Dual speed-build: KV-5 and JS-4

[gary66]

Right .. so with the T-80 finished ( photos to be taken ), I decided to go for something more simpler. The T-80 was a complicated kit and it really tired me out so I need something to chill and enjoy more. Looking into my back-log, I remembered my JS-4 and my very freshly acquired KV-5. Knowing that those twos are simple kits ( albeit the JS-4 is not as simple as the KV-5 as it is from Trumpeter), and they will take me less time than the other ones, I decided to do a dual build.

I will not be taking sprue shots of this as I have already done reviews for both kits -

JS-4 -

http://modeller-innovation.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/a-peek-inside-box-trumpeter-135-soviet.html

KV-5 -

http://modeller-innovation.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-peek-inside-box-takom-135-kv-5_2.html

so let's get started.

Here's the two box stacked together

I first started on the Takom KV-5 as I can't wait to start it. It is my favourite premium tank in WoT after all and not to mention I want to check out Takom's quality.

So I started with the hull, it was in 4 pieces, the bottom plate, front lower glacis and rear plate are separately moulded.

The fit was not horrible but not great so I had to exert quite some force and had be to careful.

After that, it was the suspension arms, the shock absorbers and the little thingys that stop the arms from swing too much ( I forgot what they are called.. please remind me)

Comes the time for the wheels. Each wheels is made up of four parts but they went on fairly quickly. I glued them on from the first go as the wheels are very loose and keep falling down.

Before I carried on with the engine deck, I decided to make the track runs. It took me one whole day as this is a freakishly long vehicle. The tracks are moulded well but won't stay together well and keep popping out so a lot of force is required to click them together and glue them.

And I'm sure you will notice the two domes ( R2-D2 ) is textured. I'm pretty sure these would have been casted ( conclusion drawn from my own education background and feasible war time production accounts) and the kit has NO texturing moulded in. So tamiya putty to the rescue -

Painted the tracks and the lower hull ( sorry the lower hull is not showing well. crappy lights)

Alright, so I'm happy with the KV-5 and now on to the JS-4.

As always, we start with the lower hull -

We start with the little thingys that stop the arms from swing too much and after that, the arms -

The JS-4 really has a low suspension design giving the vehicle such a low height.

Comes the wheels after that. The wheels are 4 piece a pop and made well.

Now comes the time for the tracks. Strangely, this is the best tracks I have ever done from Trumpy. Took care of the whole thing in just one morning ( about 4 hours ) and voila -

Painted the lower hull and the tracks -

I haven't got to the upper hull yet as it still have some works to be done before I can glue the two halves together.

So this is it for now. I will catch ya guys in the next update.

[Oddball]

Looks like you're off to a good start with these two. I've always liked these big monster tanks, they'll look great once they're finished.

Odd.

[Hamden]

A very interesting pair I will enjoy watching you beat these into submission - not sure I could cope building two at once!

Roger

[smuts]

That KV5 looks impressive.

Andy

Edited November 16, 2014 by smuts

[gary66]

Right.. Update is due on this WIP ....

I will start with the JS-4 for the update -

With the lower hull all done, I glued on the large fender piece with a small strip of P.E. on the front mud flap. The flaps and fenders are all one long piece ( shown with the blue arrow )

Closed up the side skirts after that. Yes, yes, I know.... if I do that, what's that point of going the trouble to have the tracks sagged? I just love side skirts alot.

Learning from past experiences with Trumpeter kits, I drilled holes over the very very hard to find locating dimples for the grab handles that will go onto the turret.

After that, I gave it a coat of just random green that's lying around so that I can tell apart the areas that will not be textured later on. After that, Tamiya putty and revell Contacta cement to the rescue.

As much as I want to use the beautiful metal barrel, I wanted to have my JS-4 in a very menacing look and since my Object 279 was a failure, I just hack-and-slash and voila -

JS-4 now sporting the 130mm. The gun was initially very long and the over hang was too impractical so I shortened it to the same length of its original 122mm gun.

The only draw back of the turret assembly is that there is not Poly cup ( or PC cup or whatever they are called) and even though I'm using a barrel of pure plastic, the gun keep hanging down due to the weight and the very lose gun elevation mechanism. I had to use what I always use for counter weight - two part epoxy -

I put on a touch too much and now, the gun can't depress any more than 2 degree as the huge putty block is touching the turret roof. LOL. Not complaining, I'm happy as long as the gun is not loose and hanging down any more.

After that, comes the fuel tanks on top of the rear hull -

and finished off the read deck with exhaust mufflers and the P.E

Decided to finish the turret and put on all the necessary things ( you can clearly see the different colours of the entire turret)-

After that comes the storage boxes and any other necessary parts on the front hull -

And this is how my JS-4 looks now -

happy with that, moved on the KV-5.

First step is to paint the underside of the rather long fenders -

Glued them on along with the storage boxes and the raised engine intake structures -

If you guys are building this, be prepare to exert alot of force putting on the fenders to the slots, or better yet, make sure you do something to the male pegs or the slots to accommodate a flawless attachment.

After that, I totally go to town on the cast structure on the mantlet -

more cast texture on the mini turret -

decided to roughen up the side walls of the turret as well-

I know they wouldn't be casted but I decided to rough them up to show the low quality of the steel. I believe it is the reason because I usually see soviet armour build with roughed up steel plate.

And to close this update-

I painted the entire thing with a base mix for the Russian green. By this point, I have only finished putting on the darker shade of green and lighter shade on the turret. The hull is yet to come.

That's for now. Catch ya all later.

[gary66]

Right. Time to update this. Last time, I stopped at putting paint on the KV-5. Let's carry forward from that.

Following the highlights and shadow on the whole vehicle, I pin wash with the colour '' Burnt Umber '' and used Naples yellow, Cobalt blue, white, Vandyke brown and a very small black oil to blend all the colours in and this is what I got -

After this, I weathered the running gears and tracks but I didn't take any picture of that stage so please look forward to them on the launch post.

Done with the KV-5, I moved on to the JS-4.

I bought Painting Guide for AFV by José Luis Lopez Ruiz and after reading the book cover to cover once, I decided to apply the unique Black and White technique and this is what I got -

After that, as instructed by Jose in his book, I misted my own mix of green on it and voila -

I messed up the mix so I had to mist another layer of green as my first layer was too yellowish -

I wasn't happy with the green I had to apply another pure green to blend all the colours. I put on too much green on top of the B&W so its kinda not that obvious anymore but you can still see the effect -

By this point, I have also painted the on-board tools.

After that, I applied decals; the Russian red star and my birth year -

By this point, the JS-4 has already been given a pin-wash of Burnt Umber and I used the same set minus Vandyke Brown for the oil dot filtering.

After that I painted the machine gun, painted the unditching log and chipped and weathered it a little bit which will be shown on the launch post.

So this is it. This wip has now come to a close. Thank you guys for reading and the supports. Please look forward to the finished kit posts.

[Hamden]

Two very nice models, they look fantastic!

Roger