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  1. Currently building a Chonma-Ho I tank, and I'm looking for a KPV gun in 1/35 to replace the usual DSHk equipped on the T-62. So far I've only been able to find one on an out of production Military Wheels UAZ-469 kit, a 3D printed resin model that I can't buy because it's only available in Russia and a Trumpeter T-10M (I tried buying the specific sprues for the KPV but they can't be shipped to Ireland). Might end up just having to buy the T-10M kit for the gun alone if no other alternatives present themselves. Does anyone here know where I could source this elusive gun? Thanks
  2. T-34/85 Plant 112, Spring 1944 (35379) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in huge numbers by sometimes crude and expedient methods, to be thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front, sometimes before the paint was dry. The designers combined several important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the ground load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without freezing to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the initial successes in the summer of Operation Barbarossa. The part count and cost of the tank was continuously reduced during production, with plants turning out up to 1,300 per month at the height of WWII. The initial cramped welded turret was replaced by a cast turret with more room, and later the 76mm gun was replaced by a more powerful 85mm main gun in the T-34/85 with an enlarged three-man turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought. The T-34/85 with the composite turret was manufactured during the summer of 1944 at Krasnoye Sormova plant #112 on the Volga River, with a simplified gun in the turret in the shape of the ZiS-S-53, as well as some other changes. The Composite turret was fitted with a flat roof that had a pair of hatches and linked mushroom vents to the rear. There were some messy welds between the various castings, which gives them a rough look that belies their capability. The Kit This is another boxing of MiniArt’s new T-34 line, and is an exterior only kit, but the box is still loaded with sprues of all shapes and sizes. In total there are sixty-three sprues in grey styrene, two in clear, a Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, a small decal sheet and instruction booklet with colour profiles inside each of the front and back covers. Many of the sprues will be seen in various other boxings of the T-34, notably the Czech production and others that we reviewed here, which is the reason for their use of smaller sprues that make their kits so eminently modular. It makes the process easier and cheaper for them, and makes the likelihood of receiving many different options to choose from much more promising for us, which with the rate we’re receiving them for review seems to be the case. As always with MiniArt, the design, detail and crispness of moulding is excellent, and the inclusion of PE brass in the box is one less thing you need to fork out for. Unsurprisingly, construction begins with the lower hull. The floor is decked out with four tubular fittings for the suspension on each side and a lower escape hatch, then the engine firewall near the rear. The lower hull walls are next, with their Christie-style suspension springs contained in channels up the inside face, drilling a pair of holes near the final drive housing to mount a pair of pads later. The upper hull begins with the ball-mount and DT Machine gun for the bow, with a fixed stock for the gunner’s comfort. The gun is left to swivel inside the port, so be sparing with the glue when you complete this assembly. The glacis plate accepts the gun from inside after fitting of the armoured outer protection, and has a tubular external armoured cover to protect most of the barrel length from incoming rounds. The upper hull deck and sides are moulded as one, and the sides have several holes drilled out before they are applied to the hull, with a few nubs cut from the exterior on the way, then the glacis plate it fitted to the front, some armoured plates are fitted near the turret ring, and it is then glued to the lower hull. At the rear the engine bay is still exposed, which is next to be addressed by adding a frame around the rear bulkhead then attaching the large rear panel that has a circular inspection panel fixed in the centre, with a pair of armoured exhaust covers to the sides and short exhaust stubs filling the centres, inserted from inside. The engine deck is covered with vents and louvres that are added with a central inspection hatch, then it is fixed over the engine bay. Additional armoured covers with louvred grilles are fitted over the large flush louvres, then the suspension swing-arms and stub axles are installed under the sponsons, and the mudguards with PE detail parts are glued into place at the front, with more simplified flaps to the rear. Small parts, various pioneer tools, rails and stowage boxes are made up and fitted onto the sloped sides of the hull, with racks of winter track grousers attached to the flat portions of the side and external fuel tank cradles behind them. At this stage the driver’s hatch is also built with twin clear periscopes, hatch closures and external armoured cowls for the ‘scopes and hinges. Under the rear of the tank another set of loops, hooks and eyes are fitted into marked positions between the two final drive housings. A trio of smooth-surfaced cylindrical fuel tanks are installed on the sides and rear by using the curved brackets fitted earlier, and mixed PE and styrene straps holding them in place, with a large stowage box placed on the rear bulkhead between the exhausts, and two long boxes placed on the left fender, fixing a self-built tarpaulin on PE straps in the space where the fourth external tank would have been. Ten pairs of wheels with smooth tyres and separate hub caps are built with one of two styles of drive sprockets and idler wheels to complete the running gear. At the same time the main towing cables are made from styrene towing eyes, but you will need to supply two lengths of 93mm and 91mm braided cord or wire, so make sure you have some on hand when you begin.` Now for the tracks. The T-34’s wide tracks were simple and easy to produce, as well as great at spreading the tank’s weight and helping prevent freezing of the drivetrain in cold weather, of which Russia has more than its fair share. There are two different track parts, one flat, the other with a guide horn in the centre, and both have exquisite casting details that includes the ID numbers on both parts and indeed both faces. They have four sprue gates on each link, attached on the curved hinge-points, making them easy to cut back flush and then sand smooth with a sanding stick, to ease assembly and gluing. I made up a short length as a test, and was finished in a few minutes with a little liquid glue thanks to their close tolerances that keep them together while you glue. Each side needs 72 links, which equates to 36 of each part, and once you get into a rhythm, it won’t take too long to complete the task, wrapping the still flexible links around the curved sections and holding them in place with tape and other clamps etc. to obtain the correct sag on the top run once the glue has cured. The detail is so good it’s almost a shame to weather them once painted. The turret starts as an almost complete shell with three sides moulded into it, which has inserts for the interior skin. The roof is separate and has a large cupola with clear vision blocks and binoculars built into the bi-fold hatch, plus a simpler hatch for the gunner, both of which are shown fitted closed. The roof is moulded-in and has two more periscopes under armoured shrouds, and two vents on the rear, which are covered by a linked armoured mushroom cover. Despite this not being an interior kit, the basic gun breech is present, with another 7.62mm DT machine gun mounted coaxially in the mantlet, before it is set to one side while the turret floor is completed. The floor part first has a lip inserted within the ring, then the inner mantlet support is prepared with the main gun’s mount, which is glued to the turret floor and has the breech slid in from behind and is joined by the coax DT with its mount. The gun tube, which is a single part is inserted into the socket on the inner mantlet and has the outer mantlet slide over it, and it has a hollow muzzle for extra detail. An aerial, a set of long grab handles and tie-down lugs are added around the rear and sides of the turret, then the turret is dropped into place in the hull to complete the build. Markings There are seven decal options in the box and they’re not all green, despite what you’d expect from a wartime example made in the early half of '45, with winter distemper and a dunkelgelb with mottled camouflage in brown and green for a captured or Beautpanzer. From the box you can build one of the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt/gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The T-34 played a huge part in the Soviet response to Operation Barbarossa, albeit after a substantial delay caused by Stalin’s apparent indecision. It was a stalwart of their defence then offence, sweeping the Germans aside thanks to its sloped armour and sheer weight of numbers. This kit omits most of the interior, and yet keeps all the external goodies, so if interiors aren’t your thing it's a tempting option. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  3. Towbar for MiG-15/17 and other jets (P48006) 1:48 Special Hobby During the early part of the Cold War, a standard agricultural Tractor, the Zetor 25 saw extensive service in the Soviet military as a ground-handling tractor, towing MiG-15s and MiG-17s around the airfield once the engines were shut down. Fitted with a custom towing bar, they were a common sight chugging around the perry tracks, in-and-out of hangars on Soviet era military bases until they and the jets they towed were replaced by more modern, capable designs as technology improved and the aircraft became heavier. The towbar comprises a main frame with curved skid underneath, adding the towing eye and compression gaiter to the front, then creating a stabilising wire from your own stock of fine wire or thread that is tipped at each end with PE eyes from the fret that hook to the main gear legs of your chosen MiG, and wrap around a pulley printed integrally to the main towbar part, which on the real thing adjusted position as the vehicle turned corners, a simple mechanism that cleverly evened out the tension on the gear legs. The yoke at the rear of the bar attaches to each side of the aircraft’s nose wheel hub, and the towing eye of course connects to the hitch at the back of its tractor. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  4. 1/35 of Tamiya JS-2. It was produced recently and we proceeded with the kit as it is. It has weathering effects with basic painting and oil painting. The figure painting was the most difficult task, but fortunately, the work was completed with Tamiya weathered stick and oil painting. The elderly passing by are masterbox products, and the power transmission tower is made by extracting them from mini-art products. Thank you for reading it. Have a good day ~
  5. This is the Zvezda kit in 1/350. The kit itself is pretty simple with no real fit issues, the plastic is a little soft though. I picked it up second hand for 5 bucks as the decal sheet was stuffed. Upon review it looks as though the K-19 sailed without any identification numbers on the sail, so this is what I did. I also painted the silver sonar sections on the bow, but did manage to save the bridge windows that give soviet submarines that distinctive look. I kept the weathering pretty light. As for the K-19 herself, she gained the rather harsh nickname of "Hiroshima" while in service. Project 658 submarines were rushed into production in response to US advances in nuclear submarines in the early 1960s. The K-19 would be the first nuclear powered submarine mounting nuclear ballistic missiles to enter service with the Soviet Navy. However, due to the rushed production, multiple workers died while constructing her, mistakes were made in construction and some safety and back up systems were not installed. Several Russian commanders thought the submarines unseaworthy and perhaps they were right, as K-19 would suffer several major accidents, the worse being the loss of coolant to her reactors on her initial patrol, causing the death of several crew members due to radiation exposure. This incident was responsible for the withdrawal of all 'Hotel 1 Class' (NATO designation) for upgrades. K-19 would soldier on until 1991, where she was decommissioned and eventually sent to the scrapper.
  6. Hello The product I'm going to introduce this time is... I made my favorite tank, the Soviet Heavy Tank JS-2. It was hard to get it, but luckily, a week after I bought it secondhand, I focused on completing it. ^^ After basic base painting, oil painting and matte finish, we did wetting. During the first painting, the desired color did not come out, so I re-painted it to get a slightly bright color. I didn't edit the picture separately, but there is a background flying function on my phone, so I try to upload it with that function. It's not perfect, but please enjoy it. ~ I hope you have a great day.^^
  7. Hello there, I have been enthralled by this image of a syrian t62 tank at the oz 77 memorial at golan heights for the yom kippur war. I have not been able to dig up any information on the unusual camo scheme which appears to me as if it has been painted an off pinkish red tone with black camouflage. If you look closely you can see the original factory Russian 4bo paint coming through, clearing beneath the red paint work. What I can't seem to figure out is whether this reddish tone is a result of some sort of sun bleaching effect or if it was painted that way? It seems possoble that the turret and the front of the tank were painted by the syrians but the rest of the tank remained in the factory colours.. It's also entirely possible the paint was applied after the tank was destroyed but it seems from the info I've gathered that this tank was destoryed in these colours and was left just the way it was. Another interesting thing I noticed is that the reddish paint appears to be much more durable the factory green which appears to have mostly rusted away suggesting to me that the parts that remain red on the tank were the only parts that were painted red. I'd like to build a theoretical operational version of this tank, a sort of "what if" project using the few pictures I can find, but before I begin I'd like to know if anyone here on the forum has any information on this particular tank, or syrian t-62's in general. 100% historical accuracy doesn't concern me but I want to produce a believable result and gather as much info as I can before I begin the project. Give me your thoughts and opinions, I'd love to know what you think. Thanks.
  8. Hello everybody, as I'm quite new here I decided to finally contribute something meaningful and treat you all with a build of mine. Since I'm working from home at the moment I figured this to be the perfect time to start one of my long-term projects, a Sukhoi Su-17 (Fitter-C) in 1/48. The Real thing The Su-17 started life as a project at Sukhoi to improve the low-speed and take-off/landing performance of the basic Su-7 design. Liftjets proved to be a not feasible as they were dead weight most of the time and occupied much needed space in the airframe. Variable-geometry wings on the other hand seemed to offer a perfect solution to this problem. The outer part of the Su-7 wing was redesigned to be moveable and a demonstrator, based on the Su-7BM, was built and proved successful during tests. The first Su-17 variant (Nato Code: Fitter-C) that went into production was basically an Su-7BKL with Variable-geometry wings, a dorsal spine holding additional avionics, a clamshell canopy instead of a sliding one and a hydraulic drive system for the moveable wings. Still, the performance left something to be desired compared to the Su-7. While low-speed and take-off/landing performance improved markedly, range and payload did not. This was largely because the Su-17 retained the old AL-7F engine while overall weight increased. Only with the introduction of a new engine, the AL-21F, all performance data finally improved significantly. This variant went into production as the Su-17M ("M" for "modernized"). The References The subject of my build will be “Red 16”, a Su-17 assigned to the 217th Fighter-Bomber Air regiment based at Kyzyl-Arvat (todays Serdar, Turkmenistan), patrolling the Iranian border in the early 80s. They received second-hand Fitters in 1979 to replace their old MiG-21PFMs used as fighter-bombers until then. Inspiration came from these articles from the site “easternorbat.com” (fantastic site for all Soviet aviation aficionados): http://www.easternorbat.com/html/217th_reg_su-17_bb_eng.html http://www.easternorbat.com/html/217th_regiment_80s_eng.html I have a soft spot for Soviet equipment stationed at the remote parts of the Soviet Union and in recent years, many photographs from private collections emerged, showing daily life on some of these remote spots at the edge of the red empire. Often these places lacked even basic commodities like running water: https://ok.ru/kizylarvat/album/51975801143379?st._aid=Groups_Photo_Album_List_openAlbum Then I've collected some walkarounds for detailing the kit: https://www.scalenews.de/suchoi-su-7-fitter-walkaround-46/ http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/v/walkarounds/avia/after_1950/su-17_omsk/ https://www.scalenews.de/ngg_tag/suchoi-su-17-walkaround-39/ http://litnik.in.ua/walkaround/reaktivnye-samolety/walkaround-su-17m-ot-peps-chast-2 The Kits Till now, there are no kits available in 1/48 to build the earlier marks of the Su-17. Therefore, the only possibility to portray one of these variants is to combine several existing kits. In this case it will be: The Kopro Su-7, which will be used mainly for its fuselage: The Hobby Boss Su-17, which will provide its wings, landing gear, weapons and various detail parts: Of course, some aftermarket help is thrown into the mix too, namely: Eduard Brassin Su-7 ejection seat Eduard photoetch Su-7 cockpit Quickboost Su-7 air Master Su-7 pitot and gun barrels Wolfpack Su-7 exhaust Reskit Su-17 wheels Master Su-17 pitot and gun barrels Although quite a complete package, some scratch building will be required too. Thanks for reading and hope to see you along my journey! Cheers Markus
  9. Good evening, among the "not for use" parts in Eduards 1/72nd Fagot are a pair of bombs. I cannot find similar ones in my copy of Yefim Gordons "Soviet / Russian Aircraft Weapons Since WW2" - does anyone know what type of bomb these represent, and which aircraft / air forces used these? Thanks in advance!, Andre
  10. Morning all, Allow me to present my yearbook for 2021. Starting the year in lockdown meant I was able to carry on with my pace of last year, and although life has got in the way in recent months and slowed me down a little, I've still managed 22 completions, which isn't bad going. For this year, I chose to build to American and Russian themes, which I find helps focus my builds and prevent burn out. As ever, all are 1/72 scale, and posted in chronological order. For those interested, more images can be find by clicking the links to the RFI thread. I began the year building the Century Series jets alongside WW2 Soviet types. Trumpeter F-100C Super Sabre Trumpeter 1/72 North American F-100C Super Sabre by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Arma Hobby Yak-1B Arma Hobby 1/72 Yakovlev Yak-1B by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Revell F-101B Voodoo Revell 1/72 McDonnell F-101B Voodoo by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Meng F-102A Delta Dagger Meng 1/72 Convair F-102A Delta Dagger by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Academy Il-2 Sturmovik Academy 1/72 Iluyshin Il-2 Sturmovik by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Hasegawa Polikarpov I-16 Hasegawa 1/72 Polikarpov I-16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Hasegawa F-104G Starfighter Hasegawa 1/72 Lockheed F-104G Starfighter by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Trumpeter F-105G Thunderchief Trumpeter 1/72 Republic F-105G Thunderchief by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Clearprop Lavochkin LA-5 Clearprop 1/72 Lavochkin LA-5 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Trumpeter F-106A Delta Dart Trumpeter 1/72 Convair F-106A Delta Dart by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr I started to turn my attention to MiGs whilst continuing with USAF jets from the 48th FW at RAF Lakenheath Eduard MiG-15bis Eduard 1/72 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15bis by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr GWH F-15E Strike Eagle GWH 1/72 Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Eduard MiG-21MF Fishbed Eduard 1/72 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21MF Fishbed by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Hobby 2000 F-111F Hobby 2000 (Hasegawa) 1/72 General Dynamics F-111F by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Hasegawa F-4D Phantom II Hasegawa 1/72 McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Trumpeter F-100D Super Sabre Trumpeter 1/72 F-100D Super Sabre by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Zvezda Petlyakov Pe-2 Zvezda 1/72 Petlyakov Pe-2 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr GWH F-15C Eagle GWH 1/72 McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr As the Russian jets started to get more modern, I went the other way with the US types Tamiya P-47D Thunderbolt Tamiya 1/72 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr ICM MiG-25 Foxbat ICM 1/72 MiG-25BM Foxbat by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Zvezda MiG-29SMT Fulcrum Zvezda 1/72 MiG-29SMT Fulcrum by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Airfix Spitfire Vc Airfix 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire Vc by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr So there we are. I may yet get another build finished before the end of the year, but it would be at a push, and I'm happy with that output. Thanks for looking, and for those of you who took the time to comment throughout the year Happy New Year, Shaun
  11. World of Tanks T-26 Light Tank (03505) 1:35 Carrera Revell The T-26 was a Soviet light tank that was based upon the British Vickers Light Tank, and was used in many guises in the interwar years and during the early part of WWII, although it was already outclassed by the invading German tanks during the beating they received at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Almost 11,000 were made of the various different types up until development ceased in 1940, which was a tacit admission that there was no future for it going forward. World of Tanks Many of you will have heard of the game World of Tanks (WoT), and some are likely to have played it because it is Free-to-Play for the PC and major consoles that allows players to take the role of a tank commander of any of the major combatants almost anywhere in huge play areas set in WWII. You have to grind to work your way up the tree to monsters such as King Tigers, the Maus and other top-flight tanks, but you’ll get plenty of experience in light tanks like the T-26 on the way unless you have deep pockets and can afford to become a ‘whale’ and pay-to-win. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2010 tooling from Zvezda of this little tank, and it is a product of its time with a little bit of flash making an appearance here and there, plus some sink marks, which are mostly hidden. The kit arrives in a WoT themed box and inside are six sprues in grey styrene, an instruction booklet, a common decal sheet for the series, a special bonus code and three invite codes for for players on the PC that you can give to friends to introduce them to the game and give you some squad mates to play with. These two gifts mean the following to the PC version player: Bonus Code 2 x +50% Experience for 2 hours 2 x +50% Credits for 2 hours 2 x 200% Crew experience for 2 hours Invite Code T2 Light Tank Garage Slot 7 World of Tanks Premium plus days 1000 Gold I don’t profess to know what all that means, but the info is there for you players to see. There are long alpha-numeric codes and a URL for the website to redeem your codes, so good luck with that! Construction begins with the lower hull, which is made up from four parts and is joined by the upper hull, engine deck and glacis plate to make up the bodywork, then the radiator exhaust box and 16 sets of wheels are made up with twin return rollers also added. The road wheels are made up in pairs, then are paired onto a small bogey, and paired again into a larger bogey with leaf suspension, held in place by a pair of pins. The exhaust, and a bunch of tie-down lugs are added to the hull while the idler and drive sprocket pairs are made up. These have a number of individual track links wrapped around them while the glue is still setting, then the rest of the link-and-length track parts are shown in an exploded diagram around the running gear. The fenders fit onto the sides with triangular support brackets, then it’s a case of fitting stowage and pioneer tools, then on to the turret. This variant of the T-26 had just the one turret, which is made up with a multi-part mantlet fitting inside the four-part turret, which then has twin hatches on the roof plus mushroom vent and other details, and of course the under-gunned barrel with support. This turret also has a wrap-around radio antenna in armoured tube on upstands, and at the front a headlight is glued into place under the old-style horn under the turret. There aren’t any clear parts in the kit, so you can either paint the lens silver, or get some self-adhesive cabochon rhinestones of an appropriate size to give it more realism. Markings There is just one colour option and that’s Russian Green, which is shown in a five-view set of profiles of what looks like renderings from the game. The decals are generic and representative of the way the game allocates players to groups. There are eighty clan symbols in various styles and colours, plus four each of German, Soviet, US and US roundel markings if you decide to depict your model as a more realistic combatant. The decals are printed by Cartograf in Italy, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A great way for the PC gamer to get into modelling or vice versa, although some may be a little terrified by the flash that's actually pretty easy to remove, but most probably won’t even notice in the excitement. Highly recommended. Currently, Revell are unable to ship to the UK from their online shop due to recent changes in import regulations, but there are many shops stocking their products where you can pick up the kits either in the flesh or online. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or
  12. T-34/85 Mod.1960 (37089) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in incredible volume by sometimes crude and expedient methods, to be thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front, occasionally with wet paint or no paint at all. The engineers combined a number of important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without freezing to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after their initial successes in the summer of Operation Barbarossa. The part count and cost of the tank was continuously reduced during production, with plants turning out up to 1,300 units per month at the height of WWII. The initial welded turret was replaced by a cast turret with more room, and later the 76mm gun was replaced by a more powerful 85mm main gun in the T-34/85 with a further enlarged turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought before an engagement. The T-34/85 stayed in service until long after WWII with the Soviets, but once it became obsolete, they were exported aggressively to Soviet friendly nations, who could always find uses for them, sometimes for a long period of service. These exports were upgraded to Mod.1960 standards with new more powerful engines and other more up-to-date equipment to give them at least some chance of surviving more modern foes. Surprisingly, this wasn’t the last update, with another following on in 1969. The most recently used Yemeni vehicles were in use as late as 2015 where they suffered losses from modern anti-tank missiles, which are the bane of modern armour, let alone warmed-over WWII equipment. The Kit This is another boxing of MiniArt’s recent T-34 line, and is not an interior kit, but the box is still loaded with sprues of all sizes. In total there are sixty sprues in grey styrene, two in clear, a good-sized Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, a long thin decal sheet and instruction booklet with colour profiles inside each of the front and back covers. Many of the sprues will be seen in various previous boxings of the T-34, and their use of smaller sprues makes their kits so eminently modular. It makes the process easier and cheaper for them, and the likelihood of receiving many different options to choose from much more likely for us, which with the rate we’re still receiving them for review seems to be the case. As always with MiniArt, the design, detail and crispness of moulding is excellent, and the inclusion of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in the box is one less thing you need to fork out for. Unsurprisingly, construction begins with the lower hull. The floor is decked out with four tubular fittings for the suspension on each side and has a lower escape hatch, then the engine firewall near the rear that performs the added task of upper hull support in this kit. The lower hull walls are next, with their Christie-style suspension springs contained in channels up the inside face. The upper hull begins with the ball-mount and DT Machine gun for the bow, without a stock to give the gunner more space. The gun is left to swivel inside the port, so be sparing with the glue when you complete this assembly. The glacis plate accepts the gun from inside after fitting of the armoured protection, and has an external armoured cover to protect the majority of the barrel from incoming rounds. The driver’s hatch is hinged at the top, and the armoured cover is applied to the top edge of the aperture, and a pair of towing hitches and small tie-downs are installed on the lower edge, followed by adding a strip to the front of the lower hull in preparation for joining. The upper hull top and sides are moulded as one, and the sides have a number of holes drilled out before they are used, then the glacis plate it fitted to the front and glued to the lower hull. A pair of slim styrene parts are glued to the roof sides next to the turret ring, and some small raised pairs of marks need to be removed on the sides with a sharp blade. At the rear the hull is still open, which is next to be addressed by adding a frame around the rear bulkhead then attaching this large rear panel with exhausts and filling the circular inspection hatch in the centre, with a pair of armoured covers for the exhausts and two cylindrical fuel tanks on brackets at the top corners, with the rear mudguards and a pair of hoses for the fuel tanks added too. At this stage the driver’s hatch is also built with twin clear periscopes, hatch closures and external armoured cowls for the ‘scopes and hinges. Mudguards are assembled with PE strips for the front fenders, with bow-wave deflector passing over a run of track links on the glacis. The engine deck is covered with vents and louvers that are added with a central inspection hatch, then fixed over the engine bay. Additional armoured covers with grilles are fitted over the basic louvers, then the suspension swing-arms and stub axles are installed under the sponsons, with final drive housing and idler wheel axles at front and rear. Racks for additional fuel tanks are installed to the rear of the sides, with many short tie-down loops and a few longer ones in the mid-section, plus some stowage boxes made up with PE clasps that mount on the narrow horizontal fenders running down the side of the vehicle. Small parts including various pioneer tools and stowage boxes are made up and fitted onto the remaining sloped spaces of the hull, including three trays of track grousers with PE straps, and two towing cables that are made from styrene towing eyes, but you will need to supply two lengths of 100mm braided cord or wire, so make sure you have some on hand when you begin. A trio of smooth-surfaced cylindrical fuel tanks are installed on the curved brackets and five-piece tanks with PE and styrene shackles holding them in place, plus two short ribbed tanks taking up the space where the fourth tank would be. Ten pairs of wheels with separate hub caps are built with two drive sprockets and idler wheels to complete the rolling part of the tracks. Now for the tracks. The T-34’s wide tracks were simple and easy to produce, as well as great at spreading the tank’s weight and helping prevent freezing of the drivetrain in cold weather, of which Russia has more than its fair share, but their ruggedness also applied to desert conditions. There are two different track parts, one flat, the other with a guide horn in the centre, and both have exquisite casting details that includes the ID numbers on both parts and indeed both faces. They have four sprue gates on each link, attached on the curved hinge-points, making them easy to cut back flush and then sand smooth with a sanding stick, to ease assembly and gluing. I made up a short length as a test, and was finished in a few minutes with a little liquid glue thanks to their close tolerances that keep them together while you apply the adhesive. Each side is built from 72 links, which equates to 36 of each part, and once you get into a rhythm it won’t take too long to complete the task, wrapping the still flexible links around the curved sections and holding them in place with tape and other clamps, wedges etc. to obtain the correct sag on the top run once the glue has cured. The detail is so good it’s almost a shame to weather them once painted. This is not an interior kit, so the basic gun breech is made up from a few parts with another 7.62mm DT machine gun mounted coaxially in the mantlet, before it is set into the turret floor, which first has a lip inserted within the ring, then the inner mantlet support is prepared with the main gun’s mount, which is glued to the turret floor and has the breech slid in from behind. The turret upper starts as an almost complete shell with three sides moulded into it plus a pair of inner sidewall layers, which has some holes drilled into the outer skin and the roof fitted that has a large cupola with clear vision blocks and another block built into the front of the hatch, plus a simpler hatch for the gunner, both of which are shown installed closed. The roof also has two more periscopes under armoured shrouds, and two vents on the rear, which are covered by a pair of armoured mushroom covers. The single-part slide-moulded gun tube is inserted into the inner mantlet and covered by the outer that slides over it and the gun has a hollow muzzle for extra detail. A PE top mantlet cover, plus a self-made canvas tarp (using your own stock) can be fitted to the rear with PE straps, or you can depict the straps hanging loose if you choose. The turret is finally dropped into place in the hull to complete the build, with no bayonet lugs to hold it in place, so take care if you decide to inspect the underside one day in the future. Markings The decal sheet is wide and thin, and the sheet is printed by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. From the box you can build one of the following: Soviet Army, late 1960s North Vietnamese Army (People’s Army of Vietnam), early 1970s Army of Rhodesia, early 1970s Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Unidentified Unit, Yemen, late 2010s Conclusion We’ve been treated to many, many variants of this doughty and long-lived medium tank that saw service in almost as many places as the AK47 until the 1970s at least. By the time this mod came out they were already outdated, under-armoured and under-armed, so must have been very cheap to buy. It’s a great kit though, and the varied operators will be tempting for many. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  13. Hi All, I'm not sure if this is the right part of the forum for this, but here goes...does anyone have any tips for working with (self) printed concrete bases? A while back I had purchased a couple of downloads of some Soviet airfield concrete textures (pre- and post-1950s) from Scale Model Scenery. I am going to use one of the pre-1950s textures to make a small diorama base for a MiG-15 and Zil-157 I had built previously. I am curious to hear your experience of working with such products...any tips on which material to print on (I was thinking gloss photo paper)? Which printer setting to use? (I have an Epson XP-800 inkjet). Which glue to use to stick it to the base? And how best to protect it from subsequent weathering layers? My plan is to coat it with some Klear, as I aim to use 'Scenic Snow' effects from Deluxe Materials over the top, followed by a matt coat. Any advice appreciated! Thanks, James
  14. Hi everyone! I decided to start something new on the side and get off the F-16 I am building for a while because I am getting a bit burnt out with it to be honest. I decided to start something fresher and I thought simpler.... naive I am!! So I decided to start with the Hasegawa Mig-27 Flogger D in the 1/72: This particular release is from 2003 although I am suspecting it comes from an old old kit as a quick search in Scalemates suggests. Also the combination of raised and depressed panel lines suggests. Furthermore there some significant flash in the kit pointing to a worn out mold. So these are the sprues out of the box: Plus a clear sprue with the 2 piece canopy, which can be mounted either close or open and a couple of clear part for signaling lights on the side of the main fuselage. Some details of a few parts: Flash: Now off we go! First things first I did the research in the following websites if you wanna have a look around (best walkarounds I could find): http://scalemodels.ru/news/4987-Walkaround-mig-27-kokpit-tekhnicheskijj-muzejj-toljatti-rossija-MiG-27-Flogger-cockpit-Tolyatti.html http://scalemodels.ru/news/3565-Walkaround-mig-27k-iz-gosudarstvennogo-muzeja-aviacii-zhuljany-kiev.html http://scalemodels.ru/news/3566-Walkaround-mig-23bm-mig-27-Flogger-D-zhuljany-kiev.html http://scalemodels.ru/news/3082-mig-27k-v-muzee-aviacionnojj-tekhniki-v-borovojj.html http://scalemodels.ru/news/1737-Walkaround-mig-27-irkutsk-MiG-27-Flogger-D-Irkutsk.html ( THIS IS MY MAIN REFERENCE) http://scalemodels.ru/news/1373-Walkaround-mig-27-saratov-MiG-27-Flogger-Saratov.html I am not sure if I am missing something but first thing to strike me was the nose. Completely wrong shape, at least for the Flogger D model, which should be as follow: (http://scalemodels.ru/modules/photo/viewcat.php?id=24979&cid=567&min=60&orderby=dateA&show=12) Photo credit True that there are differences between the mig-27 models: But all those nice targeting systems on the nose (Kaira-1 system) completely non existing on the Hasegawa kit! So I set myself to fix this offend! Original nose: A bit of standard Milliput and water to shape the Kaira-1 system main structure: Sanding and reshapping will follow to lower the profile of the structure, also painted the sockets black and cut open the frontal element of the Kaira-1 using a photo-etched mini saw: Now time for the optics! Clear sprue which has been reshaped thinner and polished: Cut the tip for the frontal element of the lens (see reference picture above): A smear of CA and it is fixed! Now the second optical element at the front: This is just a clear styrene sheet cut and glued into place # Next will be covering all elements with the armoured glass windows which will be more clear styrene sheet and nose it is ready to go! I have also been working on the frontal wheel bay which again kit version is FAAAAAAAAAAAAR from reality! I will prepare another post just focusing on that one After that comes the cockpit which in the kit is mysteriously missing! As always comments / suggestions are more than welcome! Hope you like this Cheers, Alex P.S. if you wanna check my F-16 build this is the link http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965428-172-heller-f-16-ab-old-issue-first-model-fighter/
  15. Tramway “X” Series Mid Type (38026) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Trams have long been used for mass transport within built-up areas of larger cities, using rails set into the street and making a familiar dinging noise just before they run you over. They’ve made a comeback in some cities recently, but were far more numerous pre-WWII, and a lot of folks used them to travel deep into cities where the standard railways couldn’t reach before other cheap forms of mass transport such as cars or taxis came along. Soviet Russia operated these trams in their cities, carrying people and the daily necessities around, and were sometimes pressed into service as troop transports and munitions carriers when war came to town. The Kit This new boxing is based upon the passenger X-Series tram and is a mid-production variant, with new parts to build it up to type. The kit arrives in a box with typical MiniArt painting, and inside are twenty-five sprues in grey styrene, ten in clear, an A4+ sized vacuum-formed cobblestone base with suitably gauged tracks laid along the longest side. The package is rounded out by a decal sheet and instruction booklet that has the painting options laid out on the covers. Detail is excellent as we've come to expect from any new tooling from MiniArt, and the instructions are printed on good quality glossy paper in their usual manner. Construction begins with the floor and suspension leaf-springs, plus control chains and air-receiver for the braking system. Next is the sub-frame bogie, with two electric motors and axles sandwiched between the brake actuators and wheels, then slipped inside the long frame along with their leaf-spring suspension mounts and cross-braces. The two axles are then integrated in the frame by adding end-plates and more cross-braces to stiffen up the assembly. The brake actuators are joined to the rest of the armature by a small cage and long rod that is connected to the driver’s cab later on, with boxed-in steps at each end of the floor and a cow (pedestrian) catcher on a frame at each end too. These trams are fitted with dual controls, one at each end to avoid having to physically turn them round at the end of each run, so the driver’s controls are doubled up on a pair of lectern-like bases on the left, a set of controls on a tubular base in the centre, and another smaller upright on the right with the brake-wheel facing the driver. The driver’s seat is a simple wind-up stool on a tubulkr base, with everything mounted into sockets on the floor at each end. The passenger floor is applied to the floor in sections, and the front/back windows are installed at each end, with handed door frames assembled alongside the passenger seats, which have separate backs and legs, plus grab-handles on the outer corner of the fore/aft seats, which also have slatted backs. The completed seats are attached to the side walls and each window is made up of two panes, then supports are added at each end, notionally separating the seating area from the entrance vestibules. The sides fix to the floor, and the doorway parts are filled out with double-doors that are glazed with clear parts and have a triple push-bars across the top pane. To add strength to the sides, two cross-members are added between the passenger compartment and the vestibules. The big soviet star with integrated headlight that includes a replica of a bulb in the centre is placed front and centre in the nose at each end – unless you’ve opted for the simpler and less ostentatious headlamp of course. The roof is made of two mirror image sections with panelling moulded into each cab end and curved sections where adverts would be placed in view of the passengers, with a pair of lighting bars running along the rest of the length next to roof-mounted handrails. Upstands are glued to each side of the flat section of the roof and have a nicely detailed heat-exchanger unit fitted front and rear (front and front?). Lights, two types of placards for route numbers and the big pantograph loop is assembled then fitted in the centre of the roof, angled toward the rea… whichever direction it has come from. If you’re not a diorama fan you can end it there, but it would be a shame to waste the base and accompanying catenary posts that suspend the wire above the track. The base is vacformed, so will need some method of support underneath to prevent it from sagging under the weight of the model, such as sheet balsawood, which can be glued to the underside of the base with epoxy. The two posts have a four-part base and single riser part, with a choice of a simple or decorative arm for each one. They are held taut by wires that you will need to supply yourself, and you will need to do a little research to correctly wire in the rest of the cables to your tram’s pantograph. Markings There are a generous eight decal options out of the box, with a wide choice of colours but only a few decals for route numbers and vehicle identification per vehicle. From the box you can build one of the following: Dnipropetrovsk (Dnipro at the present time) 1930-1940s Stalino (Yuzivka) (Donetsk at the present time) 1930-1940s Zaporizhzhia 1930-1940s Kharkiv 1940-1950s Odessa 1940-1950s Stalingrad (Volgograd at present time) 1930-1940s Kursk 1930-1940s Minsk 1930-1940s Decals are by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A well detailed model of a passenger tram that was used in Soviet era Russia. There’s plenty of scope for dioramas with the included base a healthy start, and lots of opportunity to practice your weathering techniques to depict a well-worn example. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  16. T-72M1 Russian Army Tank (35A038) 1:35 Amusing Hobby via Albion Alloys The T-72 was the successor to the T-64, having a larger 125mm main gun and a more reliable auto-loader that gave it an advantage over its predecessor. It was improved further by fixing some niggling problems that were initially present, and was given the name T-72. Unfortunately, problems with production led to delays that required substantial investments in the factory before full volume could be reached, continuing with modifications until the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 90s. Export sales were robust, and overseas sales were designated with the suffix M. Initially the M was fitted with inferior armour and gun, but with the M1 those aspects were redressed to T-72A standards, and had smoke grenade dischargers added to the turret. Some of this type were also made in Czechoslovakia (now Czechia & Slovakia), and Poland, who were part of the Warsaw Pact at the time. The subvariant M1K was a command tank, and the M1V had appliqué Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) fitted to improve survivability, and the later M1M that replaced the M1 was upgraded to T-72B standards with Arena Active Protection system protecting it from above by launching a rocket towards incoming threats to obliterate the incoming round or missile. The successor M1MS further benefited from much improved electronics that improved survivability further and raised situational awareness. As well as cast-offs from former Soviet inventory, many T-72Ms of various types are currently in service with Soviet and later Russian aligned nations, while the T-72 is also still in service in Russia either in later guises or as upgraded machines. The Kit This is a new release of a completely new tooling from Amusing Hobby, and is one of their first ventures into real-world in-service armour, their previous offerings tending to be more esoteric project tanks or of the “paper panzer” variety, which has been a boon to those that enjoy strange and unusual armour. The kit is of the full-interior variety, so the box is packed with plastic, grey for the interior, green for the exterior, which is fun – if you were a beginner and wanted to build your kit without paint, you could do so, especially as the tracks are moulded in brown styrene. The box is a top-opener with a nice painting of the kit on the front, and inside are eighteen sprues in grey, green and brown, twenty-eight ladders of track links in brown, a clear sprue, lower hull and turret in green, plus a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), decal sheet, a length of wire, a long coiled spring that looks like a tube from a distance, a two-part resin figure, instruction booklet and separate colour painting guide that has been penned by the artists at AMMO. The final inclusion is possibly only intended for the initial pressing, and it’s a nice print of the box artwork on thick A3 stock. The detail is excellent, especially the interior sprues, which have some lovely textures and shapes moulded-in, like the anti-spall lining in the turret roof, a small impeller inside the hull amongst many others, with judicious use of slide-moulding across the sprues. The tracks are also impressive, having individual links and separate track pins that can leave you with a very fancy workable track run that you don’t need to glue, thanks to its friction-fit nature. The lower hull is separate from the sprues, and has detail moulded into both sides, so there are necessarily some ejector-pin marks on the interior face, which might possibly need filling, but check the instructions to ensure you’re not wasting your time filling things that will be covered by equipment later – I suspect most if not all of them will. Like anyone else, I hate wasting precious modelling time. Construction begins with the lower hull, to which you add various suspension parts, bearings and return-rollers, plus idler-wheel axles and a three-part drive-sprocket that is held in place on the final drive housing by a long thick pin. Under the front glacis is an appliqué armour panel with fittings for the self-entrenching tool or mine-plough, four of which you need to remove with a sharp blade or sanding stick, then make good your handiwork. These are overlaid with hinge-points and rams in a scrap diagram, with the main drawing showing them already in-place, then it’s time to deal with the rear bulkhead. This begins as a flat panel, and has four curved brackets, some spare track-links and an unditching log, before it is attached by two lugs on the moulded-in aft bulkhead. The road wheels are made up from pairs of wheels with a central hub, as are the idlers, with twelve of the former and two of the latter. At this point two additional fuel tanks are built from a slide-moulded tube that has the strapping moulded-in with separate end-caps. These are set to the side until the wheels are dealt with, beginning with the long torsion-bar suspension units with swing-arms and axles at the tip slid into the hull slots, plus a couple of smaller dampers toward the front, following which the idlers and road wheels are glued to the stub axles. There is a scrap diagram showing the correct orientation of the damper arms in relation to the main swing-arms, which should help a lot. Inserts are added at the sides of the turret ring, and also the first interior parts at the front of the lower glacis plate, which includes the initial driver controls handling the gear shifter in a quadrant with two PE gates. The next step sees the foot pedals and a detailed chair for the driver’s comfort. We’re deep into the interior now, with more controls, what looks like a drinks cooler (it isn’t) just behind and to the left of the driver’s station, then the hull sides are made up by decking out the two panels with a host of detail parts, including an instrument panel that has some decals on the sheet, and a few small PE parts, plus some ready-rounds for the big auto-feeder that’s coming soon. More ready-rounds are fitted along with some other equipment boxes, then the crew compartment skin is dropped into the lower hull along with a firewall and another group of rounds stored nose-down. A two-part fence for the auto-loader is slotted into the floor, then it’s time to create the auto-loader from a circular base with upstands that have castor-like wheels on every third upstand. Then you make up the shell slots, which are cylindrical, and give you a choice of HE-Frag and HEAT shells. Six of each are made up to be placed within the 22 locations around the base, including 10 empty slots, and a few more ready-rounds. The completed carousel is inserted into the space made for it, and if you’re wondering at this stage when the assistance with painting is going to make an appearance, just flick to the rear of the booklet where you will find a set of colour 3D CGI renders with a legend to help out. There is a bulkhead with a fire extinguisher strapped to it inside the engine bay, plus ancillary equipment and some very nicely detailed final drive/brake cylinders that are made up from three parts for detail, plus the end-caps that slide inside an outer casing, with one each side of course. A large circular fan and tinwork is made up around the rear bulkhead along with more ancillaries and small parts in preparation to accept the power-pack. The engine is a V-46 V12-cylinder diesel that pumps out a lot of motive power to the drivetrain. The cylinder banks are each made up from four sides and the rocker cover plus a couple of small PE lifting eyes and exhaust manifold attached to each one in mirror-image. The engine block is built next with a gaggle of ancillaries at one end, then the cylinder banks are fitted into the top and joined in the central valley by the intake manifold with more ancillaries at the busy end, then a new detail insert for the blank end of the engine is constructed and joined with the main assembly. The rectangular air box has PE intake grilles around the three-part box, and the sub-assembly is joined to the engine via its thick input trunk, and two longer hoses that run down the side of the engine and attach to new components at the front of the engine. A scrap diagram of the engine shows how it looks from the side, for you to ensure that yours is set up correctly. The next box is a gearbox with drive-shaft that plugs into some pegs in the floor, then the engine is inserted into the bay, with a stiffening bar across the top, a couple of pots for fluids attached, and more gear added too. It’s tracks time! Each run has 95 links, and the individual links are moulded in a tree of eight links, with tree sprue gates on each one. They’re easy to nip off and clean up as they are situated on the curved edges of the link, and were very easy to remove thanks to the slightly soft plastic. The jig that you can find on each of the pin sprues has a pair of tabs that allow you to build a much longer jig from it if you like, or you can build them up in runs of eight. With the flat side up, you drop the links into the jig with the guide-horns sliding through the holes, then you cut a set of four track-pins still fixed to their sprue (imagine a four-pronged pitchfork), and push them into the pin holes in the sides of the links. These push home snugly and you can see some of the receivers discolouring with stress-marks as this happens. After they are inserted, you simply cut them off neatly, and that’s your lot. I made up a test-run of sixteen links in a few minutes using just a pair of side-cutters, a thin sanding stick and some patience, and was very impressed with how easy it was to do. It makes sense to leave the sprue on the pins long to give you some room for handling them without pinging them off into the gaping maw of the carpet monster. It’s going to take a little time, but they’re among the best, most robust, flexible and easiest styrene tracks I’ve built. You can build either a T-72M or T-72M1 from the box, and the upper glacis plate is subtly different between the two sub-types, so you have to make a choice now, as it isn’t possible to build the two side-by-side and choose later. The M has a two-layer lamination, while the M1 adds a third layer over the outer surface, which entails cutting off the four ribs in the top centre, and overlaying the additional layer that has just two raised ribs. That’s the main difference between them, then it’s a case of adding the light clusters with clear lenses and two-part cages, as well as the V-shaped bow-wash deflector. A tow cable is created from a section of the thread 8.5cm long and two styrene eyes, which is clipped to the deck on the glacis plate while the two front mudguards are being attached to the front of the fenders with styrene springs added along the way, then a pair of triangular webs are fitted between the guards and the front lip of the glacis and a series of stiffeners in styrene and PE are fixed along the length of the fenders in preparation for the additional fuel tanks and stowage this is laid over it. The rear ends are finished off with more detail parts to close them over. The upper hull is formed from the forward section with the turret ring moulded in, to which equipment and vision blocks are added inside along with the driver’s hatch, then it is dropped into the hull along with two engine deck panels, which are first fitted out with mesh from the PE sheet and optional top covers. This completes the deck so that the flexible spring with wire run through the centre can be cut and glued into position to depict the hosing for the fuel tanks as per the accompanying diagram and a black & white photo from the engine deck. Another tow cable is made up from 8.5cm of cord and two more towing eyes to drape over the rear, again as per the scrap diagram. The side skirts on a T-72 are made in part from thick flexible material, which is depicted in the kit by undulations moulded into the lower sections, with one part per side, and a tiny piece of PE at the front. Now we’re getting there, and can finally make up the 2A46(D-81) 125mm smooth bore cannon, the breech of which is shown assembled in the first drawing as reference. It is made up from breech halves split vertically, block parts that are split horizontally, and a two-part sliding portion of the block, plus a myriad of smaller parts on the breech as well as the breech safety frame and coax machine gun on a mount with ammo can that fits to the right side. The gunner’s station is then constructed with optical binocular sight in front of the gunner’s framework seat. This attaches to the underside of the turret rim with a large T-shaped support, and a number of equipment boxes and mechanisms dotted around the rim. Another seat is assembled and glued to the rim, then the turret upper is started. As with most turrets, the inside is substantially smaller than the exterior because of the thickness of the armour, so the interior skin has quite a confined feel to its quilted interior, which is the comfy, insulating side of the anti-spall liner. More equipment boxes are plastered to the walls on flat-spots, and a part of the auto-loader mechanism runs up the back wall where a curved insert is used to enclosed the wall fully. A periscope is attached to the outer roof, then the grey inner lining is inserted into the green turret along with the sizeable and detailed breech assembly. It’s a cabriolet turret at this stage, which will be rectified soon, but more detail is festooned around the outside of the turret, including the rear stowage bustle boxes, smoke grenade tubes, spare ammo cans, search light, and the outer part of the periscope. An overhead view of the turret is given to show the correct orientation of the grenade launchers, with four on the right, and six on the left. The two roof panels are mated next and detailed accordingly, including the round commander’s cupola and the D-shaped gunner’s hatch, both of which have handles, vision blocks and even another searchlight on the commander’s more luxurious hatch. He also gets a DShK (colloquially pronounced “Dooshka”) 12.7mm machine gun mount, which is a huge piece of equipment that is made up from a substantial number of parts, and mounts on the rear of the cupola with an ammo box, and the folding hatch. There is an intermediate stage to the auto-loader that has a stepped circular platform that prevents the turret crew from getting mashed legs, and is filled with a large number of parts that on first inspection resembles a jumble of cylinders and boxes, plus a few ready-rounds strapped to the top – a total trip hazard! The turret is slotted into the hull after dropping the platform on top of the lower feed mechanism of the loader, and the completed roof panel is also glued in place at this time. You may wonder where the barrel is, but it’s deliberate and remedied now, with the gun tube made from two halves split horizontally, and a separate muzzle section to give it a hollow tip, with a circular bolted PE part fitted between the shroud and the barrel. A turned metal barrel would have been almost impossible due to the cooling jacket that is strapped around the gun tube, so take the time to align the halves well to minimise clean-up once the glue has set. The Figure If you’re reading this next year, there might not be a figure in your boxing, as I suspect it’s a limited thing, but those of us buying the first boxing get a nice resin figure, a representation of whom can be seen on the far left of the box art. A Soviet Military Policeman (MP). It is cast in light grey resin in two parts. The largest part is the body, which has everything moulded-in but the figure’s hands and baton behind his back. The hands are on a separate pouring block, and should fit well into the gap between his cuffs. He looks quite tall on his casting block, but when measured with callipers he scales out to be around 6’1”, which is fairly tall, but not unreasonably so – this might be an optical effect due to the long casting blocks under his boots. Casting, sculpting and detail are all excellent, as you can see below, and you can take your colour cues from the box top or check your references. Markings As well as the interior 3D renders on the last two pages of the instructions, there is a separate tri-folded A4 glossy colour painting guide with six tanks under the ownership of various states, as follows: T-72M DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik – East Germany) T-72M Finnish T-72M Hungarian T-72M Syrian T-72M Armenian T-72M Czech Army The decals are printed in China and are in good register with enough sharpness to get the job done, although you can see some very slight dithering of the Finnish blue roundels under 2.5x magnification. It’s all but invisible to the naked eye however. The profiles have been penned by AMMO and use their codes for the paint shades, with the names next to the swatches, and below each profile there is a suggestion list of AMMO weathering products to add a little depth and realism to the finished model if you wish. Conclusion This is the first interior AFV kit I have seen from Amusing Hobby, and I’m impressed. It offers a substantial level of detail in a sensible, straight-forward build that should keep you busy modelling for many an hour. The inclusion of a resin figure is a nice bonus, and the 3D renders of the interior will help with painting immensely, as will the 5-vew profiles of the decal options. Very highly recommended. Available in the UK in most good model shops. Review sample courtesy of
  17. Mi-24V Hind & NATO Hind Interior 3D Decal (QD48026 & QD48036 for Zvezda Kits) 1:48 Quinta Studios When Quinta’s innovative products first came to our attention recently they caused quite a stir, as well they should. The replacement Instrument Panels and internal details are mind-boggling to look at, because we’re used to seeing simplified styrene instrument panels, or pre-painted Photo-Etch Brass panels with either two layers of etch, or laminated parts that can be tricky to glue together, even though they are pre-painted for your ease. But decals? These aren’t your run-of-the-mill decals though, they’re 3D printed in many layers and colours on a flat carrier film, having as much in the way of relief as is needed to complete a realistic panel printed in the correct colours, complete with shiny dial faces, MFDs and metallic-effect hardware, often also including cushions and seat belts in the set. Other brands are starting to come to market now offering similar products, but in this reviewer’s personal opinion the Quinta sets are still the best. Each set arrives in a ziplok bag with two folded instruction booklets protecting the decals, which are also separately bagged, so they should reach you in good condition. The pictorial instructions are printed on glossy paper, and are shown in full colour as befits the detailed nature of the sets, showing exactly where each part should go on the actual model, so there’s no confusion due to pictures speaking a thousand words, as they say. Additional hints and instructions for the uninitiated are also included, marking out parts needing bases, kit parts and other useful tips. The technical instructions in the text-based sheet give additional tips to the new user about maximising adhesion and preventing lift at the edges by wicking in super glue. Application is much the same as your standard decal, but you will need to remove any raised detail that would be underneath the location depicted in the instructions, and some new parts will need small backing panels or bases on which to apply the decal. A slim piece of sheet styrene would perform that task, and painting the edges a matching colour should minimise its appearance or turn it completely invisible. While some might argue that they’re not really decals, they arrive on decal paper so to me they’re decals. This set is patterned for the Zvezda kit so that you can depict it in the older green cockpit for a Soviet era aircraft, or a NATO chopper with black interior and an almost identical set of instruments. Each set comprises one large sheet of decals, containing instrument panel sections, multiple switch panels festooned with buttons, dials and other instruments, and a single screen, the black version supplied on a separate section for additional depth when complete. The Soviet era panels are in the Emerald Green shade, while the NATO bird is deepest black, and both include additional consoles, panels and a full set of crew seatbelts. Pictures shamelessly taken from Quinta’s own website Conclusion The detail on the parts is incredible, even down to the infinitesimal switches, the texture of the belts and impressive crispness of the set. Any Quinta outfitted cockpit really needs a crystal-clear of opened canopy to show off the details. Very highly recommended. Crocodile Hind (48026) Emerald Green Interior NATO Hind (48036) Black Interior Review sample courtesy of
  18. Soviet Firemen 1980s (35623) 1:35 ICM via Hannants These figures were originally released as a Chernobyl Fire Man set. The single sprue contains all four of the figures for this set of firemen, three wearing breathing apparatus.. There is a length of fire hose for one of the figures to hold, two clear sprues for the helmet visors. There are then 2 smaller spures with equipment, and some what look to be parts of the graphite elements of the reactors from the Chernobyl set. Conclusion It’s a shrewd decision by ICM to bring out this set again to accompany their excellent Soviet Fire Engine kits. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  19. Hello to all of you.I present you my latest finished model.I hope you like it. https://youtu.be/2taa1w4awNE
  20. Hi, all. As I promise - Bereznyak Isaev (other version name Ближний Истребитель- Blizhniy Istrebitel /Short range fighter ) BI. It's my FOUR attempt build model this aircraft. First was finished, but it's was BI-1 from SportIndustriya. This kit was wrong so went to the garbage. On attempt number two, I think I spilled glue, and he went where the first one was. Attempt number three was almost over ... but as always, drawings appeared, after which it turned out that the model was not as accurate as we would like. Then a new model was bought for attempt number FOUR. What I say ....the bug turned out to be small, but very smelly....😁 On photo: - Two box attempt number TWO and attempt number THREE: - attempt number THREE with attempt number FOUR: (match for compared size this little bug): (Black and gray stains are such poor quality plastic.) The current state of the kit: On fuselage don't have fin - don't worry it is not lost, it lies apart. All technical details, history, drawings, documentary filming e.t.c will be latter when officialy started this GB. In the meantime, until November 14, I will continue to rivet the Mirage III V... on which almost half of the hatches and panel line were missed, which I had to catch from the photo. B.R. Serge
  21. So, inspired by the friendlyness of the forum I decided to try and start a build diary. Now, dont get excited. Its a ship Im not really that interested in so the passion level wont be at full steam. However, its was a kit that I bought cheaply, it will enable me to pick up where I left off as a kid and will enable me to try out new skills, and polish old skills. The plan is to build it to the highest level possible and see how it goes. It will use old skills, namely Gluing parts together Painting It will use skills that I have but never used on this kind of model Airbrushing Basic shading ie panel line accents And there are a few things Ive never done before Used Photo etched part wethering. The kit was bought from Wish and it was very cheap although took an age to arrive. Not much to the kit. From what I can see its a new tool 2012 and ooking at it it looks a simple build possibly with the photo ech testing me the most Here are some pics. Now I apologise for the orientation, these were all taken n my phone, the only method Ill use to take pics for the web. So, instructions look easy enough to follow, decals minimul but you have to expect that from a ship and it looks easy enough to crack on with. So, critique welcome and that includes both the kit building and the way Ive presented the post to you
  22. I finally got a proper work station to build models on and I started with two easy kits, HobbyBoss 1:72 Soviet Tu-2 and HobbyBoss 1:72 Soviet Yak-3, I have to say having a place to work on models without having to bend over double makes for a much more enjoyable build. I was also able to paint my Henschel HS-129B, I decided to give it a tropical paint scheme using Humbrol Matt 63 as the top cover with Humbrol Matt 117 for the cammo patches. I used Humbrol Matt 23 for the underside. For the first model I've completely finished in quite some time, I didn't make a total balls-up.
  23. As probably someone's diorama plot. Last home Big Anti submarine ship "Kerch" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Kerch and the submarine B-380 (previously called "Gorky Komsomolets" and "Holy Prince George") https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Б-380 (From Wikipedia about B-380: "On December 14, 2019, the decommissioned large floating dock PD-16 sank with the B-380 submarine located in it. In the morning, December 15, 2019, the B-380 submarine surfaced on its own and lay down on its port side, resting its cabin against the floating dock in the South Bay of Sevastopol [10].") in Inkerman Bay: Resource: https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/5850686.html B.R. Serge
  24. I got this just after I finished the 222 and Horch (Yes, I belong to the breed of modellers who live from kit to kit) because the neighbors were getting rather pesky with their renovations, so I thought why not get a demolition man tank to set them straight After getting it I thought that I might want to join a GB, but, I hadn't the foggiest idea how to, and so I approached the patron god of Israeli tanks and Shermans John (@Bullbasket) who directed me to the GB page, and there I found the Journey's End GB of which this will be a part. I plan to do it in the Berlin scheme with a white stripe running around it. The box top The sprues Apologies for quality of photos, but my phone's camera is acting up so I had to use my old phone.
  25. Su-34 Fullback (KH80141) 1:48 Kitty Hawk The Sukhoi Su-34, known by the NATO reporting name 'Fullback' is an all-weather strike fighter, designed to replace the ageing Su-24 Fencer in Russian service. Despite being based on an existing design (the Su-27), the type endured an extremely protracted development, punctuated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eventually, 200 of the type are expected to enter service, replacing approximately 300 Su-24s. There are many differences between the Su-27 and the Su34, principal amongst which is a completely new nose, which accommodates the crew side-by-side, and gives it a duck-billed look that is hard to capture, plus small canards forward of the main planes, all of which has a reduced front radar signature, due to basic stealth shaping. Since September 2015, Su-34s have been involved in the conflict in Syria, dropping BETAB-500 and OFAB-500 bombs. There has already been interest in the type from overseas customers. Algeria has ordered an initial batch of 12 aircraft, while Vietnam is apparently also interested in the type. The Kit This is a complete new tool from Kitty Hawk, following on from another manufacturer's slightly flawed attempt, so a lot of people are hoping it's right. It arrives in a large box, as it is a big aircraft with 12 hardpoints for attaching munitions, of which KH are apt to include many! The boxtop art shows a Fullback climbing out after causing some chaos with some oil storage tanks, and inside the lid it quite a full box – the artwork header has also been updated from the original to a more modern, funky look to catch the eye, as you can see above. Many of these semi-blended designs are moulded with wings integral to the fuselage halves, which reduces the part count and usually means that half the box is taken up with just two parts. Not so here, as the wings are separate, and all the available space is taken up with parts. The fuselage halves still take up the full length of the box, and there is a high parts count due to the generous provision of Russian weapons. Beside the two fuselage halves there are thirteen sprues in pale grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, four resin (yes, resin!) exhaust cans, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, and three decal sheets of various sizes. The instruction booklet has a glossy cover with fold-out leaves that detail the box contents in front and painting of the weapons at the rear, while the full colour painting and markings guide is found in the centre of the booklet, which will be more use when removed carefully and the staples bent back so your instruction booklet doesn't fall apart, which is exactly what I've just done. First impressions are good, with a little flash around the large complex fuselage mouldings, which isn't entirely surprising, as they are complex shapes. There are slide-moulding seams behind and forward of the cockpit opening that will need a little attention before construction, and just aft of that a few panel lines have been tooled very faintly so they don't catch on the mould as the part is ejected. These would be best deepened with your favourite scribing tool before you get too far into the build. The inboard walls of the rear engine nacelles also suffer from this to a slightly lesser extent, so while you have your scriber out, fix those too. They're not defects, but necessities of production that have been present since injection moulding model kits began. The massive array of weapons provides spans six sprues, and it's best to consider them as a generic set, as there are some that won't be used and more that the Su-34 can carry. It's cheaper for KH to tool one set of weapons for all Soviet/Russian subjects than individual load-outs again and again. Construction begins with the cockp…. Nope, with the engines for a change, which KH have included for good measure, and to which are fair quantity of parts are devoted, only to be hidden away unless you're planning on opening up some panels, which will of course require some surgery to the upper fuselage, but if you flip it over, you'll see that KH have thoughtfully included two panels above each engine that can be cut out from the inside to provide access to the engines, with rivets engraved on the interior so they can be left lying about as if they are being worked on. Sure, they're a bit thick, but this is a much better option than just hiding the detail away, and if you're interested in scale fidelity, you have a shape template to base your work on. Both Saturn AL31FM1s are included, and they are set aside until later on in the build. Whether you paint them fully is entirely up to you and whether you want to cut those panels out, but I'd probably just do the front and rear faces, as they're all that will be seen eventually. Now it's the turn of the cockpit, and the first item is a pair of well-detailed Zvezda K36dm seats, which have PE seatbelts included, and are an improvement on earlier kits. The cockpit floor has the side consoles moulded in, and slots for the ejection ladders, plus control columns and decals for all panels, which are printed on a small decal sheet that has an almost photographic look to it. The rear bulkhead and access door fit to the back, and the instrument panel to the front to finish off, then this too is set aside while the gear bays and cannon bay are built up. The former are well-detailed with individual panels and additional parts to give a busy look, while the cannon bay is somewhat simpler with only a few parts in addition to the breech. The nose gear bay is more complex, and has the hatch for crew access moulded in, with a ladder built into the nose gear bay later on. This explains why you should never see a Fullback with its cockpit open, unless the crew are about to disappear on their ejection seats. Finally, the fuselage is ready to close up, after the aforementioned fettling and the removal of the residual sprue gates that can be found on the mating surfaces in places, which is an effort to avoid marring surface detail and IMHO is a great idea that is slowly creeping into kits from various manufacturers. The gear bays, two engine supports, the engines themselves and the cockpit are all added to the lower half, with the upper fuselage dropped on and glued along with the canards, which pivot on a pin, so you can set them to whatever pitch seems appropriate after checking your references. The forward facing radar is fitted to the blunt end of the fuselage, and the nose cone is popped over it, covering it up unless you do some scratching and pose it opened. The pilot's HUD is a sizeable part, and has a trough in the cockpit coaming, a PE glass support, and two part glazing, plus a horizontal lens on the clear sprue. A few probes and the refuelling probe are added, although I'd leave those until later on in case I broke them off. The twin vertical stabilisers are next, with a single thickness that is bolstered at the root, and with separate rudder, antennae and clear formation light. These are also set aside (the theme of this build!) while the exhausts and stinger are made up. You may have noticed that the exhaust cans are resin, and you can choose open or closed positions to suit your intended situation, with the tabs at the rear locking it in place on the two-part exhaust trunks. Careful painting whilst paying attention to your references will result in a good finish to this area. The Stinger is the fairing between the engines, and contains the rear radar, as well as various other equipment, and the chaff and flare dispensers that are fired to confuse and thwart incoming missiles. The body of the stinger is two part, with a recess in the top for the PE dispensers, and holes in the rear that accommodate three PE exhaust vents, which will need rolling to fit the contours of the surrounding area. These assemblies are all fitted to the rear along with some more small parts, and the tail fins attach to the sides of the fuselage with two locating pins each. Before the engine nacelles are installed, additional parts are added inside the main wheel bays that will mate with the corresponding cut-outs in the nacelles later on. Each nacelle is built up in the same manner, with a main outer skin, small PE auxiliary intakes on the sides, plus a pair of blow-in doors further back. The intake ramp attaches to the eventual roof of the intake, and a two-part trunk changes the interior profile to match the cylindrical shape of the engine front. A small elliptical insert is added to the outside of each one before they are fitted to the fuselage, along with a few more small parts hither and thither. It still needs wings, which is next and begins with the elevators, which have fairings added at their base, and when they are attached to the fuselage, another part is added, which connects them to a hinge-point in the fuselage rear. The main wings are each two parts, with slats and flaps front and rear respectively, along with a small wing fence toward the tip, and a choice of straight or curved fairing where the leading edge meets the tip rails, which you'll need to check your references to select the correct one for your airframe, as all the decal profiles show curved fairings. They fit into the fuselage on two tabs with a good mating surface, and should blend with the upper surface with a little care and test-fitting. Landing is tricky without wheels, and Russian fighters invariably have tough gear for rough field operation, and twin rear wheels on bogies are the norm. The Fullback has sturdy struts reminiscent of the Mig-31, but with both wheels on the outer face of the bogie. The legs have separate scissor-links and additional actuators, with a pair of two-part wheels each, which have decent hub and tyre detail. There should be some circumferential tread, which is absent due to moulding limitation, but as these aircraft are often seen with threadbare tyres, painting them to resemble well-used examples gets round needing to replicate this. Either that or you could treat yourself to a set of wheels from Eduard that will doubtless fit this newer tooling. The nose gear is also pretty substantial and has a high parts count, which includes a pair of clear landing lights. The crew ladder is in two parts and fits to the rear of the leg, above the mudguard that nestles behind the tyres to reduce FOD intrusion into the airframe on rough airstrip movements. The wheels are each two parts, and again there is no tread, despite it being shown on the diagrams. Happily, each gear leg can be added to a completed airframe, which is good news as it saves them from damage during handling. There are scrap diagrams of each main gear bay showing how things should look once you have installed them and the small surrounding panel at the rear of the bays. The front gear bay doors are single parts, while the rear bay doors all have additions before they can be inserted, with actuators adding a bit of realism. More scrap diagrams show their orientation after they are added, so there's little chance of making a slip-up here. Before you can load up your Fullback, you need pylons, which are all fitted with PE shackles or styrene sway-braces before they are added to the model alongside the wingtip rail. A twin rail fits between the nacelles, and either three underwing pylons, or two and a double are attached to each wing, plus the wingtip pods already mentioned. Additional single rails fit to the underside of the nacelles level with the gear legs. As already mentioned, there is a ton of weapons on those six sprues, with ten pages devoted to building them up. This is what's selected to be carried by the Su-34: 2 x FAB-500-M54 general purpose bomb 2 x BETAB-500 bunker buster 2 x OFAB-250-SZN bomb 2 x SPPU-22 gun pod 2 x U-6 pylon adapter 2 x R77 Missile Adder medium range A2A missile 2 x R73 Archer short range A2A Missile with APU-73 adapter 2 x UBK-23 gun pod 2 x GUV-8700 gun pod 2 x R27-ET/R27-ER Alamo medium range missiles with APU-470 pylon adapter 2 x R27-T Alamo medium range missiles with APU-470 pylon adapter 4 x R60 Aphid short-range A2A missile with three types of pylon adapters 2 x U-4 adapter rail 2 x UB-32 rocket pod 2 x KH-35 Kayak anti-shipping missile 2 x S-24 rocket with APU-68 pylon adapter 2 x KH-23 Kerry A2G missile with APU-68 pylon adapter 2 x KH-59 Kazoo TV guided missile 2 x KAB-250 satellite guided bomb 4 x FAB-250-M62 bomb 4 x FAB-250-TS bomb (there's a spelling mistake showing it as "F2B" on the instructions) 4 x FAB-250-M54 bomb 2 x BETAB-500-ZD penetrator bomb 4 x SAB-100 high explosive bomb 2 x S-25-A, B & C rocket 2 x RBK-500-250 cluster bomb 2 x B-8M rocket pod 2 x B-13 rocket pod 2 x KH-25-ML/MT Karen A2G Missile 2 x KH-29L Kedge laser guided A2G missile 2 x KAB-500KR TV guided bomb 2 x KAB-500L laser guided bomb 2 x KAB-1500-L/KR laser/TV guided bomb 2 x UB-16 rocket pod 2 x KH-31 A2G missile 2 x KH-58ME Kilter missile 2 x KH-58 Kilter missile with AKU-58 pylon adapter There are two pages of diagrams showing which stations the various weapons are suitable for, but if you're going for accuracy, check your references for some real-world loadouts, as with all aircraft there are limitations. The parts on the sprues are also marked by designation, with all the parts for each weapon sub-numbered within that section of the sprue. Markings The largest decal sheet is for the armament, with each weapon's stencils and markings sectioned off with a dotted line and the designation, which will make applying them a much easier proposition. Four pages of colour diagrams at the rear of the booklet show their colours and markings. Once you have unpicked the main painting guide from the centre of the booklet, you can rotate them so they're easier on the eye, where you'll discover that there are four markings options, each with four views so that there is no guesswork with the camouflaged options. Everything is a good size too, which makes reading the decal numbers and other details a lot easier than some of their first kits, proving that KH have come a long way in all departments. There is a variety of schemes available out of the box, two of which use the three shades of blue camo, one in primer, and another in dark blue over blue, and all rocking a fetching white radome. There are also large expanses of bare metal where paint wouldn't last, on the underside of the engine nacelles, and the leading edges of the elevators (hot missile exhaust?). From the box you can build one of the following rather generically described airframes: Russian Aerospace Defence Forces Red 02 in three-tone blue camo Russian Aerospace Defence Forces Red 03 in three-tone blue camo Russian Aerospace Defence Forces in primer Russian Aerospace Defence Forces in dark blue over pale blue It is unclear where and by whom the decals were printed by, but in general they are of good quality with decent sharpness and colour density except for the use of half-tones to create orange and the dielectric panel decals. On my sample, the dielectric panels also expose an element of mis-registration of the white, which is offset, giving the panels a drop-shadow effect on the sheet, which will probably disappear once applied. I would however be tempted to paint them and create some masks using the decals as templates. The white also shows up in the outlined digits as well as the tail decal BBC POCCИИ having the entire white outline projecting from the top, rather than equally spaced around the letters. Conclusion The plastic looks great, and as Kitty Hawk has stated that they want their Su-34 to be the best on the market in the scale, it shows that they have put additional effort into this model. The huge choice of weapons are also highly detailed, which are likely to be seen again as KH fill more gaps in the Soviet/Russian line-up, and we can forgive them for the little faux pas with the decals, which can be rectified fairly easily – hopefully it's an isolated case. As to shape, I've put some of the main parts together with tape to get a feeling for the overall shape of the airframe, and my first impression is that it's a good overall shape, with maybe a little more of a flare to the tip of the radome needed at the front, but it's very hard to gauge against photos of the airframe due to distortion and such, so I'll leave the final decision to you guys. If you want to discuss it further, start a thread in the main forums and link back to this thread Very highly recommended. We're now building this one, and you can find the thread here, with plenty of hints and tips, as well as pictures of the process Review sample courtesy of Available soon from major hobby shops
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