Looks great Castelnuovo, I really like the Camo scheme.

Cheers

Tony

Very stunning Castle, your camo came out FANTASTIC.

       My Terminator is very close to getting paint. Sorry I haven't been posting actively, the build at work/ photo at home on weekend hasn't quite gone as planned.

     So back to your build, great idea with the shish kabob stick, looks very convincing.

Hey Castel, went back to look at the interior pics on your BTR, and it was really well done.  Can you "pop the top" on your kit to see the interior?

Castle that looks really good. Nice work bud. Where did you get that camo scheme from? 80's Afganistan maybe? It's an effective scheme. 

CASTELNUOVO Nice Camo. My DRAGON kit comes with soldiers but no interior. Only readon i am building it is for February contest theme, DRAGON kits. Sill undecided on UN or Ukrainian camo and KFOR. 

Thanks MCF, the first one will do.

Looks great!  Love the camo.  Which picture would you like for the completed models on page 1?

With the flat end of a wooden shish-cabob stick. Dip it in the paint and dub away 

Looks nice, how did you do the camo?

Well, don't know what else to do with this one so off to the front they go, wherever that may be.

Interior photos are on page 8.

That's looking real good ManC. That color looks great. 

Ernest and Wayne, both looking good.  Ernest, OK, you can't take credit, but I wouldn't have known about it if you did not post it, so you still get my thanks.

So I got the base coat down on Wednesday.  The base coat is from Mission Models.  Here is where I am with the KV-1:

IMG_0711 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

Starting to look like a tank!

Need to get the tow cables and fuel tanks on, some fiddly bits, then on to the tracks.  Staying with the rubber bands on this one, as I plan to get a better kit at some point.

Switching priorities to a Wildcat I am working on for another GB that ends in June, and at the pace I build models, it may take until then (even with a Tamiya kit).  It's cold, I have a cold, and the back still limits bench time.  Oh, and then there is the real world.  Stupid real world.

Gamera -  Thanks. This must be an older kit as some of the sprue attachments are rather thick on the grab rails. I broke one of the headlight brackets but was able to fix it. The silver on the left side is to check on the fill in slots for the brackets that were not on the Ukrainain BTR. Usually it is one step but sometimes i get a seam that does not want to filll in and sand. 5 fills and sandings later and i finally got it but that canceled priming in the garage. Sunday is snow and cold so it may be a figure and acrylic paint day on other builds in the bunker.

BTR-70 TO PRIME (2) 

BTR-70 TO PRIME (1)

Alrighty!  Here's an update on the Tamiya T-62.

Those resin wheels took a bit to clean up, but they look so nice!  The set even included two different size spacers for the wheel shafts and one size fit the Tamiya kit perfectly (must have been designed for Tamiya kits).  Installed on one side:

The rest of the tracks assembled rather quickly.  The links had pin marks, but they were raised and easy to slice off and clean up.  Somehow I lost quite a few connector pins so I had to use wire to connect some of the links.  I'll figure out a way to fix the ends so they match the rest of the links.  The size of resin idler caused the tracks to sag too much so I went with the kit idler which is a bit larger....tracks looking good!

I did some work on the upper hull.  That molded on shovel is a holdover from olden days....I ground it down with a Dremel and sanded it smooth.  Not sure if I'll replace it though...I might cover that area with something else.

The kit comes with a piece of black nylon mesh to use on the engine deck.  Uhhh.....no. These are notorious for being hard to glue in place.  I replaced it with some generic photoetched mesh.

I'm replacing the kit turret with a resin one from MB Models, but the turret race is too small for the hull opening.  I simply cut the appropriate sized hole in a sheet of styrene and glued to the hull from underneath.  Now the turret will have a perfect fit.

Here are the two kits with the upper hulls dryfitted in place!  Amazingly the T-62 is larger than the JS-3!  You can see where I removed the molded shovel.

I'm hoping to get most of the work on both hulls done this weekend.

ManCityFan

Hey Ernest, your toothbrush sander is freaking brilliant!! Going to have to do that.  I have heard of gluing a piece of cardboard to the bottom of a glue jar, but I think your solution is better.  Now where did I put that extra pvc?

 

Dwayne, I can't take credit for the toothbrush sander.  Read about it a few years ago either on these forums or in the Finescale magazine itself!

Steve, watching your build with keen interest.  Have not done any dios, and this will be invaluable at some point!  As mentioned earlier, your water dios are incredibly well done.

Hey Ernest, your toothbrush sander is freaking brilliant!! Going to have to do that.  I have heard of gluing a piece of cardboard to the bottom of a glue jar, but I think your solution is better.  Now where did I put that extra pvc?

Jasper - The JS-2 is looking good!  Yep, you and Gamera are correct in that those devices in front of the sprockets are for clearing out mud and debris.  It was the T-34 and SU tanks that had the device to knock pins back in place.  It was just a metal hump welded to the hull...on the Dragon T-34 kits you have to glue those in place.  Not sure if they were used on the KV series, but I think the tracks on the IS/JS series didn't need it.

As for the ejector pin marks, I've also heard that white out can work, depending on how deep the recess is.  Standard fix is to use some form of putty.  I tried using thick CA glue, like the gel type, and it seems to work pretty well too....just a lot of sanding required.  I have a special tool for sanding small areas like that so that the surrounding area doesn't get deformed from all the sanding.  Its an electric toothbrush with the bristles cut off and replaced with a sprue stub with sandpaper superglued onto the flat surface:

Does an amazing, quick sanding job....if you don't mind the cost of the toothbrush!

Oh, and I totally hear you on the spilled plastic weld!! I've spilled enough myself that I finally made a spillproof holder from a mayonaisse jar lid, fishing sinkers, molding epoxy and a small length of PVC pipe.  I had all of these laying around so fortunately it didn't cost me anything.  Maybe this will give you an idea for your anti-spill holder!!

Steve: That looks awesome!

Dutchman & Wayne: Sounds really cool, looking forward to the photos.

Jasper: Looks good! I think the prog thing was for clearing mud and the 'pin knocker thingee' was a wedge looking thing mounted on the hull where it would brush the tracks as they went by. I am no expert though and don't take my word for it. Most link tracks aren't quite that bad but I'm not sure there's any way to tell how bad till you open the box and look.

Making some headway I see. Good job. Looks like a nice kit. I like the color of the plastic. It will help in the painting and weathering process. Beats grey or tan. Wish I could help with your question but I'm sure there are more knowledgeable people than me that will answer it. 

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

I've pretty much completed the lower hull on the JS-2...

question for you armor experts.. the part in front of the drive sprocket, I assume this is to clear mud and debris? I had heard once about Russian armor having something that was attached to the hull that kept the track pins in place. However this does not look like it would be in the proper position for that type of purpose.

I started working on the upper hull earlier today, up until I spilled a bottle of plastic-weld on my workbench. No casualties aside from half the contents of the bottle and my pride.. along with maybe a couple of brain cells from the fumes. I'm gonna grab some of the kids' Legos and make a holder.

bufflehead

If I recall, the link&length tracks had ejector pin marks on them that need to be cleaned up

WOW! you weren't kidding. I took a look at the tracks before starting the upper hull. A lot more ejector pin marks than I expected (4 per link!). Is this common on link & length tracks? Any tips on an easy way to take care of them? I've seen white out pens used on seems before, might give that a try.

modelcrazy - can't wait to see the end result of your little water based vignette! 

This build is my first time using them as well. It's a bit of work but I found it enjoyable to build them for some reason. They are so realistic and have gravity to them. 

That's what I am hoping, this is my first thime using them and I am not quite sure how it will turn out.

Sailing_Dutchman

My Friulmodel tracks arrived today, so I am taking a break from painting to build the suspension.

 

Those Friuls are going to really make that SU 85 come to life I'm thinking. That's a hulk of a vehicle and the Friuls are going to do it justice. 

modelcrazy

OK D, back to the bench for the moment.

I cut out the silhouette from hard Styrofoam for the water base and created small swells using a lighter and cut out the small wakes. This doesn’t need to be much, just enough to divot the Styrofoam a little.

 

Then using medium acrylic gel and wet strips of paper I applied the strips to the base.

Once this is all dry I’ll add some more gel over the base and sides.

 

What a great looking kit and I love the way you are going to present it. That looks just the right size base/body of water to not overwhelm the center piece. Great work bud. 

Jasper  At my Centennial IPMS Christmas party I stole a Trumpeter IS-II after having my helo stolen. Ended up swapping it for a HobbyBoss French 4x4 Milan VBL (i do A LOT of warwheels). I do have an option to swap it back from a future stash item.

Even though i prefer the lighter green (OTS BA-6) over the darker green on my BA-10, i think i am not going to overspray it. I have a BA-6 for a later contest i will do as a Spanish Civil War Republican vehile with red and yellow turret stripes and use the lighter green on it. 

should have BTR primed this weekend and will check on bleached UN decals. i am pretty sure all my 1/35 modern BdW trucks have UN decals. i may steal from them and do it in UN white. 

OK D, back to the bench for the moment.

I cut out the silhouette from hard Styrofoam for the water base and created small swells using a lighter and cut out the small wakes. This doesn’t need to be much, just enough to divot the Styrofoam a little.

Then using medium acrylic gel and wet strips of paper I applied the strips to the base.

Once this is all dry I’ll add some more gel over the base and sides.