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1:72 RT-2PM Topol ICBM by Zvezda - Finished! Page 2

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  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Sunday, March 3, 2019 5:22 PM

Hello!

It took a lot of time, but I have finally managed to pigment the wheels and dirty up the undercarriage to look a bit like my reference, using pigments, but also Humbrol paint applied by airbrush. Dry fitting everything resulted in the pictures that can be seen below:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

The thing that really slowed me down was the gyroscope - or the "elefant's foot" like some people call it. This part was top secret for a long time and couldn't be photographed. Now that good photos of it turned up on the net, it can be seen, that Zvezda took a major shortcut here. While in the raised position one could let it pass, in the lowered position like I want to show it, it's unacceptable for me. Let's look at some pictures - first the part out of the box (well almost) with some instructions for it:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

The real thing looks like this:

 

kubinka-moscow-oblast-russia-jun-450w-29 stock-photo-kubinka-moscow-oblast-russia stock-photo-kubinka-moscow-oblast-russia

Now something's got to be done about it...

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 2:03 PM

armornut, Gamera - thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words! If my posts here could help you in any way then it makes me very happy! Good luck with your modelling projects and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Tuesday, January 1, 2019 10:01 PM

Looks pretty friggin perfect to me. I have no idea when I'll get around to masking the ZTZ-99 but I'll be looking at what you've done here for an example for sure.

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Tuesday, January 1, 2019 4:09 PM

     I owe you the thanks Pawel, your visualisation of how the camo was applied, of course your pix help too, show me an easier way to achive the pattern I'm looking for. Man that is AWESOME....now to find where I hid my Scud. LOL

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Tuesday, January 1, 2019 3:32 PM

Hello everybody!

armornut, Gamera - thanks a lot for your suggestions, I thought about them while trying to work out my own way. It took me the whole December, but at last here's the update:

First I would like to say that in the model you actually have to reverse the order present in the real thing - I mean normally you have a green vehicle and you put spots of different colours on it. On the model you start with the spots by masking them and then you put the "base" colour last.

To get some coherent results I have created a plan in CorelDraw to have something to hold on to. I actually only had a not so clear YouTube video (this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtcquzZydXs) to work with, and it only shows the machine from one side. No other photos of this camo scheme are available, so I used my artistic licence. What I actually did was to take the patterns from one side, reverse them and put them on the other side, with modifications where necessary.

I have also noiced that people painting the camo were very practical - they carefully avoided painting on the highest surfaces, on complicated features and so on.

And so I started by putting on the first colour - black, or in this case actually the dark grey, Humbrol 32:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

As you can see the masking is already on, and I have also masked the window seals, let's see how this turns out. I'm mainly using Tamiya tape cut up in 2mm squares. In places I have already painted patches of brown, where this is better to mask before next colour. And the next colour is sand, Humbrol 121:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

The masking is already there on the above photos and the next colour is Brown, Humbrol 113:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

The final colour took some matching but I have finally settled on Humbrol 149. I don't know why they went with this untypically green colour, but that's just how the video shows it. And finally the thrilling moment - removing the masks... Bada bim, bada boom:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

I'm glad to say this didn't turn out so bad - a few touchups here and there will be necessary, but the painting IMO nicely conveys the spirit of the original, so I'm glad.

Now I'll try to concentrate on details and put it all together.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Monday, November 26, 2018 11:14 AM

Pawel: Looks good, I really like the shading there! 

Good luck with the pixelated camo. I've gotten some work done on a modern Chinese ZTZ-99 MBT that I intend to use graph paper for the digital camo. But she's 1/35th so the squares are about 4mm or so in size. In 1/72nd they'll be so small I'm not sure it would work.   

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Saturday, November 24, 2018 5:08 PM

   Not sure how to do a pixelsted camo job in 72nd, but I do have a plan for my 35th, Scud TEL from Trumpeter.

     I drew a grid on small card stock paper, darkened in my pattern, now I'm going to take the mesh screen from an old Tamiya kit, overlay it on the card stock, with a sharp knife trim my design. Then I will seal with tape and trim the pattern again essentially creating a template.

    I have several designs that can be turned in many different directions to add a complex overall apperance.

    When I get the internet back for posting pictures I may try to do a WIP on it.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Saturday, November 24, 2018 4:14 PM

Hello!

Good thing you've found 'em - I've seen those photos some time ago, but couldn't find them again for you. Whole lot of work - and a big model, too!

I have a good idea just how big it would be, because I have tackled the misille container - the biggest subassembly of the kit. Building it involves such joys as having to fill and sand a straight seam almost a foot long... After doing that I have hit the container with spray Surfacer 500, then after I was sure the seam is taken care of with Tamiya spray primer and then Tamiya TS-61 NATO green spray. But the NATO green was too green for this application, so I have airbrushed a thin layer of Humbrol 155 on top of that. That has allowed me to do some shading and I've got a nice, faded look for my misile container now:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

So now I'm trying to figure ot the best way to do a pixelated camouflage on this baby... Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Tuesday, November 20, 2018 7:05 PM

   Hi Pawel, so I found a few pictures of a 35th scratchbuilt Topol, WOW, while I want one in 35th I have no idea where I would put it. It was a beautiful build though.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Saturday, November 17, 2018 6:00 PM

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

armornut - some russian modeller has scratchbuilt this baby in 1:35 - that must have been some work! Unfortunately it seems to be taken down from the 'net recently.

gamera - thanks a lot for your kind words!

It's a real pity about the whole company. The cabs set is an example of a modern trend to 3D print some masters and then to duplicate them in resin. The whole set was very carefully designed, with drawings/instructions, colour profiles, decals and so on. You could say high quality work if not for that one goof. But I predict we will see more similar sets from different companies.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Friday, November 16, 2018 6:04 PM

Yeah that's a shame about the PE fret. Still more nice work! Yes

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Thursday, November 15, 2018 7:06 PM

    Bummer about the PE set, AWESOME that the seller refunded some of your money. Looks really cool, IF they ever poo one in 35th I may take a second mortgage to have it.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Thursday, November 15, 2018 5:25 PM

Hello!

Gamera - sorry I took so long to reply, thanks a lot for your kind words! This is getting hard, because recently I have some seriuos restrictions as to the use of my airbrush, and I wanted a somewhat complicated colour scheme for this baby.

As promised I wanted to write a few words about the cabins. OOB the cabins are pretty disappointing - they lack many details like the windows facing the missile container and the roof vents, not to mention that they don't have any interior at all, which might bother people, as the windows of the cabs are pretty big. That's why I decided to buy this set:

The above set, although somwhat pricey, is very comprehensive, containing not only parts for complete cabins with interior, but also some decals and several additional colour schemes for the Topol launchers. The drama struck after I have opened the box. It turned out one of the two PE sheets included in the set, the one containing the window gaskets was faulty, distorted. I have contacted the manufacturer and he has shocked me by admitting he checked out his stock and 100% of those PE sheets are shot which he noticed just now and he's not going to make any more. To his credit he refunded me a significant portion of the set price. Shortly thereafter crosshairmodels.com went off the net, which is a pity, because apart from this shot PE sheet the rest of the set is actually pretty nice.

That still left me without the windows, which I decided to fix by making my own windows out of Vivak sheet. In comparison with the original design that ment no window gaskets, something I have to address later. I also had a hard time figuring out the interior colour that finally turned out to be that strange green also found in some aircraft or helicopters. at the moment the cabins look like on the photos below:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Now I would like to temporarily put the doors in (I think I'll finally show them open) and paint the camo on the cabs and on the more flimsy cabinets, that would IMO not survive multiple masking sessions if they were glued to the frame.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Friday, November 9, 2018 9:43 AM

Nice to see you still rolling along on this Pawel. The added detailing looks good! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Thursday, November 8, 2018 5:21 PM

Hello!

Here's another update. I have painted the deck over the engine and yes, it can remain removable!

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Then I started tackling the "cabinets". Other than the instructions have you do it I have built the cabinets as subassemblies, filled and sanded the seams, and just then I have started fitting them to the frame. The largest, rear cabinets fit a little iffy on their rear. First I have thought to fasten them to the rear beam of the jacks - that's why I have glued some 0,5mm styrene sheet to the beam - it's white on the photo below. But then some dry fitting revealed that it is best to glue the sides of the cabinets to the surface marked with the yellow cross on the photo below:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

After that was clear I have put the large cabinets on. The smaller, front ones are dry fitted for now, as is the frame that supports the missile pod - and this part took an unusually big amount of filling and sanding:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

I have also added some missing beams to the antenna girders - used square 1mm styrene strip for that. The added parts are white in the photo below:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Now it's about time I started tackling the cabins... Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Monday, November 5, 2018 5:18 PM

Gamera, knox - thanks a lot for your kind words, they mean a lot to me! I hope to be able to post another update soon. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    February 2011
Posted by knox on Monday, November 5, 2018 12:47 PM

I’m really enjoying following this build.  Thanks for sharing your talent.  

                                            knox

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Monday, November 5, 2018 11:38 AM

Oh cool! I'd leave the deck removable too after all the work you put into detailing under it.  

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Saturday, November 3, 2018 12:02 PM

Hello!

Gamera - thanks a lot!

I have fitted the "deck" over the engine. It was missing a few covers and the air cleaner, so I have added them. Here are the photos of the dry fit, before painting. I'm considering leaving the deck removable - that would allow to take a look at the engine from time to time!

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, October 28, 2018 5:40 PM

Looks great Pawel!

And yeap, sometimes you just have to fill the empty space with something even if it's not exactly the right stuff!

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Saturday, October 27, 2018 1:35 PM

Hello everybody!

I managed to put some paint on the chassis and install the engine. As for paint the chassis is supposed to be black, but to show some real  life condition of it I have painted it with Humbrol 32 (Dark Grey) with some Sand colour mixed in. The engine is painted using T-55 engines as a reference:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

The space between the engine and the radiator is populated using creative gizmology - I wasn't able to find any info on the equipment there. The space behind the engine will get an air cleaner. The Engine will be covered by the deck, so unfortunately some of what is shown here won't be seen - except from the underside and from under the fenders. I'm glad I dont have a big gaping hole in place where the engine should be, like it is OOB!

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Tuesday, October 23, 2018 4:46 PM

Gamera - thanks a lot for your kind words! I expect to be able to show you the photos of the painted chassis about the next weekend. for now I'm chugging along - slowly but steadily. Have a nice day!

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, October 21, 2018 2:30 PM

Pawel: Cool, the engine looks really good, looking forward to seeing it all painted up.

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Saturday, October 20, 2018 11:06 AM

Hello!

It's been a long time... I have used that ime to do some research and to get an engine for my baby...

And the engine for this truck (MAZ-7917 / 15U128) should be a V-58-7 which is a rusian designation of an engine, that is directly related to the V-2 - and by this I mean the engine that was powering the T-34 tank! What the Russians did was to modify the engine slightly by adding two superchargers thus giving the truck 720 HP. I have contacted the Modelcollect company and they were friendly enough to send me the C sprue from their MAZ-543 kit that contains parts for the D12A/V-38 engine - very similar to the one I need. My job was to scratchbuild the twin superchargers. The C sprue also contains many goodies like the radiarot fans, transmission boxes and drive shafts, that will come very handy for this build. For now I did the mock up of how the components should fit on the frame:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Now I have to paint the frame to be able to start mounting other components to it. Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Monday, August 6, 2018 1:36 AM

Hello!

They tell me it is, but I have yet to see the printed copy. When I do, I'll post about it, but in a different topic.

Thanks for thinking aboput me and have a nice day!

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, August 5, 2018 4:37 PM

BTW Pawel is the M42A1 Duster in the contest gallery of September FSM yours? If so nice work and congrads on making it in the magazine! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Friday, August 3, 2018 5:05 PM

Gamera - thanks a lot!

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, August 2, 2018 6:04 PM

Nice work on repairing the tires, looking very good!!!

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Thursday, August 2, 2018 4:29 PM

Hello Easy!

I'd be glad to make an update here!

I started working on the wheels. I planned to use the kit's wheels, but they have a prominent seam on them and as it turned out, thes sand quite poorly:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

That's when I decided to buy resin wheels. I got a set from a company called "Armory". The thread on theit tires looks good and sands better than the kits parts:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Unfortunately fitting the resin hubs to the rest of the chassis looks very complicated here - it would take precise drilling or milling of large diameter holes in the resin parts, or a major surgery of the styrene axle stubs:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

The resin tires als have a spot each, where the resin was being poured, with rough surface and trapped air bubbles. I have drilled out the pinholes and have glued a small piece of stretched sprue in each one:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

After a little sanding I have cleaned up the thread with razor saw:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

Because of how much work it would take to install the resin hubs, and because of how nice those kit's wheels are, I decided to install the kit's wheels with resin tires on my model. To do this I only needed to remove some resin from the tires - this was done quickly and nicely with a 11mm wood drill bit.

It's worth noting, that when you assemble all the wheels exactly as per the instructions, the tires on one side will be installed "in the wrong direction". To adress this, you would need to deliberately work against the instructions - and end up getting a small hole/seam along the wheel on all wheels on one side of the model. On the photo below you can see one kit tire assembled per kit instructions, one tire assembled against the kit instructions and resin tire with a styrene hub:

1:72 Zvezda RT-2PM Topol by Pawel

This is what I have so far - thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    June 2018
Posted by TankerEasy on Wednesday, August 1, 2018 4:47 AM

We need to see an update! Smile Burger

Millennial modeler

Air Force vet (2006-2012)

Recently completed: 1/48 Tamiya V1

On the bench: Hasegawa 1/8 Clerget 9B rotary engine, 1/35 scale Trumpeter SA-2 Guideline missle

 

 

 

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