Greetings to all modelers in this campaign. I found such great inspiration in all the wonderful builds here that I decided to enlist. My entry is the BM-8-24 by STC Start in 1/35 scale.

It's a plain Jane kit, but with some research I hope to detail it up more. Keep up all the great work everyone. Bill

Wow! Not sure which hurts my eyes more: the box art or the sprues!

You need sunglasses to build that one!

Looks like it will be an interesting build to follow William. Welcome aboard

I’m loving the “Missile Jet War Launcher”. Something we all should have in our collection:)

Zon

Yes..yes, I agree Gentlemen. The garish color of the plastic is quite odd. Also, being a Russian manufactured kit, the detail is somewhat bland. The striking box art is another matter....hahahaha.
Thanks for your comments. I will soldier on with the build.
Good luck everyone with your perspective builds. Good stuff seen here. Bill

1st update on my BM-8-24. I found some good reference material on the Web, so set about adding some omitted details.

Lots of soft rivet detail on the rocker arms and planetary covers was corrected. Also, a missing hull seam was added and given rivets.

The tow hitch base plate was beefed up, since the molded kit item was anemic.

At the rear, more omitted rivet detail was added. Plus I fabricated a missing rudder bracket. Originally this model was the T-40 amphibious tank kit. When they changed it to the rocket launcher variant, they omitted some of the parts for the original. I wanted my kit to retain this amphibious element due to stoic Russian pragmatism.

Most of the suspension elements are attached, minus the road wheels and tracks. Once paint is applied, I think the rivet detail will "Pop".
This completes the update for now. I'm having a blast on this campaign. I hope everyone's builds go well. Thanks for viewing.
Bill

No mistaking where the detail is Bill. Nice to see you taking the time to improve the kit. It is going to be really worthwhile.

Great Scott! The Missile Jet War Launcher even has a propeller?!? Must...Get...One...

Bill, that is great attention to detail! You have a great start on the Missile Jet War Launcher!
Have fun modeling
Mike

Great work Bill.

Happy Modeling,
Zon

Tonight was the great unmasking on the BJ-212 jeep for my Type 63 107mm rocket launcher.

Left Side:


Right Side:


Rear:


Front:



I was worried I was going to have to remask some of it and reshoot some of it; but I think it looks OK.

Great job painting the Chinese jeep. The bold digital camouflage pattern is eye catching. Modern Chinese vehicles have cool paint jobs. Keep up the good work.
Bill

Richard,

Love the paint job on your jeep. First time I see camo of that style, looks awesome.

Mark

Finished! I managed to cross the finish line with my 1/72 TOS-1 from modelcollect. I put together a small base as the TOS-1 looked lost on my model shelf. I am really happy with the way the modelcollect kit went together and am more than satisfied about my first tracked vehicle build. Here's the finished model:









This was a fun build! While I am still a primarily aircraft model builder, I plan to have more armor on my workbench. Now where is that Iskander kit.......

Have fun modeling!
Mike

Great work, Mike! Awesome paint job!

That looks great, Mike!

'Kermit' is looking good Richard. Sharp geometric shapes are tough to mask and you did a great job there.

May I make one suggestion for next time? Paint has a tendency to be drawn to the edge of tape, so try to add very light coats as sparingly as possible, especially up to the tape edge. This will assist avoid the ridge lines between colours.

Mike great build. Nice finish, nice balance - not overdone and not toy like. I love it.

Thanks Peter! I definitely see your point! Thanks for the tip. This is the first time I’ve done this much masking. I still want to do the Trumpeter up-armored BMP-3 in an attic camo pattern. Now that I’ve got a little more experience I might see if I can pick one up somewhere!

Mike, excellent finish on the TOS-1. I like the camouflage paint scheme. Great detail for a braille scale kit.
Bill

Thanks everyone!This was a really fun build and allowed me to get a bit out of my comfort zone. While I will likely focus on 1/72 armor kits when I take a break from my more usual aircraft models, I have picked up some 1/35 scale armor to enjoy some of the extra detail possible.
Have fun modeling!
Mike

Got the tracks on one side!

Cheers Rob.

Nice job with the tracks, Rob!

I built one of those awhile ago and I remember the tracks being rather annoying. Where I had to use the small double links I went over them with a file to smooth things down and make it look like they were more evenly wrapped around the wheels.

Rob, your UE tractor is looking very nice. The tracks look quite fragile and fiddly...well done getting them on and looking nice.

Good luck everyone with your prospective projects. Bill

My BM-8-24 update.

I added bolt detail to the front lower hull and all the road wheels. Going "Rivet" crazy!!!!

The lower hull and suspension pieces are painted up. Suspension assembly proceeded from there. Be careful of alignment due to a lack of positive location points.

The link & length tracks are painted and ready for assembly.

The tracks look pretty nice assembled. The end connections needed judicious filing to ensure a good fit.

Detail work begins on the upper hull. The molded engine intake vent was replaced with a more detailed one. Vent louvers were made out of styrene sheet.

A new vent cover was made out of styrene and wedding vale.

That's all for now folks! Thanks for viewing. Bill

Bill: You're not leaving it in the Kermit Green?

Looks great though!

Happy Modeling,
-Zon