Just a quicky to show off my current model. Not really a build log as it's already at the painting stage, but I will post some more progress photos as I continue with the finish.

It's the 1/72 Eastern Express SU-122; bought it ages ago before I even got back into modelling (on the way to a meeting I happened to walk passed Hannants). It's a bit of an experiment, as I hadn't used a brass set before, so I went totally over the top and bought etched brass tracks as well. The details set is by Extratech, the tracks are 550mm winter tracks by Ace, the crew is the Soviet busts set by Mig, all of which came from Tracks and Troops.

It's also all been a bit of a disaster...

The kit itself was quite good in fact, the gun assembly, which really is the salient fature of this vehicle, all looks OK with a bit of a rough cast finish, and with the barrel drilled out it has that nice snub-nosed look. The wheels were hard to locate properly, with very short pins/holes, so some had to be drilled and have pins added.

Problem 1: the inner half of one of the idlers was missing, so had to make one out of plastic card, just a disk with some holes drilled in for stand-in detail.

Problem 2: the PE detail set, some of the parts are so thin that they were already broken when it arrived. This is the side engine grilles - then I managed to make one or two of them much worse by dusting some plastic crumbs away with a paint brush . . . oh dear.

Problem 3: one of the tank crew had an arm missing. In fact, it doesn't matter as he is now driving, so you can't see anything except his face!

Problem 4: I wrecked one length of track by making it backwards. Oh dear oh dear. Had to bend it back and it inevitably broke into tiny pieces, which meant lots of fiddly gluing.

Problem 5: the tracks weren't long enough. I started off building in some nice sag, then found they didn't fit. So for the other side, I left out the sag thinkig I needed all the length there is - but it still didn't fit. There is a gap where they don't meet up. I think this is going to necessitate a diorama to disguise it.

Despite all this I have enjoyed building it, and it has been a learning experience. Some of the PE parts were so small I actually couldn't see them properly, and they got made almost by chance - note the mounting brackets for the grab rails and the handles on the fuel tanks.

Painted in Tamiya XF-61 Dark Green over white acrylic automotive primer.

That figure looking out of the top hatch, I have no idea if it is possible to wedge the hatch open at that angle with your head . . . I have seen a pic of one with the hatch open a little, like that, but you couldn't see how it is propped, if such a thing would even be necessary. The figures aren't big enough to do the looking around the hatch thing though, as the hatch opens forwards. The crew are quite nicely detailed, but it is a bit difficult knowing how to position them. Really one of them could do with having legs so he can stand in the turret.

Nice work. Did the figures come with or did you get them separatly.




Paul

Paul, the figures are from Mig Productions, via Tracks and Troops.

WWII Soviet Tank Crew

I'd post some photos of them before they were stuck inside the vehicle, but it seems the photo server has lost it for the time being.

Sorry, this is in the wrong order . . .

Some photos of earlier stages:

Fitting some of the PE parts. See the 0.5 mm florist wire in the blue tack with the brass brackets on it making up the grab rail? They were the bits I couldn't see properly... One rail already fitted at the back of fighting compartment. Note also the idler wheel half made of white card. The trackguard ends are all from brass sheet. The front periscope hatch was cut out so the flap could be open. The big mesh at the back and the big hatch are very nice pieces, the tiny grilles on the side were to thin, and were already broke, but I made them worse (where's the embarrassed smiley when you need him?)



The Mig tank crew painted. Note the poor sap who came with only one arm - as stated above, he is the driver and there probably wasn't room for his arm anyway with the back end of the gun mounting right next to him. They are basically Tamiya XF-49 Khaki with Tamiya black helmets; shading, belts, faces all oil. The Mig packaging shows them with brown helmets, but I think they should be black. It also shows shoulder boards in red with gold edging, but I think they should be khaki with red edging - maybe I'm wrong though.



Getting the crew in place. Notice I pulled the commander's arm off and repositioned it so that he is holding the rim of the hatch opening.



The hull top glued in place with the figures inside, just prior to priming. The open hatches were blocked up with blue tack.

And now after the green painting was done . . .

I'd kind of decided I wanted to do the traditional scruffy white scheme and when looking around for techniques I came across Steve Zaloga's Military Modelling feature on the MiniArts SU-76 so I ripped off his toothpaste technique.

My slight improvisations on his technique: I coated the acrylic paint with Klear which seemed to do the trick as far as protecting it from the toothpaste goes. Applied the toohpaste with a very rough hog hair brush so that it was kind of stippled and in clumps.

When I started just rubbing off the toothpaste with a brush after the paint dried, it looked quite subtle and I thought maybe I should have put more paste on, as there was only minor distress to the finish. The next day I washed it off with water and saw that the distressing was in fact much more extreme. So the lesson is that it is hard to gauge; I guess it is true that maybe too much effect is better than too little, since you could always re-apply paste to the areas you wanted to keep flaky and then spray more white to cover over the areas you want.

I used white toothpaste that went almost transparent when applied so thinly, I wondered if coloured toothpaste might make it easier to see where you're putting it? Maybe not though - maybe you could use your children's glitter toothpaste, but you might end up with glitter embedded in the paintwork - not nice.

Must say that on a small model like this it does provide a very effective camouflage - it actually does make it harder to see the shape and detail! This is before any weathering has been added, I am in the process of doing that now.

Awesome job! I cant wait to see it done. The camo looks great and the figures are exceptional.

Weathering is done at last. Sprayed some very thinned earth enamel around the wheels and in touches around the hull. Did a kind of dark browny grey pin wash round the details. Both of these colours also went on to the tracks.

That's it so far, as I'm intending a small base, so I'll wait until that is more or less done before adding any extra weathering. I'm visualising the SU travelling west on a slushy road with plenty of tank and tyre tracks, and in the ditch next to the road, still covered by some just starting to thaw snow, is a burnt out Krupp Protz left over from when the fighting was advancing in the opposite direction . . .

The start of the Protz is shown below. Sorry, I know it's not Russian. It's the old Matchbox kit I bought decades ago. Filed the tyres off down to the rims for that burnt off look. Made a brass bonnet so it can be left flipped up. Built an engine out of bits of card and sprue mainly, though the fan housing at the front was a spare mantlet (I think for an SU-85) that came with the SU-122, trimmed down, then drilled and filed out. Have been building the metal frame at the back, as if all the wood has been burnt away. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Sorry. Forgot the aerial. There's probably something else too...

Very, very nice job, Matthew. The figures look particularly well done. Not to worry about the damaged grills or the like as combat has a way of making things like that a natural occurrence.

Cheers,
tread_geek