Yup, I gots both.

First, my 5 year old daughters first model, a Heller Lady bug. Only had to do the decals without her involved, those decals were awefull. She had a blast and looks to be maturing into a potential FEMALE model builder. Next is a Blue Angels F-18...I know, I know, it is a airplane (gasp) but we can work up to tanks!



ALso, I finally finished up one of my favorite tanks, the KV-II. It is the Tamiya offering OOB. I added a Junior Town Soviet Female Officer as the CO. Say hello to Magda (Hello Magda!)

LOVE THE BUG.....she is doing well....I got a friend of mines kid into some of the si-fi stuff years ago...he is now getting close....its a way in as is yours...the yonger the better ...tell her she has done really well from me...

On the KV II....I am a Russian-o-holic so love it....She is good looking ( or have I had too much beer !!!.)...one point....acording to my ref pics...all Russian tanker women had a big mole with hair on it, normaly on the chin or forehead !!

He he

Hmmm, interesting camo scheme on the ladybug. #:-) Get a nice Jordi Rubio metal barrel, an AA MG and she's ready for the front.
Not a bad lookin' Rooskie either. "Hail, comrade soldier, my tankietta or yours?"

I've never built that variant of the KV, that is a big turret! Tanking in a skirt, wonder if the gunner gets a good view when he looks up at the TC?

Nice work the both of you. I noticed a seamline on the spare fuel tank on the KV-II, that could easily fixed, other then that it looks fine OOB. Paint finish is good, and I like your weathering. Female Soviet tanker is an added touch too :-)

Getting kids involved in modelling, is the future of or hobby. Tell your daughter to keep up the gtreat work !!!

Cheers !

Robert

It's great to see kids build models. I'm preparing to introduce my grandson into the hobby also. Great looking KVII also. I wish that we had women in our tanks when I was a tanker.

Will pass on said praise for my daughter...I'm sure she will love the attention!

As fot hte KV-II, yeah, I fudged onthe fuel tanks. I was lazy and did not want to clean them up...maybe some day, but it does not bother me at this point.

and I likes the KV-II and the JSU-152 for the same reason...it pretty much says "russian" to me. Big, nasty, snarling steel boxes with HUGE guns that may not penetrate tank armor, but will know the whole friggin turret off if they hit...and oh yeah, they can blow the bejesus out of building and pillboxes too...my kinds of tanks.

Oh, and normally, the women in the red army wore the same uniform as the men in the tanks (AFAIK there were no male/female tanker uniforms) There is a great picture of a Female CO of a tank and her Husband, the driver! The Germans had a fair amount of respect for the female russian tankers, apparently they were tenacious. And the male russian tankers never "abused" them, but treated them with more respect than the other men they served with, often refering to them as their "sisters".

how was the KV-II i'm gonan get it for x-mas.. anything difficult or offset on it? looks good! she is hot lol

Hey p-c...

The build of the kit was just fine...for a kit from the 70's. It looks ok, but compared to many of the kits it sits next to, it shows its age. There is nothing really wrong with it, so if making the small stuff look better is not a problem for you, then the kit is good to go OOB.

If I were to build another one, however, here are the things I would change:

1. Tracks. Those old rubber band tracks with no detail on the inside of the run are a major annoyance for me.

2. Replace teh "mufflers" with open pieces from moskit or such. There just is no real good way to open up the piece without a LOT of carefull work.

3. Add a MV lens...a little bit of work that will go a long way to spice up the front end.

4. Replace the two rangefinders with better detailed parts from a DML JS-2 kit.

This is just my general opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

And guys, the "bug" packs a heck of a whollop! Got a 120mm hiding under that shell!

Hi on the KV II....Remove the bullet splash guard on the hull frnt....the edward etch set is good and makes a bit effect....you can open the exhausts with a hot kife but I have got those Mos-exhausts now and they look very good....the wheels are reportedly small but look OK