My first campaign, my first 1/35 tank (or AFV -whatever )
Tamiya 1/35 SU-85. (Do I read it right? These things can be transformed into R/C models? How?)
OOB

Since the surface was really, really smooth, I roughened it with surfacer 500, imitating the casting texture. (Could have gone a bit rougher.)
I tried to simulate the welding around the top with putty -looks pretty good considering I didn't know what I was doing.

The brownish tint is not on the model; the lights made them appear on the tank, but this is what I'm shooting for.
Used 3 layers of Testors Russian armor green so far - weathering is still to be done. (I love Russian tanks - you can paint them any color you want to, and no one can complain... )






Any suggestions are welcome.
A





(Actually, I do have a question: the white stripe and the numbers. I'd like to paint them - the stripe should be easy with mask, but how can I replicate the number without buying an expensive PE template??)

You might be one of tiny minority not building a KV series for Big & Beefy! I think the color looks great and you're right. You can paint it any green and no one is gonna care!!

"You might be one of tiny minority not building a KV series for Big & Beefy!"


Yeah, but it made me want to buy one...

Go for it. THe Trumpeter KVs will not disappoint. I built 3 myself and have a 4th for Historical Dioramas Campaign

I surely will (I like the silly look of it) -but right now I do have a very strong feeling of guilt (I have about 15 kits in my closet already) and also a thin wallet The kits I have will last till the end of the year -and I have at least 100 models on my "must have" list.

But even though; how do you guys manage to build so many models, even of one particular type? If I built all the variants of MiG-21 I wanted, I'll be building them for ethernity. Not mentioning the B-25s, the T-34s...

The first two photos: russian armor green basecolor, and light patches of rust (different red-brown, red, orange, black mixtures diluted, low pressure, several layers).
The decals were used as I wasn't sure about my ability to make custom templates.




Last two photos: a new layer of rust was sprayed on the decals (different colors again), then the whole tank was "misted" with the base color to blend everything.

I don't plan to do much more weathering. Some dust on the underside, minimal rust-streaks with oils, some damage to the paint (chips and stratches), and a blue filter.
After the dullcoat layer the least rusted areas will be touched up with some Turpenol (to give some shine to the metalic surface).

Opinions, please?