TeaWeasel

Ah that's a bit annoying. The crew in this set are grey plastic, not the standard brown so maybe my one has the same issue. Cheers, it's already pretty substantial. Yeah I've only seen the 1/35 Dora in real life once and it's bloody massive. Can't imagine anyone actually having the space to display it. I got mine from Jadlam but looks like this place has one in stock too. Had a couple hours spare between hosting Christmas and working two jobs and juggling a 1-year old, so managed to get some more work done on the lower hull. The return rollers, guide horns(?) and torsion arms are all attached. I think I've made a bit of a mistake however in I should have used the wheels to ensure the arms are level before gluing. Bit of a cockup on my end but I might be able to fix it later on. The internal torsion bars are attached, although there's a bit of damage on the smaller panel to the left, you can see it towards the top left of the compartment. It's a lovely kit but some of the instructions are a bit confusing. Following the instructions above you'd be forgiven for thinking the torsion bar panel fits over the box-shaped component in the upper circle. I dry-fitted it while I did some research but a bit of stray glue must have worked its way in there, had to delicately remove it without damaging the bars. Unfortunately I couldn't save the whole panel but I don't think it'll be visible in the final model. Bit of detail of the idler wheel, which was a nice little subassembly in itself. The plastic is somewhat softer than you'd expect, so the slightest bit of stray glue can leave fingerprints, as is what I think has happened here. And just to finish off we have this internal structure, which I imagine is some sort of brace. Not glued in yet, but you can see it covers up the damage on the torsion bar mount I mentioned before. Some ejector marks to remove, and I'm not sure how it's supposed to fit. When assembled the arms aren't parallel, they splay out towards the end, but are they supposed to fit into the corners of that compartment? No idea, so some more research needed before gluing. Thanks everyone, comments appreciated and Happy New Year to you all! Joe

Thanks very much I doubt it would have come off on top against a King Tiger. The armour was much thinner but it had a 75mm main gun, so if it got the first shot off...maybe it could have done some damage? Had a bit of time over the Christmas break, and received a couple of new products in the post. I gave up on the plastic ones. If the plastic ones in the kit are anything close to the headache I had on the T-62, it's just worth paying for Masterclub ones instead. Like the Karl Gerat set I'm working on, these went together perfectly, although a bit more flash on this set, but it was thin enough I could just scrape it off with my fingernail. I didn't expect to need so much brass wire however; by my rough calculations the SMK tracks alone needed around 12' of wire. Once they were set I gave AK's track burnishing solution a go. You can see the result against a sample length of Karl Gerat track. I tested the solution first on a spare link and was very hesitant, as after a couple of minutes it just looked horribly rusty, not the blackened look I was going for. Diluting the solution 1:1 with tap water helped, and after sitting in there for around 10 mins they were done. Attention then turned to the snow effects. Have heard good things about this product and I'm rather impressed. It goes on well, dries relatively quickly and isn't fragile once it's set. My only thought is it could be whiter, the colour does seem to drain a bit once it's dried. Trying to keep the overall effect limited at the moment, don't want to just pile it on in one go. And just a quick progress shot. Still a number of details to finish but nearly there! Cheers, Joe

I turned 30 last month and thought to myself "what an opportunity to treat myself to something big". As a special gift to myself I decided to pick up Trumpeter's 1/35 Karl Gerat, probably the biggest model I've ever built, except perhaps for the Reaver Titan. Looking at reviews online it looks like a very complex kit, made more so when my wife got me the Panzer Munitionschlepper to go with it. Here we have the two boxe, taking up most of the already limited space in my model area. My main source of inspiration was Night Shift's series on this kit. For some reason I assumed the Trumpeter kit would be somewhat lacking in terms of detail or accuracy, but after a look through I'm very surprised with what's provided. With that in mind let's open her up. The box is filled to the brim with sprues. Trumpeter could have saved money by just providing one hull, but they've very nicely included both the early and late chassis and running gear, the chassis themselves being very significant one-piece mouldings in the centre box. The kit also includes a set of crew and some very nice turned aluminium shells which I'll get to. Like I said, both chassis included. I think for this I'll be going for the later style, being the more detailed on on top. Finding solid info on which Karl had which chassis is a bit tricky, but looks like Karls 3-6 had such a design. Small amount of photoetch, some springs for the recoil assembly and the aluminium shells in both 540 and 600mm. Honestly these look awesome and give the kit a noticeable bit of extra weight. And while I was going all out I couldn't resist giving metal tracks a go. Have never used metal tracks so will be interesting, and these were bloody hard to track down. Didn't want to just jump straight into the build while I've got other projects on the go, but I thought I'd just take a look at some of the running gear. The instructions are a little confusing in that the sprues for both the early and late chassis are both labelled as Sprue H, so I was a bit miffed when I thought I'd been sold a dud when the parts were wrong, turned out I was holding the early Sprue H. So far I've just attached the return rollers on one side, as well as the horn-like attachments that you can see inbetween each one. Not sure what their purpose is. Overall quality is good, some mould lines here and there and some rather prominent ejector marks, as seen on this torsion bar assembly: I've just filled them with Vallejo putty, hopefully they'll smooth out alright. I've also assembled one length of metal tracks. Quality on these was almost perfect. No filing or sanding required, just a few holes in the teeth needed redrilling. Went together like a charm, just replaced the resin pins with brass wire. The full track is close to a metre long and already adds another considerable bit of weight to the kit. This'll definitely be a sizeable monster when completed! It'll be a slow build however, I expect it'll take off a bit more when my SMK is finished, but until then any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Cheers, and Merry Christmas! Joe

Thanks very much Tracks still haven't arrived yet due to our awful post, getting a bit worrying now as I'm waiting on several Christmas presents as well. Anyway, I decided to have a look at the mud weathering. This is generally my least-liked part of the painting process. I started with a coat of Ammo's Heavy Mud, which was just awful. No texture and a couple of days later I could just scrape it about like old blu-tack. Gave it another go, started with Turned Earth. I then gave it a light airbrushing of Buff, then speckled and washed with various shades. I'm not that happy with the result but I think it's the best I'm going to get. Other little details have been painted, such as the tow cables and tool stowage (not shown). I also used the last couple of decals because why not? Looking at the last few details I'm curious as to what colours the towing eyes and stowage crates should be? I thought at first the crates would be wood, but on closer inspection they may be steel. I'd rather avoid having to airbrush the camo on them incase I mess up the surroundings, any suggestions? Thanks, Joe

Thanks very much, rather proud of the Zimmerit.

That's badass enough for me. Painted up the box, went for a base of Tamiya NATO Brown, then various Vallejo colours before a brown wash to add wood grain texture. Not glued down yet, but it's the first proper attempt at painting proper wood texture I'm pretty happy with it.

Thanks, there's some areas I'm not 100% happy with but I have a bit of a workaround. I picked up a set of these a while back, hoping to make a mini-diorama with one of my King Tigers. There's plenty of crates and boxes inside, and the Tiger I shell box just happens to be the perfect size for the fenders. Having a wooden crate would also add a nice bit of contrast to the scheme. Since the last update I've just mainly been pinwashing. Unlike the T-62 I'm working on the wash is now cooperating and it's come out rather nice. I also decided to add some engine staining. It's subtle but I like it. And my favourite bit, the decals. I'm deep inside "what-if" territory by this point so I just went for the cool Soviet slogan on the turret. The red star is for another scheme provided but why not have both? Decals went on fine although a fair bit of Micro Sol was needed to get the texture right. And a progress shot to finish it off. Post service in my town seems to be getting worse and worse, the Masterclub tracks should have arrived by now which is frustrating. On a side note, anyone know what that slogan actually says? Thanks all, comments welcome. Joe

Had a day off work today, little one is with the parents and my wife's in the office, so what could be a better time to break out the airbrush? I started with a basecoat of Russian Khaki from the pack I used for my T-62. It's post-war shades so I imagine some purists may be fuming at the idea. I've been led to believe vehicles from this era would have all sorts of shades with little consistency so I'm not particularly fussed. I started with the Green Khaki then postshaded with Russian Base. I then gave a lighter layer of Russian Base with a few drops of yellow. Quite a nice result, and I could have left it there but thought why not add some chipping fluid? Once that was applied I gave it a coat of Tamiya white. This really didn't provide good coverage so tried Vallejo white which was much better. Removing the chipping fluid proved to be a real hassle. The stuff really didn't want to shift from some areas, in some areas it just flaked off in larger patches or came off like a sludge. It's only the second time I've ever used chipping fluid so still new to this technique. I love how the result shows the textures I've added to the hull and turret, but I think it may be a bit overdone on the fenders? Do I respray the white over the fenders, or leave as-is? Cheers, Joe

Thanks, I'm thinking of the whitewash over the standard Russian Green, not too white, not too green.

Looks like this one isn't that popular but I'll continue anyway. Managed to get hold of some Tamiya putty so thought I'd have a go at armour textures. Overall process was simple, just a bit of putty mixed with some Tamiya cement, the mixture was then stippled over the areas in question. There is practically no info available on the details specific to the SMK, so having to use the KV-1 as a reference. So far I've textured the turrets, glacis and rear hull, would anything else have this rough surface? The tow cables were this nice braided brass wire, looks like it's been laminated or something to help reduce fraying. Went together fine but was very difficult fitting it to the hull, had to be threaded through the fender support before attaching the cable to the towing eye. And a final shot. As far as I'm aware the build is now finished. I relented in the end and bought metal tracks from Masterclub, they should be here in the next few days. Once that's complete I can move onto painting. Cheers, Joe

Thanks for all your thoughts, much appreciated

I'm currently working on Takom's SMK, the unique Soviet twin-turret tank that lost out to the KV1. I'm having trouble looking for closeup shots to work out the presence of weld lines and rougher steel textures. All the photos I can find are further-off shots, can't find any closeup details. Can anyone help? Cheers

Exciting stuff, I'll certainly be interested.

Thanks, despite the age I still think it's a decent little kit.

Decided to add the display crest to the turret. The instructions stated that only vehicles in the Victory Day parades would have this but oh well, it looks cool and adds a bit of contrast. I've also started on the chipping; for some reason the pinwash wasn't cooperating so had to just turn it into a regular wash, which I tried to blend in with thinners. I sponged chips on randomly, initially with the Russian Green from the AK pack, then using Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green, it's just a bit lighter to really highlight the chips. They were then filled in with Panzer Art Dark Rust. From the images I've seen these tanks would get pretty beaten up, so a good opportunity to really go to town in some areas, particularly the stowage boxes which I assume were just flimsy sheet metal. Thanks all, Joe

I seem to be just blitzing through this kit at a rather suspicious rate, keep thinking I've left something out. Turrets are almost there, the front one is complete, the rear has just a few hatches, handles, etc to finish. Front went together absolutely fine, the rear one took a bit of work, mainly some filling here and there. The instructions also weren't clear on the orientation of the rear MG mount, so had to get a rough guess based on the painting guide. In the meantime I'm considering adding some weld beads here and there but can't find any reference photos as to where they'd be, can anyone help out? Tools and crates added to the fender. I initially thought about adding some leftover tool clamps from the King Tiger, but they're delicate as it is, removing the plastic would probably just damage them. Just to finish off, a quick comparison shot with the King Tiger. As you can see she's a chunky beast, although I'm very surprised at the difference in gun lengths; makes you wonder if this thing could have ever stood up against a KT. Thanks all, comments would be appreciated.

Thanks, despite the size of the tank it's a much easier build. If you solely concentrated on it you could have it done in a couple of hours. Running gear is attached and I also took the chance at attaching one of the fenders, although this may bugger up my plans later on as I'll explain further down. The fender itself was a very, very loose fit, the brackets fit very neatly however and are an absolute must. If you decide to remove a length of fender best to keep that in mind. My attention then turned to the tracks, all 3 frames of them. I initially wasn't too worried about them as the King Tiger tracks were of a similar style, but they were a lot easier in that the links were in halves, and once the halves were glued the tracks were secure but workable. This on the other hand, you won't get workable tracks, they're just too loose for that, which is bloody annoying. However, I have a cunning plan... Essentially what I have in mind is to glue the lower length that'll be in contact with the ground, then assemble the remaining tracks on a length of masking tape. I can then place them over the wheels, fit them and get the correct amount of sag, and then glue it all solid before removing the tape, hence the fender possibly getting in the way. In theory this should be a good workaround, has anyone tried anything similar? Cheers, Joe

Took a bit of a break on this one, the tracks were just too much of a headache so I had to put it away for a while. However, had a flash of determination to get this one finished, and so the painting began. I've decided to keep the tracks as they are, removing them will probably just damage the wheels. Thanks for the tip, with that in mind I picked up this nice little set from Ammo. Some nice shades there, the only one I haven't seen being the Protective NC; not sure what NC stands for anyway. Basecoat of Tamiya grey primer, then on went a base of Green Khaki, followed by some postshading of Zeleno then Russian Base Green. Sounds a bit counterintuitive to add a colour called "Base Green" as the top layer, but the previous ones were much more green-brown. Here's the overall result. Last time I tried postshading green was on a Chieftain and the result was far more cartoon-ish than I imagined, but this has come out quite nicely. I also picked up some Micro Sol/Set so gave that a go on a decal. Next step will be a pin-wash but so far I'm very happy with the result, hopefully this one can be finished off in the near future.

Was wandering around Dorking Models over the weekend when this caught my eye. Until now I'd never heard of this tank, my main areas of interest being British and German armour but after snapping this up I did a bit of background reading. The SMK was one of a number of heavy tanks proposed to work alongside the T-34. It was hoped the twin-turret design would prove effective in battle, but turned out to be overly complicated and placed additional stress on the commander. Eventually the project was passed over in favour of the KV tanks, and only one SMK was built. Not sure what happened to it afterwards; it was inevitably scrapped but I don't know if it ever saw combat. Anyway, this is my second Takom kit after their King Tiger; I felt their King Tiger was...ok due to two reasons: The quality was as good as Tamiya, despite being over twice the cost. Some areas and components were needlessly complicated for no apparent reason. This kit seems to address both. It's still a little costly at around £40-50 but that I can kinda excuse given it's a less-common subject; from my understanding such models tend to cost more to recoup costs. This is also my first ever armour kit based on a prototype/one-off so means I'll have to use some imagination in places. Onto the build. I must confess I've kinda blitzed ahead over the last day or so, here's where I am so far. The upper hull was one very solid-feeling piece, with no warping this time so that's already an improvement over the King Tiger. The glacis, rear plate and lower plate all fit together like a glove. Some very small details added here such as grab handles; very fragile, wouldn't have hurt Takom to put a couple of spares on the sprues. Only one piece of PE in this one, little disappointing in that it didn't have score-lines to assist the folding. It's not perfect but it was difficult enough to get to this bit so will leave it at that. Suspension arms are fixed in these semicircular holes; to get moveable suspension will take a lot of work reaming them out. First impressions; a nice kit of an eyecatching subject. Way, way fewer parts than similar kits and so far it's been very enjoyable to build. Cheers, any other info on this tank would be appreciated. Joe

Good progress, the wing doors were certainly a pain on mine. Very nice work on the engines too 👍

Decals are complete and ordnance loaded! The overall quality of the bombs was average, detail wasn't as crisp and a fair amount was lost just removing them from the sprues. Quick coat of Vallejo Dead White and Medium Yellow, nothing too special before decalling. Just want to say an additional thanks to @M.T.Dolby for providing the squadron codes and roundels as well as the nose art, the ones provided in the kit are significantly lighter than the ones he provided and what was used on my Lanc, so otherwise would have been weirdly inconsistent. Quite relieved there's a limited number of stencils, just a few on the wing fuel tanks and the odd escape hatch marking. Loving the nose art on this one And finally the ordnance: Just have to apply a few more stencils there, but overall the bomb fit is also a bit disappointing. The cradles don't grip the bomb bay tight enough so they slip out rather easily. The wing bays on the other hand are a very tight gap, I suspect Italeri didn't expect the doors to retract so assumed the bombs would fit just fine. Not the end of the world but still something I thought they'd work out in QC. With that done I've tried to list out the remaining steps. General tidy-up, it's picked up a bit of dust here and there. Last decals on the ordnance. Gloss varnish and Flory wash Paint the last details like undercarriage, exhausts and the collector rings(?) around the engines. Attach bomb bay and undercarriage doors.

Cheers, glad to finally be able to press on with this one.

Freightdog upgrades arrived today: Nicely packaged, although I'm surprised the props and hubs are a single piece. Quality is ok, about what I'd expect but still an annoying amount of flash. It's mostly thin enough that it can be just sliced off easily enough, the right prop is after a few mins of cleaning. Radiators themselves are good quality, again slight bit of flash but nothing to worry about. Once the fuselage is set I can move on to fitting these, then shouldn't take too long to finish the build.

Good progress, looks like a nice enjoyable build 👍

Great stuff, making good progress 👍