Braille Bunch,

I’ve gone ahead and enlisted myself in the 'Eastern European Steel Campaign' and will be putting together PST’s 72nd scale KV-220 ‘Russian Tiger’ super heavy tank, kit No#72059. I thought it would be nice to share this build here with you. This will be my first Braille build log here but not my last - you've been warned!

Since I'm somewhat cramped for time I won’t be doing a step-by-step build log. However, I will cover in detail how I currently go about painting and weathering. I do plan on doing a complete step-by-step build log here soon and that will encompass everything from start to finish.

Anyhow, here are a couple of photographs of the beast from the east that I found on the Internet along with a four sided view scale drawing.







Before I get started with this beast I thought that I'd present you with some history behind this one of a kind vehicle. It's rather lengthy but I found it most interesting, I hope you will find it interesting too!

The story -

This was a Russian KV heavy class experimental vehicle referred to by documents as T220 or Object 220. Prepared at the Kirov Plant and delivered for testing on December 5, 1940 this vehicle differed from the production KV’s in its greater hull length requiring an extra support wheel and return roller assembly per side, increase in track length and a new turret with an 85mm F-30 main gun developed specially for this tank at the No. 92 Plant. Without affecting the inside dimensions of the hull the armor thickness was increased to 100mm. With the added weight of the lengthened hull, tracks, extra suspension components, thicker armor plating and new turret with heavier main gun increasing the total vehicles weight to around 62 tons, this in effect necessitated the installation of a 700 HP V-5 engine. Testing started on January 30, 1941 and was halted the next day due to engine failure.

Testing recommenced on April 20, 1941 when a new engine was finally installed and the vehicle was loaded up to 70 tons, the loaded weight of a KV-3. By the end of May 1941 the vehicle had accumulated 1330 kilometers. In a submitted personal plant test report it had been noted that the vehicle had a poor shifting transmission, the torsion bars had twisted, the suspension components had suffered both bent road wheel arms and support roller spindles and the engine was not powerful enough for a 70 ton tank. On May 20, 1941 the vehicle had been brought in for overhaul and repair and an 850 HP V-2SN Diesel engine with supercharger was installed. The vehicle again was subjected to vigorous testing beginning May 30, 1941 and by June 22, 1941 had accumulated a total distance of 1,985 kilometers.

By early October 1941 when production of the KV tanks in Leningrad had almost come to a halt it was decided that the experimental tanks at the Kirov Plant be turned over to the troops. All of these vehicles including the KV-220 underwent necessary repairs at which time a KV-1 turret, with the 76mm F-32 main gun, was installed to the chassis because the 85mm F-30 main gun had been disabled at the beginning of summer. On October 5, 1941 the experimental KV-220 (factory No. M-220-1) was issued to the 124th Tank Brigade.

The vehicle was lost in December of 1941. For discussion purposes, below is the actual account of D. Osadchiy, commander of the 124th Tank Brigade that I found here along with a complete written history and photographs surrounding the KV-220 ‘Russian Tiger’ Heavy Breakthrough Tank.

"In the fall of 1941 our brigade received several KV tanks as replacements, one of which was named ‘Za Rodinu’ [For the Motherland]. It was produced as a single example at the Kirov Plant. It had the same capabilities as the KV tank, but it had heavier armor protection, a weight of more than 100 tons, and more a powerful engine with turbocharger. During movement in the upper gears the engine whistled and this whistling was very much like the whistle of a diving ‘Junkers’. The first time after receipt of this tank during its movement in the brigade someone even gave the ‘air alert’ signal. The tank came to my company and initially we wanted to make it my command tank. But after that it became the command tank of my deputy, experienced tanker Lieutenant Yakhonin. The tank was considered practically indestructible for enemy artillery and was intended for assault on fortified positions.

In December 1941 (I don't remember the exact date), our brigade received the mission to break through the Germans' defense in the sector Ust-Tosno railroad bridge, force the Tosna River, and in coordination with units of 43d Rifle Brigade develop the attack toward Mga. The 2nd Tank Battalion under the command of Major Pankin, a tank platoon from 1st Battalion, and the tank ‘Za Rodinu’ from my company attacked in the first echelon. In this battle the tank received the mission to capture the railroad bridge across the Tosna River and hold the bridgehead for the arrival of the main body. The battle unfolded on open terrain. The frozen upper layer of peat barely supported the tank. When it approached right up to the bridge, it was greeted with the fire of German heavy guns and radio communications with the tank were lost. At this time I was at the battalion command post. When communications were broken with the tank ‘Za Rodinu’, I attempted to reach the place of the engagement along the railroad embankment. When I managed to crawl to the tank, I saw that the turret had been blown off the tank and the crew was all dead."

It's very sad the things that do happen at time of war. Unusual to have such a complete history from a unique vehicle and the men involved during a time when so much information was so easily lost.

I will be building this vehicle as she would have appeared during the testing phase with its original turret housing the 85mm gun.


The PST kit.


I always soak the part sprues in a tub of warm soapy water for about 10 to 15 minutes. If the sprues have a noticeable amount of mold release (usually found on limited run kits) I'll scrub the part sprues with an old toothbrush too!


I then rinse the part sprues with warm water.


And blow dry them with a hair dryer taking care not to allow to much heat build up in any areas to prevent the parts from warping.


Alright its on with the kit building. Here I've added a few details to enhance the suspension a bit. Because this area is easily seen after the road wheels are installed both the rubber bumper stop pads and retaining nuts were created using the Waldron Model Products punch and die sets from .005" (0.127mm) sheet styrene.


Using photographs I found on the Internet of a 35th scale KV-1 build as reference I went ahead to remove and rebuilt the kits idler wheel adjustment arm to both sides of the lower chassis using both styrene rod and strip styrene and the punch and die sets because the molded on pieces looked far to thick and out of scale. I also added .010" Thick X .030" Wide (0.254mm X 0.762mm) styrene strip along the upper hull and lower hull sides because my kit had a noticeable gap there after mating these sections together.


The kits cast armor cap (part B1) is short .0625" (1.588mm) in length so I replaced it using two pieces of .015" Thick X .100" Wide (0.381mm X 2.54mm) styrene strip cut to match the width of the front hull plates and cemented them both in place with the upper hull piece overlapping the lower hull piece. I later rounded the leading edge with a medium grit sanding strip attached to its Flex-I-File handle. Using the four sided view scale drawing I added the counter sunk rivets to the cast armor cap (this detail is missing on the kit part) using Trumpeter's aircraft rivet spacing tool then drilling shallow holes into the dimples left by the rivet spacer with a No. 67, .032" (0.8128mm) micro drill. I then filled the holes with a small amount of Squadron putty thinned with liquid cement to create a better transition between the rivets and cast armor cap to produce a smooth and shallow concave surface because the drills tip cuts to deeply.


The kit is missing both the rear light and hood. Again, using the four sided view scale drawing as reference I fabricated the hood out of .015" Thick X .100" Wide (0.381mm X 2.54mm) styrene strip with other bits of strip styrene and used .080" (2.0mm) diameter styrene rod for the rear light. I attached a .010" (0.254mm) diameter galvanized wire for the light frame. I also made a set of bolts for the tow brackets out of .005" (0.127mm) thick styrene sheet with the punch and die set.


I fabricated a new hatch out of .015" Thick X .188" Wide (0.381mm X 4.7752mm) strip styrene between the engine intake hoods using the kit hatch proportions as reference and also made the hatch handle and hinges out of bits and pieces of styrene strip.


The kit does not include any detail for the engine intake hood screens so I fabricated the frames out of .015" Thick X .020" Wide (0.381mm X 0.508mm) styrene strip and used 100 X 100 stainless steel mesh for the screens cut to match the inside area of the styrene frames. I used a tiny amount of super glue to attach the screens. There are three small bolts on the outside rear sides of the intake hoods that are not molded on the kit so I fabricated these from .005" (0.127mm) thick styrene sheet using the punch and die set.


Using a micro drill and pin vise I drilled holes over the rear engine deck plates as per the four sided view drawing for attachment of six Detail Associates Ho model railroad lifting rings. After attaching the turret ring base plate to the upper hull I cemented .010" (0.254mm) diameter styrene rod around the edge between the base plate and upper hull. After about 30 minutes time I applied Tamiya's extra thin liquid cement to the styrene rod to soften it and using a half round metal tube I burnished the softened styrene rod to create a weld bead.


This is as far as I've gotten on the chassis to date. The last thing I did was to drill out the solid antenna pot on the forward glacis plate.


After test fitting the turret pieces together I found a noticeable gap between the gun shield and turret body halves so I placed a .015" (0.381mm) thick sheet styrene piece on the turret body halves cut the same width as the gun shield. I also drilled four holes on both small gun shield covers as per the four sided view prints.


A No. 73 .024" (0.6096mm) micro drill was used to open the two periscope openings. I also enlarged both turret machine gun and gunners periscope openings.


The kits turret roof had a vary noticeable gap between both forward turret side walls so I added .020" Thick X .060" Wide (0.508mm X 1.524mm) styrene strip to the roof and blended them around the covered portion of the turret with a medium grit sanding stick. I used the same material and method as above for the turret base ring to create weld joints between the turret roof and sides and gun shield cover.


I used Mr. Surfacer 500 to replicate the casting texture on the turrets forward gun shield support walls.


Some hidden weld joints at the rear bottom base of the turret.


Per the four sided view drawings I fabricated the 85mm main gun on my small Unimat lath out of .125" (3.175mm) diameter styrene rod. The kits main gun looks like a piece of out of round sprue.

Anyhow, this is as far as I've gotten on this project. Any and all comments welcome. Thanks for dropping by.

-Eddy

Hello Eddy,

I am glad to watch one of your builds.
Your build is going very well, your additions are simple yet offer very much to the final appearence. The washing part is almost always neglected but is important. Usually I wash the models with mild soap water after assembly before oriming. I use a soft brush. It's a little secret that helps paint grab on the model.
I especially like the addition of welding seams, I've never tried this method although I 've read about it in 1/35 scale though.
You have done a very neat work overall.
Nice trick with the lifting rings, HO scale stuff can be real useful to Braille scalers.
I'll be waiting for your progress with interest.

P.A.

Hi Eddy.

I'm happy seeing your step by step in this forum. You have made a fantastic detailing and clean work. Different to you. I wash my model when it is ready to paint. To make the solder, you can use too, stretched plastic of the sprues, so, the solder can be more fine.

Congratulation for your work.

Pedro.

This is awesome Eddy, I'm learning some nice tricks here to help me out on my future Braille builds. I have been working on a PST KV-8S and have found the plastic to be ridiculously soft to the point that it melts, mushes, or tears when detaching it from the sprue. I am using Xuron sprue cutters with very sharp ends and it doesn't seem to matter. On top of this, several of the pieces were not fully formed, namely a handful of roadwheels and one of the return roller arms. At least the fit of the parts has been pretty good.

A great thread. Much appreciation for sharing the information that you found on this vehicle. A very interesting read---and a good looking kit to boot. Thanks.

Steve

Eddy, Eddy, Eddy, here you go again with not being able to leave well enough alone. Seriously though, your step by step enhancements with their supporting images and commentary are nothing short of superb and also very inspirational; to say the least. I will look forward to further updates of this thread and the "secrets" that they expose.

As for the washing of the kit prior to assembly, it should be everyone's first step prior to assembly. I not only practice that but also a pre-wash before the painting stage (to remove any skin oils and grime deposited during handling and work).

Your description of the punch and die set and its results had me salivating to add some to my tool box. Reality set in when I researched their cost and found them quite pricey in my area. Never the less, it will be my goal to eventually add them to my tool arsenal at some future point. Thanks for sharing,

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Eddy

thats nice research you have found and provided to accompany your build. The little tweaks you are doing lift this build into the next level, keep up the great work !

cheers
Neil

@PanzerAlexander – Alexander, I’m also glad to know that your glad to watch one of my builds and I want you to know that I have enjoyed looking through your build logs and am enjoying both your current build logs too (Leopold Railway Gun by Hobby Boss and Sdkf 234/1 from Hasegawa). I hope that I will be able to bring something to the table that will be of help and interest to the modelers of all skill levels here just as your builds have been for me.

This is my first model where I’ve tried my hand at using styrene rod for creating weld seams / joints. Armed with the information on how it’s done and a little patience it’s very easy to do. Here are two links, which I found on this site, for creating weld effects. You may have already read these articles but I’ll post them here for those that have not already read them. This first link is rather lengthy but worth the read and will also provide you with a good understanding of welded seams / joints along with several methods used in creating weld seams / joints from both styrene rod and epoxy putty. And the second link is where I got the information for creating the weld seams / joints with styrene rod that I used on my build with the exception of using the metal tubes to create the welds that I got from the first link instead of using an X-acto blade.

@PedroA – Pedro, so glad to see you drop in. Happy you like my detailing, this means so much to me, especially coming from the master builder. Thank you for your support but as with so many of us here we still have a long road ahead of us and your unselfish teaching and sharing will help in making that walk down the road a fun and enjoyable one for all of us here. I hadn’t given a thought to creating my own plastic rod and with the added benefit of producing it at a much finer diameter. After reading your post here I recalled a recent build log where someone had done just that. So after a little research I was able to find the post where that was mentioned so I’ll present that here for those interested in making their own stretched sprue: In a question posted by Tim aka, ‘Firefly74’ concerning antenna wires on Val’s aka, ‘r2d2’ Challenger 2 w/ Bar Armor build log - Chally 2 TES 2008, Val mentions being able to “stretch Dragon’s owns sprue“ as thin as possible up to the point where I can barely see it and flexible enough to be used as small wires”. As of yet I have not tried stretching sprue for using to create weld seams nor did I know how thin you could stretch Dragon’s sprue. I will have to try using a piece of Dragon’s own sprue for creating weld seams.

@vonHengest – Jeremy, I agree the PST plastic on my example is quite soft. I don’t have enough experience with PST kits; as this is my first one all of the parts seem to be fully formed. Hope you’ll be able to replace or rebuild the deficient parts on your kit? Anyhow, here is my current method for removing parts from the kit sprue trees. Hope this will be of some help to you and to anyone also having the same issue of removing parts from the sprue tree?


With an X-acto Saw blade affixed to a handle and your hand on the part to keep it from moving during the sawing process you can easily saw through the kits sprue tree. This helps to relieve any stress on the parts during removal of the sprue attachment points as this leaves the part free to move away from whatever cutting tool you may use to remove the part(s) with.


Here a set of Xuron cutters is used to cut at the base of the sprue tree. Because the sprue tree surrounding the part has been separated by the saw the part can now freely move away from the Xuron cutters during the cutting process and not become compressed against the other sprue attachment points with the high probability of braking one or more of the attachment points from the part removing some of the plastic and leaving a void that will require filling with a suitable filler.


Now that the parts have been removed from the main kit sprue tree the remaining sprue tree attachments can more easily be removed without causing damage to the part(s). You can also better maneuver the cutters over the remaining spure tree attachment points. And it’s a lot easier to handle the part(s) when removed away from the main kit sprue tree.


Most of the sprue tree leading to the attachment points has been cut away with the Xuron cutters.


The thick sprue tree sections leading to the attachment points are further cut down leaving only a flat cross section of plastic to be cut away.


Now that only a thin cross section of plastic remains attached to the part I use a flat edged angled cutting tweezers set to remove the remaining attached plastic from the parts. I begin by placing the flat cutting edge of the tweezers against the remaining cross section of attached plastic at approximately 45 degrees with the flat cutting sections of the tweezers against the part to help keep the cutting edge parallel with the part.


Now the tweezers are carefully rotated until the cutting edge rests against the flat cross section of attached plastic while maintaining the tweezers flat cutting edge parallel with the part. By applying even pressure to the tweezers with your fingers the tweezers will cut the remaining flat cross sections of plastic without cutting into the part.


Here the flat cross sections of plastic have now been cut away leaving almost no traces of where the sprue trees were attached to the part. A light sanding with a medium grit sanding stick will completely eliminate any traces of the sprue tree attachments leaving the parts surface smooth and ready.

You could also try using a hot iron handle with the attachment for an X-acto #11 blade in place of a saw blade. Just don’t cut to close to the part or you’ll run the risk of melting and deforming the part. The hot iron handles are available at most crafts shops and usually come with the option of placing an X-acto type blade in it.

@WeWillHold – Steve, Glade you liked the information and combat account. This is what sparked my interest to build this Soviet tank. In memory of all those involved with this one of a kind beast, I just hope I can do it justice.

@tread_geek – Jan, I can’t help myself! I just enjoy opening a new kit box and smelling and fondling the plastic parts! And the spilled adhesives, the paint thinners, the cut fingers, parts flying off into space never to be seen again, the tiny photo-etch parts that won’t co-operate, batteries failing during a photo shoot and no beer left in the refrigerator to relieve the stress of sitting for hours at a stretch and finding oneself alone screaming into the night . . . and sharing all of it on the net! Did I mention the sound effects of a main gun in action when no one is near? OK, back to reality. I use the same wash and pre-wash method too, just didn’t mention the second washing, as I had not gotten that far with this build. Non-the less it’s good that it is included as part of the building method as expressed by most of you posting here this time. You’ll all be tested later!

Jan, if you stay in this hobby long enough the punch sets will eventually become part of your building tools. It took me awhile before I was able to acquire the micro, mini and large size sets. I will be adding a hexagon punch set for producing nuts and bolts soon. For now I am using the available Plastruct styrene hexagon rods as they come in a good range size suited for both the larger and Braille builds. Even after I do acquire the hexagon punch set I will still be using the Plastruct styrene hexagon rods so long as they are available?

@Korpse – Neil, thanks for stopping by. You directly inspired the research and history on this vehicle with your posts. You’ve consistently provided this information with most of your build logs making your postings both interesting and enjoyable. Tweaks, let’s not go there! You’re the current tweak wizard with all of the add-ons and fixes that you’ve managed already on your Armageddon BP-44 Armored Train that has kept you wide eyed and awake throughout the night wondering if you should have started it in the first place? Next level? Don’t get me started on you with this too!


This is as far as I have gotten on this build. Since my last posting I have added the horn and view visor to the front armor plate. And both forward towing shackle mounts to the lower armor plate. I went and detailed the mounts with a pair of bolts just as before for the rear towing shackle mounts earlier in the build. I replaced the headlamp housing with a scratch made one from .125” (3.175mm) diameter solid styrene rod. The kits armored machine gun ball mount housing was undersized as compared to the photographs of the real tank and the four sided view scale drawings, so I fabricated this piece from .020” (0.508mm) thick sheet styrene using a .250” (6.35mm) punch and die. Also using a punch and die set I made the five bolts from .010” (0.254mm) thick sheet styrene and attached them to the plate. The center round part of the machine gun ball mount housing was made from .156” (3.9624mm) diameter solid styrene rod. I used .187’ (4.7498mm) diameter tube styrene to fabricate the bullet splashguard in front of the machine gun ball mount.

I will post further updates as time permits. I have been a little bit busy with work and honey do’s lately but hopefully that will settle out. I appreciate all of you for stopping by.

-Eddy

Thanks for the mini tutorial Eddy, that was very helpful! I'm not sure that I foresee any further PST kits in my future but I have a better idea of how to handle this kind of situation now

Wow. Very interesting subject and story to go with it. Thanks for sharing.

Well Eddy. A new interesting step. When you make weld seams using stretching sprue you will not use another process. When I finish my holidays, I will try to do a step by step about this.

Regards. Pedro.

Hi Eddy, it's heavy tank and super heavy job...

Regards...

Tread heads,

It's been a while since my last posting here but I’ve been busy at work and hard at play too! My wife’s decided that I need to exercise more often and practice lots of bat mitten at the local park. I usually don’t get home early enough to sit at my bench and do some modeling but I will find the time as soon as I get adjusted to this new schedule. Anyhow, here’s is where I am on this build.


I noticed, in one of the photographs of the KV-220, what appears to be a small slightly opened toolbox on the left side fender? I included this photograph here so you could see for yourself. I don’t know if this toolbox would have been a part of the fitted equipment for the vehicle or not? Or weather it had just been placed there on the fender by the factory mechanics that maintained this vehicle at the time of this photograph? The other known photographs of this vehicle have a large folded tarp stowed over this area. Anyhow, I don’t know if this toolbox would have been part of the installed items on this vehicle? But I liked the idea of having a toolbox there as it helps brake up that expanse of empty fender area and add a point of interest in place of the folded trap. This toolbox is not included in the kit so I went ahead and made one.


The three stowage bins and single toolbox are now ready for installation. I fabricated the small toolbox from .060” thick (1.524mm) styrene sheet (.500” L X .180” W X .060” H – 12.7mm X 4.572mm X 1.524mm). The lid was fabricated from .010” thick (0.254mm) styrene sheet leaving just a little overhang on the sides and front when fitted to the toolbox. I used both .005” and .010” styrene strip for the stowage bin and toolbox hinges and hold down brackets. The handles on the sides of the stowage bins were made from .008” diameter electrical bus wire.

I normally used super glue for attaching metal to plastic but in this case I used Tamiya’s, extra thin liquid cement to attach the metal handles to the stowage bin handles. I simply placed the handle on the stowage bin and applied the liquid cement to the parts letting the cement run along inside area of the handle and allowing it to evaporate and soften the plastic. I then used the flat side of a set of tweezers to gently press the metal handle against the softened plastic surface of the stowage bin.


Here the stowage bins and toolbox have been installed to the vehicles track fenders. I also opened the exhaust pipe ends with a small micro drill and then thinned down the edges to scale with an X-acto blade.


I didn’t like the kit supplied over scaled machine gun barrel, it increased in diameter along the length of the barrel as it neared the armor ball mount housing leaving no room for the three bolts that surround the gun barrel. I fabricated the barrel from .020” diameter (0.508mm) styrene rod and made the three bolts from .005” thick sheet styrene using the sub-miniature punch and die set.


Again, it’s time for the turret! Using the four sided view scale drawings I drilled holes on the top of the turret roof along the edges for the grab handles. The kit supplies you with a decent set of turret grab handles but I opted instead for using .010” diameter (0.254mm) brass rod. Here’s what I did to accomplish this task:

First I used the kits supplied grab handles to match them up to the closest holes on the Griffon Model’s, hinge folding and grab handle fixture set. I then transferred the holes spacing from the Griffon fixture to the turrets roof using a set of dividers. Using a needle affixed to a micro pin vise I deepened the dimples left by the dividers just enough to help keep the .0135” (0.3429mm) No. 80 micro drill from walking away from the dimples during the initial phase of drilling the holes. The three rear grab handles are the same size in length and the two forward handles are both the same but smaller in length.


I cut lengths of brass wire longer than I’ll need for the grab handles and bend one end of the brass wires with a set of small nose round pliers. Then I set the bent end of the brass wire into one of the holes in the Griffon Model’s photo-etch fixture that I used for matching up the kit grab handle lengths and hold the wire down with my thumb against the fixture and with the other hand bend the other end of the wire around the edge of the half hole along the edge of the fixture that corresponds to the matched grab handle length. After bending the brass rods I test fitted them to the turret roof before proceeding with the second set of bends. I did have to make adjustments to the brass rods with the small nose round pliers on a few of the grab handles to get them to sit almost flush to the turret roof.


The grab handles on the real vehicle as used on the turret roof were made with multiple bends to have the grab handles overhang the turret sides, so here's how I went about producing this feature. I taped a piece of sheet styrene thinner than the diameter of the brass rod onto the Mission Model’s photo-etch bending tool at approximately a distance away from the bending edge line that would give me the best desired amount of overhang after creating the second set of bends on the grab handles. The sheet styrene piece acts as a stop to keep every grab handle uniformly bent. Because the sheet styrene is thinner than the diameter of the brass rod I was able to secure the rod against the bending tool after aligning its length to the sheet styrene.


Here’s the multiple bent grab handle after the bending process.


And here’s the end result of using the above tools to create the grab handles for the turret. Before inserting the grab handles to the turret I cut off the extra length of wire leaving a little more than needed to secure the wire to the plastic with super glue from the inside. I used a needle attached to a round toothpick to reach the grab handle wire that protrudes through the turrets roof from the inside through the open turrets ring.

And here beside the turret are both of the towing cable restrains. I made the towing cable restrain hooks out of electrical component leads but you could fabricate these from brass rod too!


The kit supplies you with towing cable hooks (above left in the photo) but these are not as per the vehicle photographs or drawings so I used a set that I had left over from one of Dragon’s Tiger I kits and modified them to match the drawings. The tow cables are also from the same Dragon Tiger I kit and you could see the length of the cable with affixed hooks next to the metal scale.

@vonHengest – Jeremy, glad I that I could be of some help to you. You could use the method that I posted above for removing kit parts from the sprues on almost any kind of plastic kit.

@thedutchie – Brian, happy to have you drop by and glad that you enjoyed the story behind the vehicle. I like building to vehicles that actually existed or with the possibility of reaching something accurate. I’m not that much into building a vehicle of an unknown unit in such and such a theater or period though they could be fun too!

@PedroA – Pedro, I look forward to your step by step on making weld from stretched sprue. This was my first attempt at creating the welds out of plastic rod and I like the results that I was able to achieve but there are better methods that I still don’t know about when using this medium and I await to see what the master will show all of us.

@erhntly – Erhan, thanks for dropping by, I’m happy you like it. I visited your website and it turns out that you are the super heavy modeler, hihi. I have not yet had a change to view all there is on your site but I like what little I have seen already. My condolences concerning your fathers passing. I know you’ll miss him as I miss my dad too. They are always in our hearts and minds. He got me started in this hobby and have enjoyed it ever since.

Thanks for dropping by and as always comments are much welcome. Will post as time permits . . .
-Eddy

Hi Eddy

you are creating a very detailed and useful build log, thanks for going to the effort to photograph & upload your work, with comments

the turret and body look great with your brass and sytrene sheet and rod inprovements.

If you do decide to replace the triangular mudguard supports, I have found left over brass etch to be thin and narrow enough to do a nice job, but if you dont have any like this in your spares box, I've also used Evergreen strip to do this, the narrowest and thinnest I've been able to buy is 0.25 x 0.50 of a millimetre, which looks about right

Its hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but that 'toolbox' or whaetver it is seems to also appear on mudguards of some KV-1 as well.

keep up the great work

cheers
Neil

Thanks again Eddy. I know that it is very complicated to make a model and a step by step at the same time. You loses a lot of time of your hobby showing to us your method of work but I am sure you are happy. Congrats for your excellent post and model.

Cheers. Pedro.

Hi Eddy

Your model look great.
Nice how clean your work is with the wire.
And i like the punch and die bolts you have made.
I think i must buy me such a set, too.
Have you drill a hole in the bug-MG???
If not you can use a injection needle. So i make it!

Cheers Daniel

Hi Eddy,

Your build is getting better and better. I like the simple yet very effective way you dealt with the grab handles.
That little tool grom Griffon is cheap and very useful.

This is a succesful thread because you are making us forget that this is Braille scale.

P.A.

Tread Heads,

First, let me apologies to all of you that had been following this build log for the long delay (over three months) in posting an update (No, I wasn’t in jail). Just been busy with work, honey do’s, a new Chihuahua puppy, writing several reviews, helping out here and there and just plain tired and sleepy (No, I’m not out at night trying to close down any bars). So for now, I’m back on this build again. Anyhow, here’s an update!


Here you see the lightening holes on the steel road wheels that I drilled using a No.72 .026” (0.6604 mm) micro-drill that I had inserted into a spiral push drill vise. What you don’t see is that I had left the wheels attached to the sprue tree during the drilling process and then carefully removed each of them using the side cutting tweezers. I used a set of calipers to measure the outside diameter of the suspension arm yokes and then matched that to a drill bit for cleaning up the inside attachment hole on the outside pair of wheels. I use a three-sided tungsten blade for de-burring.


I cut a square / round tip toothpick just long enough not to have the toothpick bottom out on the chuck of my Dremel rotary tool and inserted that into the attachment hole on the outside wheel.


With the toothpick now inserted into the outside wheel I then chucked this onto the end of the Dremel rotary tool until the wheel rested against the face of the chuck keeping the wheel both squared and centered. With the toothpick chucked to the Dremel rotary tool I now could easily remove the wheel away from the toothpick and replace it with another outside wheel. I flattened the end of a No. 11 X-acto blade to use as a cutter for deepening the grooved area of each of the outside steel road wheels where the lightening holes reside. (Thanks for the tip on making cutters for plastic Pedro, aka ‘PedroA’)


I lightly sanded the wheels using a course sanding stick to both flatten the wheels track contact area and to remove the sprue nubs left on the wheels.


I reversed the toothpick on the Dremel rotary tool to repeat the sanding process on the inside steel road wheels.


Using a toothpick I paired a set of steel road wheels to check on the spacing of the wheels against the track and found that the wheels were noticeably spaced further apart from each other than the paired road wheels on the photographs of the actual vehicle.


Using a set of calipers I measured the thickness of the track horns and used a slightly wider sheet of styrene where I drilled a hole to accommodate the outside wheel attachment spacer. While holding the wheel against the styrene sheet I sanded the spacer flush to the styrene sheet with a course sanding stick. This was done to the entire outside steel road wheels.


Again using a toothpick I paired a set of road wheels together to check them against the track horns before cementing each of the road wheel pairs together.


Here I’m using a V-grooved machinist block to cement the paired road wheels together and keep them both aligned and parallel with each other.


Here a diamond needle file is used to remove the seam line, flatten and shape the inner and outer track idler wheels while still on the sprue tree. The attached section of each wheel to the sprue tree will need a little touch up with the file after the wheels are removed.


I made a fixture for creating the track sag for the upper track link length using styrene sheet and tube.


I cut a piece of styrene sheet long enough to cover the length of the vehicle and wide enough to accommodate the tubes. I spaced the tubes apart to match with each track idler and rear drive wheel. All of the idlers and drive wheels sit at the same height so I used the same diameter tube at each of the six stations. On the vehicle the idler wheels are unevenly spaced apart from front to back but the pattern is mirrored so that the idlers and drive wheels are in the same locations on each side of the vehicle, I only had to make one fixture. The tubes were fixed to the styrene sheet using liquid cement then a small amount of super glue was placed along the length of both sides of each tube for added strength. I marked the fixture ‘Front’ and ‘Rear’ to avoid placing the tracks lengths on the fixture in the wrong direction. I then filed a groove in the center of each of the tubes to accommodate the track horns.


Here are the three sections that make up the upper track run on the fixture before bending them to create the track sag.


I heated the tracks with a blow dryer to soften them a little and make it easier to bend by hand. Using the fixture as a guide I noted which track link joints needed bending and carefully formed the links to conform over each of the tubes. Only a slight amount of bending was required to the track links to arrive at the sag that best matched the photographs of the vehicle.


With a small stiff paintbrush I stippled on Mr. Surfacer 500 to texture the small machine gun turret, after which a piece of medium grit sandpaper was used to knock down the high textured spots. I also extended the machine gun shield over the top of the turret as depicted on the drawings with a thin piece of sheet styrene. I added the three screw heads with a No.70 .028” (0.7112 mm) micro-drill to the outside of the loaders hatch that secures the hatch hinge arm as these were missing.


You could see where I blended in the extended machine gun shield in this view and also drilled out the machine gun. With a No.80 .0135” (0.3429 mm) micro-drill I drilled the inside of the hatch to accept a small piece of .012” (0.3048 mm) diameter brass rod to replace the molded on hatch handgrip.


With the machine gun turret and loaders hatch now fixed to the turret I still wasn’t happy and that was because of the main gun I had fabricated. I noticed that the main gun had a slight taper and this did not match the drawings. I removed the main gun and fabricated a new piece from solid .100” (2.54 mm) diameter styrene rod and drilled out the end to accept a .060” (1.524 mm) diameter aluminum sleeve. I also fabricated a pair of covers for the tops of the periscopes out of .005” (0.127 mm) sheet styrene. Well that’s it for now.

@Korpse – Neil, I had thought about replacing the kits solid triangular mudguard supports but just couldn’t get motivated enough to do so when I first started on the upper hull. In retrospect I now see that I should have and it would not have been difficult to do that before I had cemented the toolbox and stowage bins into place.

@PedroA – Pedro, Your right it certainly does take some time to generate an update due to the process of photographing, writing and uploading and your also right that I am happy to be doing this and sharing how I go about my builds, hoping this can be of some help in some sort of way to the viewers.

@SchoeniR6 – Daniel, I somehow managed to drill out the end of the ‘bug-MG’. Your suggestion for using injection needles is a good one. I have since ordered some very small diameter aluminum tubes and will be using these on my next build.

@PanzerAlexander – Alexander, thank you for your comment. I am always reminded about the size of these kits and this is due to my eyes not being able to see up close anymore without the need for magnification.

Thanks for dropping by and as usual any comments are welcome. Will add more to this build log as time permits. . .
~ Eddy

Hi Eddy, great to see you again. Thanks for the step but you must to work more fastly, your new project are waiting.

Regards. Pedro .

Eddy - I didn't notice this build log until now. Fantastic work! Anyone who doubts that modeling can be a very serious endeavor needs to look at your work. I've got this bookmarked so I can go through it in more detail at home.

Eddy,

Nice to see you getting busy with this build again. Again I maust state that I am surprised by your methodical approach and your careful steps. I agree that Pedros tips have been useful many times.

P.A.

Been a while since I checked out this build and it was worth the wait. You are doing a super job in your explanations and accompanying photos. However, your use of the Dremel and its setup really made me cringe. I truly hope that you were wearing proper safety equipment (safety glasses or face shield). Anyway, thanks for this great step by step. I hope others really appreciate the effort that people like you go through by posting these great blogs.

Regards,
AJ

Nicely done!