The road to becoming good in World of Tanks is long and chock full of defeats. I've over 13 000 games and I've managed to get to 2472 WN8 with 58%+ win rate. My general tips are saving as much of your own HP as possible until endgame, picking fights that you can win and having map/situational awareness.

Progress update on my KV-5:



Priming is done and base color is next step. I've used Vallejo Grey primer on everything besides the tracks. AK Interactive Track Primer was used on those, but the AK primer was very difficult to use even with my Iwata airbrush. Clogs easily.

Tier 5, that's rough, unless your rolling in a KV. You still got a chance against 7's but your not gonna be face to face. Things get better at 6, some meds aside, you'll actually have decent armament.


Started working out the turret. Think I'll be shortening this about 2-3mm.

I'm most comfortable at tier 8, and all my tanks will earn some silver, with my ISU and Ferdinand raking it in. So I know I wanted to bring this one out.

A new small, rather insignificant update. I added on a few more boxes. Although they are rather bland and don't fit in well with the overall build which is to be depicted as lightly dusty and slightly used. I took one off while keeping the .50 ammo boxes on. If anyone knows where I can obtain some of decals of the markings for the wood .50 cal containers I'd like to get some. I also added a Life magazine to the back along with a few C-ration boxes tied (yes, actually tied. There actually is a small knot on it) together. I also did a tad bit more weathering with some pigments. I got in a new set of Ammo of Mig European Earth paint set.

Well enough of my blabbing... On to some pictures.



Now if you're wondering what that small box is next to the driver's hatch... It's this:



A Lucky Strike cigarette box. For better sizing:



I thank Federico Collada from FCModelTips for the Life magazine covers, the cigarette boxes and the C-rations. Great stuff, his. But über tiny.

Also, now that the cig box is finished, where would the best place to place be?

Wow that's pretty small.

Fresh out the mail box:

My KT late tracks and TMD Flammenvernichter.


I had to make some alterations. Removed the pipes from kit exhaust and shortened them. Cleaned up a seam and removed the pipe from the resin part. Lost of estimations and comparisons with the game render. I drilled a small hole into the resin parts and glued a piece of brass rod, then I glued the other end to the opening on the kit pipe. Then I realized, the flammenvernichters on the render are smaller and the armored cover for the exhausts is in the way. But fortunately I just had to tilt them slightly and put some sheet styrene to make a small gap between the armored cover and the dampeners.


Just need to remove those spacers after the glue dries (when I want a part to be really glued firm, I use Testors liquid cement) and fill in some small gaps. I did my best to align things right, but everything still looks slightly off. Just me probably. This is supposed to be a battle hardened tank, so it doesn't have to be perfect right?

Hi,
I just have enlisted as I acquired something special that suits this campaign perfectly, and one of my favourite tanks in WOT:



I can kick some serious a** in it and I almost consider it my sealclubbing tank. My WR with it isn't the greatest as it was my first proper heavy in the game (not counting the T1 and M6). I first sold it when I wanted to progress in tiers at 450 battles and 51% WR, then after getting T110E5 and getting fed up with streak of bad losses on T32 I rebought this bad boy. Right now I'm at about 750 battles with 56% wr and it is rising steadily.

I got me the Commander models T29 and will try to build it for this campaign. The kit will need quite a bit of TLC unfortunately as there are areas that are weakly detailed or some parts that are very poorly cast (wheels mostly).

My kit came with Bronco plastic tracks, but those were of the wrong type (with rubber pads) but I can use those for another project. I would like to replace wheels and suspension arms with plastic ones, center hubs of most main wheels are marred with air bubbles. I don't want to cannibalise a full kit for this, does anyone know if I can buy only suspension sprues from hobby boss Pershings?

Anyway, here are a couple of starting photos:







Cheers,
Greg

I was wondering when someone would get in with the T29. I'd love to buy one but I'll wait u til they come out with the E3 (the bunny ears version). Sad to hear about that the molding quality isn't too good on some pieces. But it should come out looking incredible in the end.

Not to mention the price... Is there a 1.72 version available?

Andras,
I belive there is a T29 family by cromwell models in 1:72, also resin, don't know if they are still available though.

Cheers,
Greg

Right i put my foot down and i decided on the model to build ...the M12 SPG with the M2 155mm gun ..this i was going to do just as a little bit of a what if but its in the the game ( some A hole killed me with one ) lol
As the M2 is gonna take forever i will build that in the WOT 3 campaign cause i am pretty sure there is going to be another
The model is unstarted of the M12 but the gun is already made so no issues with hacking that to bits .. i'm now looking forward to this one.
I will replace the tracks on this model with the AFV Club ones as i have a few sets of those .
I am so happy that a T29 is now in the campaign ..this is gonna be very cool to see being built .

Phill

Finished off the roadwheels and primed them. The hull's been primed and painted German grey. Now have 90 links per side to work on, each with a push pin mark to clean up. The sprues the links came on have this small part I have no idea what to do with but don't seem to be needed. I'm thinking I could use those bumps as the teeth on the idler. On closer inspection, the teeth won't work in it's current state. I have to make the idler wheels 1/3 wider to work. I have spares from KT, so I'll see how it works.

Yeah, I know of it. Only it's impossible to get. Along with most Cromwell models. (Not to mention they seem to have a really bad rep nowadays...)

Base color and decals are done. Working on weathering the beast. Not going to weather it as much as the in-game model.

@Michael: Your E8 is looking really good.

With out a doubt this is my best game to date ... chuffed to bits on how this went ...hopefully many more to follow .


Phill

Sweet KV-5 Vegard,
What did you use for the base color?

Thank you!

I've used Vallejo Model Air #71017 Russian Green as base color.

Calling it done:





Weathered with a few tips and tricks picked up from Mike Rinaldis Tank Art Vol. 2.

Good job on the kv-5.

I'm almost done with the super pershing... The panzer iv schmallturm was built for another campaign instead, but I just got an UM bt-7 to build a bt-sv. Second attempt on scratching- I hope it will turn out fine.

Long time no update. I'm getting to the finishing stages on my M4. Specifically c
Flat costing it. I did a prelim layer today but I sprayed it too thin and it came out spotty on the sides and front. I'm going to do a spray coat tomorrow after editing the pigments as those came out too.

Vegard,
Very nice KV5, and built so quick, congrats!
I remember first meeting those on the battlefield was harsh experience esp. that was when I was still a beginner and the mm spread was like +- 4 tiers or something like that, couldn't do much against those monsters in a Shermie...

Cheers,
Greg

Thanks Andras and Grzegorz.

My best build so far and I've mastered in-game as well. Currently at 164 games and 71% win rate.

I have a surprisingly high WR on this tank as well (58% in 84 games, vs 43% 50 games in the KV-4). It's surprising, because I started to dread the slow, armored tanks -they rely on something that can be negated quite easily with premium rounds, and have no fall-back. (Speed to get out of tight situations.) I always start the matches with an uneasy sense of foreboding, even though it's a good money maker, and even better crew trainer.

I started to feel better about fast medium/heavy hybrids (IS, IS-3, IS-6), or mediums (M7, T-34/85, VK3001H, Cromwell) or medium/lights (T-34-3)... you can always get out of dodge if things go sour, or reinforce collapsing flanks. So I started to work for the T-54 and the RU in earnest.

Good. Getting used to using meds effectively took me some time to get used to. I like to hear people getting on to the soviet line. They're pretty tough. If you can struggle through the T-34 76/85 and T-43, the real fun starts with the T-44. One thing to note, and it always amuses me when I see it, is the 122 on it sucks! The pen and reload time make it not worth it. Your better off with the lower damage but faster firing 100. But the T-54 can be quite magical at times. Hull down, you'll see so much bounce off your turret armor.



Speaking of T-54, I do have T-54 in the stash. TC copula and loader's hatch would need some work, but it's possible.

I started to go down the Soviet Line. I got to the IS and stopped the heavies because that tank is a tough as heck grind to get through. I sold it. I tried going for the T-34 but got tired of the tank before it. I still have my KV-1, now KV-85, and my T-26 which I plan on buying Hobbyboss' kit of. The one with the antenna ring. Both are very fun tanks. Especially the KV-85 with the 122 on it. And nice KV-5 Vegard.

I still have yet to REgloss my E8 and then REmatte it before I call it done.

This is the coolest thing about the game: so many different playstyles, everyone can find what suits them best. Personally I'm in love with my IS... still have it with a 3+ skill crew. If you don't like the IS, though the IS-6, IS-3 are very similar... you probably would not like them, either.

Talking about WOT ... i saw something which surprised me ,,in one game i saw this Russian SPG and my first thought was "what the hell it that" .
Well after some detective work i found out what it is .. the S-51 203 mm SPG and then shock of shocks ..Trumpeter made one and its now on its way to me
So now that is what i will be building for this campaign and i am looking forward to building this thats for sure .

Phill