Dear friends,

My name is Jerry Z, and I am a new comer in armorama. I was first introduced to scale models in Grade 6, and since then, I have been building models on and off. I mostly build Gundams (Japanese robots) in the past, but now I am shifting towards armor.

This is my first armor model, 1/35 Tamiya SU-85 with crews. I intend to do some simple airbrushing and weather as a start. Feel free to comment and provide feedback to help me improve.

Thanks and Enjoy!

Over the weekend, I did some quick priming using Mr.Colour Primer 1200 + Mr. Colour White Base 1000.

You're off to a great start. Shape issues aside (which I don't even sweat) the best things you can do to correct this or any Tamiya T-34 based kit is cut out the engine deck area in the back and replace it with PE mesh or even better - wedding veil, and strips of styrene with bolt detail added. It's a very cheap but effective way to improve the kit. If you wnt to spend a little more, replace the awful track. You can buy a whole Maquette T-34 kit for less than the cost of aftermarket tracks, and use their single link track. It makes a huge improvement. The main thing of course is to have fun with it.

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the tip! I like your mesh idea and new tracks is highly attractive idea since I really don't like what tamiya provides. I will look into those tracks!

Welcome to the best genre of models, armor. Nice choice of a kit to cut your teeth on. Clean assembly. I look forward to seeing some paint and dirt on it.

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for the welcome! This is my current (and only) project so the paint should come soon . Currently, trying to figure how to paint the minitures.

There are lots of ways, to paint figures. I start by spraying them with white. After that, I spray the common color of the uniform. Highlights and shadows are basically the same as any kit. I use Testors light tan for lips and eyes. Making sure you pick the right color for skin is important. Russians tend to be a bit pale. Hey, it's Russia after all. For stubble, I mix a little of the color I use for hair, with the skin tone. Whatever you do, don't paint the pupils. These really aren't visible, in 1:35. I'm sure some of the other guys will be happy to share their opinions, on this.

In the meantime, my dad helped me to photograph the model:

Itching to see more.

If you can wait a few weeks I'll post a photo of the same kit's engine deck. The mod is very simple.

Hi Robert,
That would be great! It would be a good example for me to see how I should progress next.

I also cut out the back like you suggested and planning on replacing it with photo etched parts.