve such ‘control’ over the pigments remaining only on the desirable spots, by this method?

Tony & A-A: Nice start, wishes for a nice and fun built.

Lostagain: indeed it was a joy to build. I see you have a long and winding road and doing a great job with it. With so much thinning and 200 links to prepare and assemble I would commit seppuku and ingloriously transfer to the Japanese GB

Regarding my poor T-34, some – veeery slow – progress was made in the form of a brown/black oil wash and the airbrushing of a very thinned brown mist on the bottom levels of the hull, in order to simulate dusting. Then, a lighter shade of the H319 was sprayed on various panels/surfaces for color variation and also to tone down the previous effects at some points where they looked excessive to my eye. To be honest I don’t know exactly what I am doing, but I guess I’ll experiment and figure it out. The target is to simulate a tank on southern USSR’s dry fields during summer 1943, so no heavy mud should be applied.

and after the lighter green spraying and corrections

then I will experiment with some nice pastels and oils

Tony: Cool, not really into 1/48th for armour but I've heard good things but the Hobbyboss KVs!

Zvezda: Really like the shading you've done there. The pastels and oils should make her really 'pop'!

LA: Those indy links look like they need a LOT of work and patience. 

Tony:  Nice start.  I am looking forward to seeing how that kit comes together.

Zvezda:  I hear you with the weathering.  I don't really know what I am doing, so I am trying some new techniques I have seen.  I don't have a good handle on using oils, so I will keep trying.  As far as getting the pigment off, I used a Q-tip to rub off the flat panels.  The places I wanted the pigment to stay tended to be in "nook and crannies" that require effort to clean up, so I didn't put in any effort.  LOL  This method leaves a "film" of pigment everywhere, which is a nice dusty effect I like, so I will be using it again. 

The KV-1 just needs a little more work, but need to wait for some pigment coming in the mail later this week from Scalehobbyist.  Package will also include a couple of kits for other GB's.    

Nice work on thae T34. I do plan to put snow on after the vegitation, the trees will go on as soon as I finish with the fern branches.

I like the shading on that already Zvezda, I'm going to watch closely.

Here's an update on the KV-1, also in the 2nd photo notice the roughness of the molding. I've cleaned up the bit nearer to the tweezers, but not the other end yet. It's not all like this, but some parts have a lot of flash, others are very clean, on the same sprue, odd.

Cheers

Tony

Tony that's a kit (and a very iconic eastern front subject) I have in my sights for a future purchase, so I will also be watching closely.

The T-34 was tortured yesterday with various shades of artist's oils, with brown being the dominant color. Posterity will decide if this is a properly weathered tank model or some wannabe Claude Monet smudge on plastic.

When all is dry, a flat coat will be applied and then on to the pastels.

The weathering is coming out great Zvezda! 

Thats coming along Zvezda, the tonal differences will catch the eye. If you end up with a Monet, don't forget the lilacs !

Here's the next instalment of the 1/48 KV-1. The tracks are link and length with precisely 96 ejection pin marks per side to be cleaned up before you start construction. 

Cheers

Tony

Zvezda: Love how she's coming along! Looks a little rusty and dirty but not over the top!

Tony: Your KV-I looks fantastic! And yeah, injection pin marks on every link, makes me want to grind my teeth.... I'd be tempted to skip all that work by covering the whole friggin' running gear with a thick goopy coat of mud and dirt...

Zvezda, you are doing a great job of weathering your tank!  Oils are definitely worth learning how to use.

Tony, that sounds like a lot of work.  I think Gam may have a good idea there.    Mud can fix a lot of ills.

So I am calling my KV-1 done.  Got some smoke pigment today, and just wanted to add some smoke effect for the exhaust.  Here are the final pics:

IMG_0840 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

IMG_0844 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

IMG_0843 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

IMG_0841 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

IMG_0842 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

I am OK with the vinyl tracks.  Not sure I could do much better with them. 

I might add an antenna.  I read somewhere that cat whiskers work well, and I found one while cleaning the other day.  Nice of my cat to part with one so I could try it out.

Any and all comments welcome!