The lower half of the T-35 is looking good. With that running gear and the size of it I bet it was a maintanence nightmare. The tracks are individual links right? Do they articulate? I think I remember you saying you had to glue each link.

Griffon25, from what I've read they looked good during parades but during combat againest the Finnish most were lost due to mechanical failures before they even reach "the front". Yes they are individual links and they don't articulate. If they turn out just OK I'll be happy.

OK, here is where I admit my ignorance.  I guess I don't understand why a kit would have individual links that don't articulate.  How do you get the proper sag?  Or do you even try to get the proper sag?  I guess when you do runs, they end up being like link and length, with you providing the length bits after some work.

No wonder there is such a good market for AM tracks!

I bought some Kaizen workable tracks for a T-34 I recently completed.  Totally worth the $$ and time.  They look fantastic compared to the vinyl tracks that came with the kit.  Individual track links, however, scare the heck out of me!

DasBeav: Sorry I missed you, looks good! 

Dwayne: I'm assuming they already have the droop molded in, please correct me if I'm wrong DasBeav. If you want to get your feet wet with individual link tracks try a Dragon kit comes with 'Magic' tracks. They're already pre-cut and cleaned up in a plastic bag. If you go with a big tank like a Tiger it has big hefty track links that are easier to work with than something smaller like a Panzer IV or T-34 too.  

My bad. I thought be articulate, Griff meant jointed like Fruils. They are just individual links put together using a jig and Tamiya Extra Thin. Basically turning them into length and links. I did check out Fruils...to expensive for a model I paid $18 for. The "Droop" will be later...hot water and sticks? Gamera, after awhile got into the groove of gluing the links...watching Monty Python on the craptop! I do remember doing an Academy Stuart which gave the options of rubber tracks or 3 piece links....went with rubber tracks

Sorry, I misunderstood too. Yeah, I find repeatable stuff like cleaning up track links best when watching TV or YouTube videos.

And on American tanks with the tight 'live' tracks and no sag the 'rubber band' tracks work just fine. Same in my opinion with anything like a modern MBT with skirts where you can't even see the top run.

Griffin, the T-55 came out great!  Luv the base and figures.   Congrats on a finished build for the GB!

DasBeav, the suspension for the T-35 sure looks funky and complicated!  No wonder the Russian armor designers decided to go with the Christie suspension for the BT and T-34 series!

Wow, its pretty quiet here...no posts since mine on Wed.  That's suprising, this GB has been pretty busy since it started.

Anyway, I've made some progress on the Zvezda T-26 since I returned home, but not as much as I would have liked.  Some of the assembled kit started falling part probably due to the flight home.  I had to rebuild the bogies and in the process realized they need some reinforcement otherwise it would probably happen again.  I didn't want to post a bunch of pics so I made a couple of combo pics. 

The turret needed some work that I couldn't do at the hotel.  Sink holes filled and sanded, molded locating marks for the antenna mounts sanded down and the blob of plastic that was supposed to be the periscope replaced by an unneeded one from a Hobby Boss kit.

Just a few more items to add and it will be done.  I'll probably hold off on some of them until it hits the paint booth, but I may add some bolt heads and rivets missing in certain areas.

Oh, and someone wanted to see how the T-26 looks next to the JS-3! 

And that's if for at least another couple of weeks as I'll be out of town on business again.  I may bring a kit to work on, but not for the GB.  I may just post the WIP in the Armor Forum, once I decide what to bring!

I'll keep checking in to see how everyone else is doing!

Nice work there, Ernest.  That tank looks like a toy next to that JS-3!  I would guess you wouldn't think so if it was rolling in your direction, though. 

Still working on the Wildcat, but it has been slow going.  Got a second cold that developed into a sinus infection, and have been laid out for a bit.  Just now feeling better, and got a little bench time this weekend.

It has been quiet here.  (crickets chirping).  Hopefully I can get some more work done on the KV-1 soon.  Really don't have that much to do before weathering.

Ernest that is comming along nicely and thank you for the kind words. Yes i was wondering what was going on too. No posts. Everyone has too much going on I guess. It'll pick up. Myself, I can only build one thing at a time. I cant do it any other way.  

Ernest: Looks great! Lotsa work there on the bogies and treads but it looks wonderful! 

Ok, guess I was sorta right, the 122mm gun on the IS-II is as long as the whole T-26 if you include the breach. Always amazes me how far armour weight and gun size grew during those years. 

Dwayne: Hope you're feeling better soon man! 

I thought I was "finished" with the secondary turrets last wednesday, but some idiot cannot follow directions and made a HUGE mistake. With a little Evergreen Styrene and PPP, the mistake is fixed. After priming, I see   gaps that need fixed and flaw in hatch needs filled. BTW, while "Doing Research" found the craziest looking tank ever...The Tsar Russian tank. Google it.

Hey DasBeav, PPP is your friend.    I know how you feel about directions.  More than once I have done some gluing, only to find that I missed a step.  Much cursing then ensues. 

Looked up that Tsar tank.  That is the craziest concept I have ever seen for a tank.  The Russians did think BIG!  Thanks for posting that.

Feeling better, so will be getting more bench time.  Yay!

DasBeav: They look fine to me now. 

And yeah the Tsar tank, let's build a giant armoured tricycle. I'll give them credit for thinking outside (waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy outside) the box there. 

I have finished the building after spending about a week putting on all the "fiddly bits". The mudgaurds were heated over a candle and bent to match reference photos.

Dutchman: She looks perfect to me. Ready to start flinging paint!!! 

Hey Dutch, that is looking really good!  The tracks look especially fantastic.  She looks mean, just like armor should. 

Dutch that is coming along nicely. That's a great looking kit.

Dutch, that is one fine looking SU-85.  Looking forward to seeing her with paint!

Oh lots of good stuff going on since I last checked in here!

Just venting. Have you ever put together a kit and the parts assembled do not match the technical drawing and you spend 20 minutes trying to get them to fit and you think YOU did something wrong, only to look at other finished kits on the computer and realize you are right? (Run on sentence intended)

Happy Sunday all!  I hope everyone enjoyed St. Patrick's Day (if you're into that!)

DasBeav - Yep, been there, done that!  Thankfully most of today's kits are pretty well engineered, but I've assembled many clunkers before! 

I had one day (yesterday) between road trips to get in some bench time, so I completed the T-26.  The only thing I MIGHT add is the turret antenna...depends on the paint scheme/markings I decide on.

The only major issue I had with the small parts was the hatch handles.  They come molded with some type of hinge which made them look very strange (top part in photo).  I've never seen this before so I just trimmed them off and sanded the feet for a better look (bottom part).

And here she is all done.  I added some bolts to the mantlet and tow rings that were missing.  That's about it.  Oops..looks like I bent the front hatch handle in my heavy handedness.   Gotta fix that.

With the T-26 done its time to get back to the Tamiya T-62.  All the work that's left is on the turret.  Some of the kit parts will get used, but not all since the resin turret already has them molded on. 

I'm trying to figure out the best way to add the grab handles.  The kit parts are thick and have a lot of flash and are designed with mounting legs bent 45 deg to fit the kit turret holes.  Usually I just make them from brass rod, but these are a little tricky as I need to bend them all the same and make sure they're positioned correctly on the resin turret as it doesn't have any locating holes.

I'll also need to scratchbuild a few parts for the mantlet as the kit parts won't fit correctly.

So here's a pic of the bevy of Russian beauties in the Bufflehead lineup!

Wait a minute.....Where'd that T-34 come from?? 

That's a mean looking lineup! You are getting S done, son. Very cool 

Nice work, Dutchman. Coming along quite nicely.                     

Bufflehead, you are doing some prodigious work there. Can I send you a half built T 35 by any chance?

Actually got quite a bit done this weekend between B-ball and St. Patties Day, just not picture worthy. Depending on the weather should get some prime and paint done this week. May start on finishing the track. Fingers crossed. 

Ernest: Great line-up there! You're making great progress. So are you just going to prime them all in one big spraying session when you get home?

DasBeav: You know I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Just for example here- I hated how the brass paint on the shells came out so I finally said 'the blazes with it' and shoved them in a bottle of thinner to remove the paint and redo them.

Looks like the thinner I used was a little stronger than I thought...

Oh well, off to do what I should have done in the first place and order some turned brass shells.....

OH WHAT? Dang Gamera that's shell soup. At least it's easy to replace bud

Griffin25

OH WHAT? Dang Gamera that's shell soup. At least it's easy to replace bud

 

Yeah, something like that, looks sorta like the miso soup I had for lunch.  I got a good chuckle out of this guess it's a good thing I was in a good mood.

Just searched three websites and couldn't find a set of 85mm brass shells and then found a set on Ebay for fifteen bucks and free shipping and handling.

Fifteen bucks- I wish I'd just ordered these in the first place and saved a pile of work painting the plastic ones...

Gamera, that picture is my modelling hobby in microcosm. Just today I broke two parts just removing them from the trees.

DasBeav: Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Sometimes it's better to just set the thing aside and read a book or watch a movie! 

   Not gonna lie Gamera, I almost tossed my cookies...until I read the caption on your brass soup. OOPS!

     I started the daunting task of assembling the indy links on my Meng Terminator. They provide a jig but the links are still tedious, if I'm very careful they will hold together long enough to get them on the model. I will also try to get a pre assembled/ post assembled picture when I finally get a few minutes to get them taken.

      My kit is about 90% complete and I'm trying to clear some room to get the painting started. It has been a fun kit, well engineered, nice subassemblies, IMO exellent detail. No real fit issues and very little clean up on most seams. I will try to get wip pix posted soon. Thanks for hanging in with me.