Hello all, I have been working on the Su85 as of late. I have done the base coat on the upper hull and started the washes, I have been working with the "muddy" lower hull and running gear also neither are finished, Its a work in "progress" so everyone tell me what you think so far. I have added some of the russian figures that will be riding the tank.



So let me have it good or bad. Cheers Kevin

What's bad??? Lookin' good, you have a good eye for detail. Where do you get all your time to work on this stuff? Can't wait to see the final product.

Looking good there, just a bit shiney, or is that just the pictures?

Hi Kevin. From what I can see, its all looking good. As its probably not got a flat cote yet, will explain the sheen. The dirt added to the wheels is all on the outside, and the insides are still very fresh (pic,2)... keep that in mind.
One personal preference on items like this is to break the green tones. All the barrels are the same base green as the ´85. A different green on one or two of them and a nice rusty barrel adds a new dimension to it (even if one of them was blue or some other stand-out colour would be cool). I saw this somewhere and have always kept it in mind to to do on mines. If its muddy, the addition of a shifting beam might be good stowage to add, to also break up the base green.
Maybe one or two of the figures could have a bit of uniform that stands out a bit more ... by using an achre colour or even brown.
Just throwing some thoughts about. What sort of base will you add this to ... town or country?
edit: is this for the barn dio? Cool!

hi Jack

Nice detail and painting, i like the way you paint the tank and figures that you gonna put, in my opininon the tank still look clean as you will use "muddy" for the lower hull, i think thats gonna be great as you will add some wash..Good work Man

Nice nice nice

I like PB's suggestions on breaking up the green.
The figures are nicly done. I'd look to add a 'splash' pattern on the bottoms of the long coats. They get dragged in the mud and muck.

I'll tell you where he gets all his time he lives in nebraska.

Thanks again everyone for the comments, I appreciate them. The 85 is now flat coated and I am getting ready to get back on the weathering. To answer a few questions this is indeed for the barn dio Plastic Battle- What color blue are you talking about? I think it would be cool with an odd color as well thats a terrific idea. Would a MM1721 medium grey (which in my opinion is more blue than grey) work.Its kinda the color they used of some british tanks in africa. The effect I was going after on the lower hull and tracks was that of dried mud. I have all but abandoned the snowy winter setting for this, I am going for a late fall early winter frozen day. Does anyone have any suggestions about this? Scott- I am going to take your advice and muddy up the coat and cape bottoms a bit, I have already done a bit of this on the great coats for the german figures I'm using on this one too.Maybe I'll get some pics up of them soon. Bad thing about it not being a snowy day means I wont be able to use the puppchen antitank weapon hidden in the barn, as its mounted on skis, oh well maybe a little snow after all. And yes nebraska is the perfect place to model lol not many distractions Cheers Kevin

Those Tamiya Russians lok great on it. They are the Tamiya ones right? Can't wait to see the dio finished.

Hi Kar98k, those are indeed the tamiya ones. I can't wait to get it all finished too. Cheers Kevin

Kevin,
looking very good will fitt in well with your base.
I have been building some of those Tamiya Russians I trhink they are a pretty good set what are your thoughts on them?

You know I already love this dio!Congrats!!

Looks great, maybe add some more dust/dirt on the top of the hull, and a flat coat for the figures.

nice tank, figures are good too, god, whatever german tank commander hits that soviet tank is gonna have a heck of a body count :-)

good work

Thanks guys for the comments,Andy I really like those figures. I picked them up last fall before I knew that dragon had tank riders to, and to be honest I would have gotten the tank riders but I am glad I didnt these renewed my faith in tamiya(as far as figures go) Since then I have also picked up the german assault infantry in winter gear. They are awesome the poses are great. I am going to use one or two of them in this dio as well. I had an accident yesterday i was cleaning my hands with some alcohol and a few drops got on the su85 and instant whitened flat coat, so i had to go back and do a bit of touching up. I have also applied the washes and have faded the paint. I'm just finishing up with somefilters to add the water stains, next on to the chipping then finally the dirt and dust. I hope to have some pics up tomorrow. Will keep you posted, Cheers Kevin

Ok I have a few more pics for you guys to take a look at and tell me what I need to do next or if I have missed anything. I'm doing the adding the dirt and dust next. And where on one of these would I put the "shifting timber" Cheers Kevin

Wow Kevin, this it one of the best dios I've seen in a while. The straw roof looks very realistic, being born in Ukraine, I've seen a bunch of those houses, and your roof is an exact copy! However, I think that you should work on the pine trees some more.

What more can I say ! Excellent work on both your SU-85 and your Russian troops. Can't wait to see this all tie in with the the rest of your Eastern Front diorama !

AWESOME stuff !!!

Cheers !!

Alpen