So, just when i thought the interior part of the build was completed I had an attack of stupidity...

The plan was to leave one of the two front folding hatches open as a 'closed up' vehicle would not suit the intended scene. I originally planned to just paint the interior black and that would suffce, but I slowly persuaded myself that this wouldn't do it justice and so with the help of some good references decided to scratch build the gun breech to fill out the space.
Fortunately I have drawn the line there before I end up putting an entire interior in this thing!

Here's the finished result:









Usually I depend on the spares bin for parts roughly the right shape to help me out, but the lack of a spares bin over here in Oz and enough styrene sheet and rod allowed me to make this baby from scratch. I must say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Here's an idea of what will be on show when it's in position:



Was it worth it? Time will tell!

Cheers,

James

Great work James. Excellent details. I'm sure it will be looking very well once finished.

keep up the great work!

spit

Thanks mate,

I'm glad you are enjoying my progress of this build. Especially as its been so long scince I've done one!

Cheers,

James

James,
Im watchin'...... I love the interior work! Smashing....

Chris

Very nice! I like the work you're doing here a lot! Keep it up and I will closely follow...

Thanks Chris,

Glad to know you are! Appreciate you like the work, hopefully it will look good with some paint on now!




Thanks Marian, Its a deal, more posts to follow!

Cheers,

James

As promised!

Some paint has now been applied, firstly, some primer for my interior parts:



Then the hull interior has been sprayed with black to cut out any light reflection. I have left the engine bay in the grey primer colour as this will serve as a nice base colour:



Best go and get the brushes out!

Cheers,

James

It's taken a while but finally the engine is painted!

I have done the whole lot with humbrol enamels, using various online and book references for colour (there doesn't seem to be a universally accepted wartime colour scheme let alone post war). This was aided by oil washes and mig/vajello pigments on the exhausts and weathering.

First up the completed engine block:



Now with the scratched radiators as it will be when in the engine bay:






and finally, all snuggled up in the engine bay:






Now it's all ready to be closed up (finally!)

Cheers,

James

Brilliant work James. Looks like a real one! One thought, wouldn't there be some stains from oil? Just a thought, anyway it wouldn't be much visible I guess once you put the upper hull on it.

spit

Hey Pawel,

Thanks very much, I'm quite pleased with the result.
As for oil stains, I have added some, but dulled them down with some thinned matt colours as they looked too glossy and over the top. They are still there but perhaps not too obvious in the pics.

You are right though, there will not too much visible when this gets closed up!

James

Just to give you an idea of what will (more like won't!) be visible, here's a couple of shots with the upper hull installed:





Not a lot, but oh well, I enjoyed putting that engine together.
What I have not been enjoying however is DML's fit quality. This is the first of their kit's I've built in a while and man am I dissapointed in this respect. The PE grills are simply not big enough and I've had to create shims to get them to go over the holes. Even then It's been a struggle taking me a couple of nights of filling and sanding, not fun. On top of this the screens on the upper deck are not 'handed' and are mirror images of each other meaning details at one end of the right hand one are at the other on the left side one (some stowage should sort that out).

Add to that the rear plate that just doesn't fit properly. I've had to create no less than 3 sets of shims to get it to fit snuggly. I'm also distressing over large gaps at the front of the sponsons and leaving off a mud guard has left big gaps that need sorting out..... aararararaagghhhh!
Starting to lose the love with this build at the moment.

This pic shows the rear plate with the Czech style exhaust covers from Anubis added there is a good coat of mr surfacer on there so everything is blending together! The two 'ledges' where the plate should meet the sponsons had to be shimmed along with another along the bottom edge to fill a sizeable gap. Finally there where two little square areas in the corners between the two that I had to fill (all done after the pic was shot).



I know this is an older DML release that has been updated but I really feel they have rushed it and not really tried building their own kit here. Really longing after a nice Tamiya build now!

Rant over, lets hope with these bits out of the way things start going a bit smoother!

Later,

James

Nice progress James. It's really strange all those fit problems. I hope I won't have any with my new IS -3 from Tamiya that has just arrived last week. Just need to take a look in my agenda

Good work.

spit

Thanks mate!
I'd be very surprised if you get any on your IS3, Tamiya are the kings of nicely fitting models (I have only ever had a major problem with their M13/40) and that IS3 will go together in the box if you shake it hard enough!

Cheers,

James

James, a bit surprised to hear of the poor fit-it does take out of the modeling fun, but you seem to not let it bother you!
Dan

Hi Dan,

Yes it does make it a bit difficult.
I think that DML are held in high regard by a lot of modellers and can do no wrong, but there are enough issues with this and other kits that I would disagree with that view. Thats not too say that their new stuff isn't well engineered however, this kit is just an old one with a half hearted re-vamp that has caused problems.

Still I'm getting close to conquering them now!

Cheers,

James

A bit more progress (sorry about the wait), this time the 100mm gun is the focus of attention:

First up the external parts, the mantlet came with a subtle cast texture, but my desire to capture the rough nature of late Russian armour led me to take a rotary tool with a round burr and add some more detailed texture. The lifting hook was added and the seam blended with some Mr. Surfacer:



The Aber alloy barrel need the hole in the mantlet widening a little but otherwise is perfect:




The interior part of the gun has now been panted using the same methods as the engine (brushed with enamels, washes with oils, streaks with enamels and then pigments):













Having this finished means I can properly close up the interior and get some serious work done on detailling the exterior.

Thanks for looking!

James

Looking nice and weathered there James, I hope you're going to leave enough open so that we get to actually see it when you're done

Thanks Jeremy,
Thats a very good point, the key will be to leave enough to see the breech but not enough to see the big empty space around it! Fotunately the front hatch is split so it gives me some options to play about with!

Cheers,

James

Good job mate, as said just leave it visible What's your final idea for the camouflage?

spit

You kinda left us hanging, Dude. Any update?

Have not checked this one in awhile,fantastic detail work.