She's looking really good Pawel. For building her out of the box the little extra details really help! 

Mac and Rob: Thanks for information. All I know about this AFV is what I've read here and there.

Mif ib ummink ablng nikcle   Oh, sorry, forgot to swallow my popcorn first; I said this is coming along very nicely. Great Job. 

Hello everybody!

modelcrazy - like Rob said, they help protect the tank. at the same time they hold diesel fuel. Even if they ignite, that's not as big a problem as a dirtect hit would be - the burning diesel would spill and the tank would move away.

All the museum tanks have them jerry cans camouflaged. I was wondering, too - say you take 'em all down to fill - and then you have to figure out the correct sequence to put them on, so as not to scramble the camo? Sounds unlikely, eh?

Then I thought - cold war tank. Most of the time they spent practicing and caring for their tanks. No actual combat - under these circumstances it actually could have been done. Then again - there are tanks that have all the removable stuff in NATO green - much more likely. In my model I'll have them camouflaged, to show a cold war machine.

Hunter, Gamera, Duster - thanks a lot for your kind words!

Duster - hold my beer while I do another update!

Here's what the machine looked like just yesterday - now it doesn't look like that anymore:

Now in primer:

That's Tamiya gray from a spray can. Now pre-shading:

Sorry for the photo quality. That's Humbrol 33 (matt black). The main goal was to cover all small crevices, so that they don't show up on the ready model. The relatively flat and raised areas are left lighter. Now for the first colour:

That's Humbrol 117 - roughly NATO green. Now for the masking:

And the second colour - black:

Well, it's actually not black but the Humbrol 32 - dark grey. I do this a lot to tone down the contrast a little - while the Swedish army often usus "true" black for camo, I think it would use to intense on this baby here. It's important not to spray under the edge of the masks.

More is coming soon - or at least I hope so. Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Coming along nicely Pawel! 

Ohhhh awesome, looking forward to seeing her with the masks removed. 

Oh yeah, takin' down the masks - that's what I'm also waitin' for!

Hello everybody!

And the moment has come!

But first I had to mask off the black:

Spray some tan - in this case Humbrol 119:

Then mask it off and spray some light green. Now this wasn't easy to match - in the end I grabbed a can of Revell 362:

Now the thrill - that's the magic moment! - remove the first masks...

So far so good - yay! Let's remove them all:

All right, no major bad surprises, nothing lifted, no bleed-under. Some touch-up will be needed, though:

I't sworth noting, that after spraying dark green you can remove the commander's cupola - I did and it helped the masking greatly.

Now if I may, I'd like to hear your tips on how to paint the rubber tracks, so that the paint doesn't lift...

Thanks in advance and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello again!

I thought maybe I can help those of you that would like to build their own model oft the swedish S tank. Here's the masking plan that I have prepared for my work:

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/strv103/Strv103C mask 1-35 done.cdr

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/strv103/Strv103C mask 1-35 done 1.jpg

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/strv103/Strv103C mask 1-35 done 2.jpg

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/strv103/Strv103C mask 1-35 done 3.jpg

It's best to print out the -2 at least two times. One copy is for reference, and you can cut the other copy up and use individual parts as templates for cutting out masks from masking tape - at least that's how I did it.

I hope that helps - good luck and have a nice day

Paweł

Awesome paint work Pawel! And thanks for the masking links!

Wow fantastic Pawel! 

And thanks for linking the masks in case I ever try one myself. 

I always wash rubber tracks with lots of soap and detergent and give them a good scrubbing. Then prime them with 'rubber bumper' paint from the auto parts store. I'd think you should be able to find it in Poland. Anyway I've had a few flake on me but most times the paint seems to hold. 

Pawel,

Your "S" looks great.  Very much like the colour guides. Well Done

Thank you for the masking patterns.  I have cut them out and laid them on the work bench, it has been about a day, but there doesn’t seem to be any tank growing there. I guess I will wait some more.  Maybe I should sprinkle some water on it?   

Tootles 

Lodni, Gamera, Steve - thanks a lot for your kind words! I'm glad you like the painting. I have to admit that I like it too!

Steve - nah, it doesn't grow on tap water, it grows on blood, sweat or tears - depending on what you got!

Gamera - thanks a lot for the tip. I took a slightly different approach - I have mived a rust colour using almost-dry Testors silver (aluminium) metalizer and brown Gunze paints and I added lacquer thinner for solvent. Tha paints mxied fine, with just a slight tendency to separate after about half an hour standing in a jar. That paint doesn't flake off my rubber tracks too bad, so it looks like we've got a base. I have also used sandpaper on the rubber track pads to dstress them a little. My results look like this:

I have also worked on the wheels for this chassis:

As you can see I have upgraded from bamboo to steel front wheel axle.

I have also noticed, that it's easy to falsely mount the idlers. As a result your tracks tend to be too long. The photo below shows the right (OK) and the wrong (NOK) way:

I hope it helps you with your build. I'm waiting for the glue on the road wheel arms to set and then I'll fit the tracks. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Rob Gronovius

With a turreted tank, you can continuously scan left and right independent of the direction of travel. You can traverse a turret much more quickly than you can try to adjust the direction of the tank to get an accurate lay of the main gun.

Pawel,
As always, lookimg good.
Did you note on the phones of the museum tan, they painted the camo right over the spare track links?  That's one it would be really nice to have a veteran comfirm (wonder if there is a swedish tank veteran association on facebook?)

I'd be inclined to go very easy on track weathering.  Doctrinally, these tanks were meant to be very close to their dispersed motorpools, and were meant to reside in revetments near highways and other strategic points.

Which is likely to frustrate normal armor modeling reflexes.

I'll wager the side-skirt diesel can were filled from a bowser driving along side.  And no doubt under a watchful sargent's eye, so spills were likely wiped up right away.

In fact, you get it too dirty, you'd just be forced, forced, I say, to build a dio of it being washed clean again

Hello Capn Mac!

It's a pleasure to hear from you. Yes, I did notice those spare track links camo'ed over. I have found it a little strange, but then again those babies are heavy, so I know why one wouldn't be to eager to remove them and put them back on... And in general those camouflage jobs don't look too high level to me. It's obvious thay have taken forrest green tanks, taped over the numbers and warning signs and painted the camo over that somewhere in the units. Things like axes, hammers and shovels were removed, but spare tracks?

So I don't plan to dirty this baby up much. Just some shading, maybe some camo netting, a tiny bit of light chipping and that would be about it.

And that's an interesting point about that washing diorama - kinda makes me wonder why you don't get to see such dios. One thing this is plain hard to do - show realistic water and wet effects on the model. Then I heard this washing is just hated by the tankers - that would be another thing. But it's a challenge for the modellers out there - a wash rack dio!

Best greetings and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel,

I just noticed this thread. Most impressive model of an unusual and interesting tank!

Bill Morrison

Pawel,

Absolutely awesome job sir! The masking and paint look amazing. Wonderful WiP.

The water is the easy part, getting the scene to look accurate and finding reference pictures, that's the hard part for a non-tanker.

Nice work, the tracks look fantastic! 

Hello everybody!

Bill, Hunter, Gamera, Lodni - thanks a lot for your kind words!

modelcrazy - water might be easy for you! I'd like to learn some day the tricks with water that you do, but for now I would have to start practicing! I agree wholeheartedly about the references, though.

And in the meantime I have put the tracks on here's what they look like:

Now I have to tackle the final decals. Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

She looks good with the tracks on. 

Gamera - thanks a lot, I like the looks too!

The work got a little slower since my woman has returned from the hospital. Anyhow, I'm still working. I have added the armored shutters on the 'scopes of the commander's cupola - white parts, painted, as for now only on one side. The 'scopes are all painted, too:

I had to modify the MG - it's spent brass chute, to be exact. I have made a new one from copper sheet. Next to it there are two length of "chain" made from copper wire with the "twist and squeeze" method. They will be used in the replica of the mechanism, that keeps the commander hatch  with its spent brass tray on top always connected to the 'chute:

I have also assembled and painted the illum mortars (called Lyran) rounds. They will be attached on op of the other hatch:

Now I'm focused on painting and installation of the MG. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

a unique AFV built to work in a specific environment. this tank has always interested me. its like a super advanced stug. 

Looking very good! 

blackdog62 - I also find this tank very interesting, I'd even say it's been fascinating me since I learned to read, because it was shown in one of the first books I've read! In some places this baby is a bit like the A-4 Skyhawk, because it shows this fascinating "inverse feature creep" - where you eliminate one thing, then in turn you don't need another thing and so on, and you end up with a very compact and capable design. This is not quite the case here, but the end result is very interesting none the less.

Gamera - thanks a lot for your kind words!

And in the meantime I have installed the "Kulspruta" (Swedish for machine gun) on te cupola together with the chains and it looks like this:

Now I'm going to use the cupola to test the weathereing here. My plan is simple - some dark gray wash and some lighter gray dry brushing plus a tiny bit of pin washes and chipping. Let's see how this turns out. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Another incredible build shaping up here.

I keep thinking in my head about whether this needs something to help set the scale.

But, I can't come up with a way that an S-tank might share a space with, oh, and M-103   Or a Mk IV.  Or, for that matter, an A4 which would always have a personal connection for you.

"And in the meantime I have installed the "Kulspruta" (Swedish for machine gun) on te cupola together with the chains and it looks like this:"

Thanks Pawel, I leaned something new today. And nice work!

I have a C ready to mud up and put on a base. Screwed up the priming (too hot in garage) but continued anyway. Mine is a winter white and dark green pattern with the blade down. going to try some serius mud and snow base. also have a B and both also in OTS. kinda go on a Swedish kick after my Finnish kick.

CapnMac - thanks a lot for your kind words! First time I have read this I thought maybe I'll have a photo of an US tanker checking out that weird thing... I could also make a "museum" photo along some other cold war tank...

Gamera - my pleasure and thanks a lot!

waynec - yeah, I have seen that green and white scheme on a model and I think, too, that it looks very cool. But do you have any references on this? I also have 1:72 B variant of this baby, been looking at it short time ago, but I have to tell you: watch out! 1:72 versions of it have some simplifications in their design but I also suspect they tend to confuse some features of B and C. From what I know the B version doesn't have the illum rounds on top of the drivers' hatch, but the Trumpeter model has them.

Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day

Paweł