Trumpeter's KV 2 "big turret" finished pics

Hiya Ron,

beautiful job as always man!  looks right on the money to me,and hope you don't mind me saying 'I'm flattered'---nice way to kick off the New Year !--  tread

............aaaaaaaaaand we're offfffffffffffffffff............

2008 has a great start!

Yeah, looks real nice Ron....as usual!

The fender does look cool like that.

Looks great, Ron!

What brand and color of pigment did you use for the tracks? 

This looks great Biffa! Gotta find one of these for the stash.

Dale 

Ron, nice way to kick off the year. I think you're already ahead of last years pace. LOL Love the dusty application. Did you add AM grilles? Mine came with the subpar molded on ones and yours are much nicer.

  Wonderful results Ron. This a great way to start your new year off. The only thing that I would have done different would been to have added the same sheen (bolts, picture #5) to the contact points of the tracks (picture #4).

Just my opinion. Nonetheless, it is just super, I would expect no less from you.... 

Steve 

Looks 1:1 Ron, my compliments.

Steve

A definate improvement over yout technique Ron.

The tank looks much better and definately different touch.

I especially like to read how you do the pigment placement. Is there special procedure that you did to have them evenly spread the way you wanted ? Laltely I have problem controlling the CMK pigment that I use. It seems that once I place them with mineral spirit, all they want is stuck and I cannot spread them the way I wanted. 

Thanks and great build #1 for 2008

---
Ben

One of my favorite subjects Ron.  Very very....extremely well done .The finish looks spot on with the photos I have seen on this subject.  I built the "regular" KV-2 last year and can echo your sentiments about the quality of the kit.  Your machine looks very dangerous and I plan to stay out of that big gun's crosshairs.

Larry

Ron,

Nicely done.  Trumpeter has really put together a nice set of KVs.  I competed in a show that had 4 allied 1/35 kits in one division.  All of them were KVs (1 was a Tamiya), and I took 4th with my Trumpeter. 

I recently purchased the KV-II, and I'm ready to try again.  This time I'm going to try it with fruil tracks.

Grant

Ron,

You done a great job on such a ugly tank.

Wow what a great response thank you everyone.

Thanks Tread what you did with your fender was great and a perfect fix for the trouble i was having but the credit is all yours my friend

Hi Hermesminiatures the pigments used on the tracks were Bragdon's "dust bowl brown" and "weathered barn".

Hi Eric i did replace the grills with some scratch built ones using plastic sheet and some scrap PE, they are not perfect but as you say better than the kit ones which in my opinion are the weakest point in these great kits. 

Hi Manny, the weathering was done with about 97% oil washes (around 20 or so) and at the end a dry application of pigments in select places to blend it all together.

Stevo my man as always i appreciate your comments the track sufaces do actually show bare steel but the pics do not reflect this look at where the track is under the fenders or one of the pics which is blurred show it better also, i think the lights tend to  block it.

Hi Ben the only point i apply pigments is at the very end the last thing, i apply them dry by dipping my brush into them then scrubb them into the corners and places i want them i then scrubb and wipe/blow away the loose pigments the flat finished will hold the pigments perfectly, i rarely apply them any other way i use oil washes for all the other weathering, almost all the weathering you see is oil washes the pigments merely tie them together and give a dusty finished look to it. 

Matt, Ps1scw, Doog, Dale, Bill, Crockett, Larry, Grant and M1garand I again thank you all for the the great comments you are all very kind.

That weathering is simply outstanding! I was looking at a couple of the KV's at my LHS yesterday but passed on it, but looking at your example will have me pick one up the next time I'm at the store.

Scott

Nice Kv-2!  The giant russian green box is great for weathering.  One thing I have to ask--I'm sure you've said it before-- but what do you use for washes?  You said oil paints, but what kind, artist oils?  Or enamels, or what?  And with what, and how much do you thin them?  Thanks.

Your the man Ron, another fine build from yourself. I have 2 of these in my stash. You have inspired me to start one.

...Guy

Sweet build Ron.  You do a great job of making plastic look like real metal.  I love these Trumpy KV's, I just started the KV1 Ekranami over the holidays, they are nice to build, eh?

 Jeff

I'll echo the praise of others.  My ony question is with such a large blank surface as a canvas, how did you fight the urge to slap on a political slogan or three?  You know, something like "death to the great German scourge" or "we have chicks in our tanks, what have you got?."  All in cyrillic of course.

Thank you all for taking the time to comment i am glad you like it

Ian, i use artists oils some winsor and newton some georgian brand and for thinner i use Gemini masterpiece from hobby lobby i usually mix my washes in old testors liquid cement jars so when i need one i just shake it up and its ready and i do them on the thin side because i like to add them in many layers to get a build up of many different colours.

IA i have to admit its tempting to plaster the sides with graffiti but in the end nearly all my ref pics were void of markings plus i probably would end up with some misspelled madeup one saying something like "onward your motherland of chickens"