As I'm nearly done with the Unfinished Business Campaign build, I decided to jump right in here with a classic kit: Trumpeter's KV-1. Worked on her a bit over the weekend. Here she is so far.

oohhh hadn't seen this campaign. Started this build yesterday (27/04) and will include the Eduard PE set. If it's OK I am going to do this more as a what-if upgraded Type 89. Slatted (I think) armour, closed firing ports (horrible weak spot) and going to make an interior).

So far I have started on the front bulkhead. Don't plan on building the engine/transmission etc so that space will all be blanked off.

Photos

More on the Trumpeter Type 89

OK. so more work. Drivers chair done - it looks ok I guess (sort of looks like the chair I have in the 1 photo of the front). Not a big fan of the "step" but at least it means the supports aren't too big. And started on a control panel for left hand bulk head (chair is just placed as it will need more cushioning and painting).



Don't judge me too harshly - just trying to give a flavour of an interior

Drivers area done (apart from pedals and engine access door). Bulkhead with fire extinguisher & tannoy(?). Then on to fighting compartment. First off some odd thing that is in photos... so it goes in

Update on the KV-1:

Worked on the kit on-and-off again during the past week. Put on and weathered the winter whitewash. Still need to do a bit more weathering here and there on the engine deck especially. I also have to weather the running gear.

More progress... added a reinforcing bar to the roof at the rear of driving compartment and started on the caging around the turret area (photos show 2 "chare" sides and then what looks like a door in the middle - assume thats the door in to the turret area but may also be a locker (but think it is too cramped an area for that)

battled super-glue yesterday to create the second side to the turret "cage". Need something in the middle. Added some sort of electrical junction box on the rear of the engine area and then a similar in the drivers area. There will be some wires between the 2 - thats what the copped L beam supports...

Aaand I think I'm nearly done Weathered the white wash with oil paints and some white acrylic paint. Mud was done with vallejo mud effects and a bit of pigment. Tracks were treated the same and had some steel pigments rubbed in. Here she is:

Nice KV-1 Nigel...

Interior continues. Now have a footlocker, jump seat behind drivers seat (thats the drivers compartment finished) and some sort of box along the side (needs a "metal" holder of sorts along the top (photo shows it attached to what looks like rubberised black via wing nuts so will do "something". Next up will be the 2 rear side/roof supports then it's on to the infantry compartment.... ok so not accurate but does look like a possible interior

Excellent job Nigel. The whole finish is blends together very well.

Moved on to the infantry compartment. Some fettling of already in place pieces to get this a bit better, think the new side supports need a touch of work but not far off. Next up will be central seating area then compare to a Bradley for other fixtures & fittings (extinguishers etc)

Robert, your work looks pretty serious and it's getting more and more interesting. Congratulations.
Kalin

Thanks Kalin. I think a couple more weeks on the interior...

Started on the infantry compartment. The easiest thing was what looks like a table - assume you can strap gear to it (hence the mesh top and space underneath). The photo I have gives it some sort of texture so this will be Mr Surfacer'd to mimic...



The seating (3 on either side of the table) are next and a lot more complex but that will be next (well might do those bolt heads and maybe some more extinguishers first

Great weathering Nigel !

3 out of 3 beers rating for an outstanding weathering job !
Thanks for sharing !

One set of seat half done... horrible construction but they look the part. I have added 2 larger fire extinguishers on the rear bulkhead of the engine and some ammo stroage and also started the roof bits, including something I have now idea what it is but the photos show it!!!



The rest of the seat & the other set can wait I think...

Finishing up my IS-5, one of the last things was to work on the headlight cage. It's made up of two parts, enough said. They won't line up very good so I cut the cross bars off and rebuilt with styrene rod. Kit headlight lens is solid, not a big fan of that so I searched in my stash and found a replacement with a clear lens (pulled from Tamiya ISU & T-55 spares) Much better.


Painted, weathered. Then I finally put the clear lens in and glued the headlight cage in place, finish it off by placing the tow ropes in place and placing the hinge bar for the rear engine deck plate and done.






Pretty nice and easy kit to build. First time painting and weathering and then joining the upper/lower hull parts afterwards.

the first set of seats nearly defeated me but it's 99% done. Need a cover on the seat back support at either end, cover the seat pads with foil to give a slightly better finish .. (and actually the seat back is a touch tall so need to take it down a little bith), then I have to risk doing the second one.



also actually started on some kit parts - just the wheels, 16 in total... but one seems to have stuck itself to the body - oh well....

Loving the interior work Robert. Keep it up.

More progress. turret/infantry compartment "door" done, 2 more extinguishers and the 2nd row of seats are 50% done. I think once this set of seats is done, and the door locking mechanism, thats the interior done (well apart from the turret).



A dry fit of the rear, sides and top show how it will look when buttoned up - and with the doors open you do get a good view of the interior...















and with her big sister

Rear doors... not the best but gives an impression... Decided there needs to be a fire extinguisher at the rear of the vehicle so that went on the door. Need to do the following to finish the interior



1) finish the second set of seats (not too far off)

2) roof "support" - ie strips & bolts that run along the roof/side joint

3) bolts - not sure how many but some round the doors - there are panels on there that need it, maybe else where too



and have glued roof & sides together (to facilitate (2) above really) but there are a few gaps but nothing horrendous



just 1 photo

Started on the turret. Orlikeron 35mm - it "Looks" the part (ie block at mantlet, then barrel then smaller block then firing mechanism. Wont put rounds in but will add a little detail to the rear. Can't really see much through the hatches so dont need to worry too much. Also made the interior part of the machine gun - again not much b=visible. Will do radio and gunner/commander vision screens (I assume in a vehicle like these they would be screens)















 

Can't really see much through the turret hatches.. .but have commander & gunner screens, radio and turret turning mechanism (start). I don't know if I will do the turret basket & seats - it seems that the hole in the hull top is small, seats wouldn't line up with the screens/hatches...

OK, you can't see ANY of this but I want to do something. So turret basket is started. Seats are 100% in the wrong place but I think thats kit design not anything else. I plan to do a floor plate (and a ring on the floor of the hull). Basket will have some level of stowage. Need more "clutter" in the turret too, not sure what else would be in there (ammo racks but not sure what they would look like for this type of armamenet)

So, after a long Corona break (where you'd think I'd have all the time in the world to build model kits, it turned out that I did not) I finally managed to the weathering and some other tiny extras on this beauty. I am calling her done: My JS-3M, queen of the Sinai. I am aware that this title might be inappropriate as these Russian heavies actually failed to perform in the heat of the desert. Nevertheless, it was quite a fun build.

I tried out three new things with this kit since I got it for a really good price (20€) and I thought if I messed up horribly it would still serve as an improvised JS-3M wrecked by the IDF (see first paragraph) and I would not lose sleep over the money.

This was my first attempt at chipping (using the black primer) and I am quite happy with the result, though I probably overdid it.

It was also my first use of an oilwash (I used soilworks SWE-00 by the Spanish company SCALE75) for the light rust effects, which I probably overdid as well, but I am still happy.

The last thing I added were the fuel lines for the drums, for this I used wire, but I had to glue it to the turret opening somehow and in the end the turret "pan" wouldn't fit properly as the wire was too thick at some point, which looked rather nasty as a huge gap was visible. I improvised a camo net to cover this up and ... hey, it actually improved the overall result!

As for the unit markings and decals, I did some research and found conflicting sources. Most historical black and white photographs I found from the 1967 war show JS-3Ms without the Egyptian Eagle whereas the ones that show the tank with the eagle on both turret sides are parade photos from the late 50's. However, I found one drawing in a book which I replicated with my build and it clearly says: JS-3M of the 4th tank division, 1967 war and it shows the tank with the Eagle on both sides and the arabic numerals.

I can really recommend the kit for that price, I had no major issues, even the rubber band tracks are decent. Maybe a metal barrel that I could have added, but the two-halves barrel also looks good enough for me (sanding required).







Regards,

Lukas

As I close on the end of the interior build, just the 2 seats for commander/gunner to add and some straps on the spent ammo box on the turret basket floor. Have no idea hoe accurate is but as you can see ~1% of the turret then I am happy with how it looks: