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CV9040B - finished!


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Still warm today, so I got the decals on in my lunch break. There aren't too many of those, but I managed to break up one of the safety labels and had to coax the bits back together. I really like the reflectors as decals, I wasn't sure what to expect but I think they work very well.

 

 

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Once the decals had Klear over the top and that had dried, I've added three fairly light filters - one brown, and two grey to try and unify the camouflage a bit and provide a base for the weathering. I let the last one pool a bit and applied it slightly patchily, particularly on the upper deck.
 
Lastly, I've just glued the gun into the turret, and fitted the turret base, so I felt I ought to take a picture before the daylight goes entirely (this was already a four second exposure). The cloth cover for the gun has been thinned a bit and primed but I haven't painted it yet - should be easy to add in later. I've also finished off the dozen periscopes but I'm waiting a bit longer before installing them 
 
Detail wash next?
 
Will
 
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And here's the pin wash. Not sure if it's contrasty enough yet, I think I'll leave it for now and have a proper look in daylight with some photo reference to hand.

 

 

 

W

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It looks really really nice.

 

I have to ask, since I always find it a bit confusing to follow armour builds, the tracks are all fitted in place now? It's "just" weathering left?

 

I've noticed that almost every armour build, both online and in magazines, assemble everything for photos wich makes it a bit hard for a armour novice like me to learn how to do it. First there's a picture with everything assembled and primed, then a picture of tracks being painted off model, then a picture of everything on again and then suddenly one wheel is loose... Confusing for me!

 

Not aimed at you Will, just a general observation.

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It looks really really nice.

Thanks!

 

I have to ask, since I always find it a bit confusing to follow armour builds, the tracks are all fitted in place now? It's "just" weathering left?

 

I've noticed that almost every armour build, both online and in magazines, assemble everything for photos wich makes it a bit hard for a armour novice like me to learn how to do it.

It's a fair point - this is only my second 1/35 vehicle so I may not be going about it in the best way, and I find the painting hard so I tend to focus on that bit  :)

 

The tracks are fitted now - they aren't glued in place and nor are the wheels, but at the same time they aren't coming off again! Let me expand a bit on what I did and maybe that'll help:

 

For construction, I try and stick as many bits together as possible, bearing in mind the need to paint. I don't like adding small parts later because I'll have to remove the paint (or they won't stick) so I try and get them all on if I can. Maybe not tools if they need to be different colours.

 

For this one the sub-assemblies were upper hull, lower hull, turret with loose floor, gun, wheels and tracks. For the other one I did (T-55) I fitted the gun to the turret, and the upper and lower hulls together, but left the armour blocks off the sides until the wheels were on. But even then I tended to pop them in place for pictures:

 

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Usually you assemble the wheels with poly caps (little polythene tubes) inside which are a friction fit on the suspension arms. That way you can add and remove them when you want - this can really help get the tracks on. The turret almost always comes off too so you can deal with that separately.

 

The CV90 is tricky because there's only about 1mm clearance inside the skirts, and they have a small gluing surface, so I wanted to bond those solidly to the upper hull and not try and add them after the wheels and tracks..

 

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I build and painted the wheels all separately, and built the tracks by fitting the wheels to the lower hull and then removing them. After the tracks set I primed them black and gave them some basic paint and weathering for the bits I knew I wouldn't be able to reach inside the skirts. Here they're in primer:

 

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I then painted the lower and upper hulls separately up to the first camo colour (dark green underneath and inside the skirts, light green on top). I weathered the suspension and wheels very quickly and simply (wash and drybrush) because again I wasn't sure how much of them I'd be able to reach once it was all together.

 

Finally I fitted the wheels and tracks to the lower hull (for the last time) and clipped the upper hull in place, then carefully bonded the joints from the inside (where possible) with Tamiya extra thin cement. Once it was all solid I filled a few gaps and cleaned up, being very very careful of the tracks. After that I masked up the tracks and set to painting the thing properly.

 

I hope that's a bit clearer, I'm not claiming this is the right way to do things - it's easy to damage the small parts, for example. Oh, and I'm also guilty of putting the parts back together for photos - it means you don't need as many and you can pretend that you've got a real tank - brum brum!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

PS: I find making planes really hard - I've shelved a couple of builds at the moment because I can't quite figure out a good way to attach the gear, doors, stores etc. etc. Armour seems relatively easy by comparison, maybe because there's more of a split between construction and painting. I am scared of "final assembly"!

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I hope that's a bit clearer, I'm not claiming this is the right way to do things - it's easy to damage the small parts, for example. Oh, and I'm also guilty of putting the parts back together for photos - it means you don't need as many and you can pretend that you've got a real tank - brum brum!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

PS: I find making planes really hard - I've shelved a couple of builds at the moment because I can't quite figure out a good way to attach the gear, doors, stores etc. etc. Armour seems relatively easy by comparison, maybe because there's more of a split between construction and painting. I am scared of "final assembly"!

 

Wow, that was a really thorough reply, thanks for that!

 

Bah, planes are easy! :) Of course it has to do with experience, but with a plane build I always find it much clearer to understand what's going where and when you commit to glue and when you should paint what. But it was a good thing I asked, that bit about installing the tracks but not gluing them seems like a useful tip. I suffer from severe Track Indecision Disorder and I have a armour build sitting still for over a year because I can't decide in which order I should glue those parts...

 

And with magazine armour builds I almost think some authors are trying to trick me!

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Caveat: It does depend on the tracks - for the rubber band ones you almost certainly need to glue them to the wheels to get the tension and sag right. The indy link ones I used here will stand up on their own, but they are fragile and might've been better glued.

I suspect there aren't many "right" answers, whatever gets you to the finish is good :)

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Did some more today and especially this evening. I fiddled a bit more with the wash (darkened more around the driver's hatch and turret hatches, mainly) and sprayed a couple of coats of Dullcote from a rattle can - usually my favourite step since it brings everything together:

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What I didn't spot was that the Dullcote pooled in the etched mesh - grrr. I'd been really careful about breaking any bubbles in the mesh on every other paint and varnish step, I just forgot this time. The only sensible recourse seemed to be to wet it with lacquer thinner and get rid of the Dullcote from the gaps, so I'm going to have to repaint here :( Oh well.

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I also repaired the rear antenna, installed all the periscopes (apart from one I can't find) and painted/fitted the lamps and glazing, of which there was a fair bit. I think the front end came out well, the rear brake/indicator clusters are a bit messy and I wonder if I might need to pry them off and repaint the edges. Maybe I can try an in-place touch up first.

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I got one of the turret periscopes in wonky, I think that will have to come out as well now I've seen the picture. I also unmasked the laser sight and discovered that the red glaze I'd applied inside the glass looked more like a small animal had been blended in there :( I've removed most of it with a toothpick from inside the glass using the hole I drilled for the optics, and when the foil mirror catches the light it looks pretty cool. I think, though, that I'm going to have to get a bit of red gel or something and cut a square to go over the glazing. The alternative is sneakily having the cover down...

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So ups and downs really - it's definitely getting close to done, but the little setbacks are annoying at the same time.

I think if I paint the periscopes like this again I'll try foiling the backs to make the reflector - the silver paint isn't really shiny enough. I like the black surround inside the metal though. I was wary of making them shiny like this, but the walkaround I looked at definitely looked like they were shiny metal on the outside. I think it's more obvious on the model because I suspect Academy have made them too small - they fit perfectly in the driver's hatch, but they look a bit odd around the turret hatches, and they're all the same part.

Cheers,

Will

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I think I've fixed all the things I want to fix, ready for weathering now?

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I gently sprayed over the grille and the ski rack (the bits of mesh I'd clogged up) with their respective colours, and I'm really happy with the results, it looks fine again. I also removed the rear lights, stripped the paint off them, and repainted them slowly and carefully with the airbrush, masking the colour divisions. I corrected the edge colour (should be black) while I was at it, and I'm much happier now:

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I also levelled the rogue periscope, but it's still to one side a bit. I don't mind that so much. Oh, and I added a spot of Klear to all the reflectors so they didn't look so sad and dull.

Weathering this thing is going to be interesting - I think it's mainly a case of mud and dust, I've been over and over the pictures and I can see hardly any, if any, paint chipping or rust at all. Hägglunds obviously know what they're doing!

Cheers,

Will

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You know that is a very beautiful model, right? You should be proud.

Weathering this thing is going to be interesting - I think it's mainly a case of mud and dust, I've been over and over the pictures and I can see hardly any, if any, paint chipping or rust at all. Hägglunds obviously know what they're doing!

My experience with Swedish army paint is that what you get if a tree branch or bush scrape along the surface, it leaves a very light scratch. Light grey on the black, light green on the green parts.

Generally it's very hard to chip all the way down to the bare base material.

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Thanks guys, I like to try and confess when it goes wrong - usually it spurs me into fixing the problem, plus I can check the build thread later to remember what to do (or not to do!) if I build something similar again.

My experience with Swedish army paint is that what you get if a tree branch or bush scrape along the surface, it leaves a very light scratch. Light grey on the black, light green on the green parts.

Generally it's very hard to chip all the way down to the bare base material.

Thanks, that's really useful info - more than I could divine from pictures. That said, I've seen one pic of a CV90 with brownish horizontal scratches along the sides, as though it had run through bushes. Maybe they deposited something rather than scraped paint?

Will

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Thanks guys, the camo is just down to masking tape - lots of little bits, making sure they're pulled taut when laying them down. It probably wouldn't matter if they weren't perfectly straight (and I'm sure some aren't...) - you can't really read the outlines clearly because the pattern is so busy.

I think I'm done - there might be a couple of touch ups needed - the turret looks a bit too bright in these pics, and I think my brush is too small, more of a dustpan-and-brush than a big scrubbing brush :)

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I'm happy with how the weathering has come out - maybe a touch heavy (but I've seen dirtier CV90s) - plus I'm not totally sure about the rear deck and turret - they look a little plain, but I don't have good enough reference to see what they should really be like. I think a tow cable would help but there's nowt in the kit so I'll have to make one up if I have time.

It was hard trying to create an interesting finish without paint chips or rust - I let myself have a tiny bit of rust, and some gleam on the treadplate, but that was all. Most of what I did is copied from one or other real-life vehicle, so it should be mildly authentic. I'm sorry I didn't take any WIP pictures, I didn't have much time and was trying to concentrate on getting it done. It's mostly enamel washes and pigments, both from MIG, with a bit of airbrush work and lead pencil for the tracks.

Oh, and I made a brush from some re-sprayed static grass and bit of whittled wood - it's a pretty common sight on the bonnet of the Swedish CV90s, although looking at pictures I think it's too small so I'll try and make a 50% bigger one.

I'll take some better pictures tomorrow for the gallery. Hooray for GMT+12h!

Thanks for looking, and if you see anything else wrong please let me know so I can try and fix it!

Will

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And pics uploaded to the gallery - just on time!

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I've left off the brush and the tow cable - no time to make a better one - but I did manage to improve the pics so they're actually the right colours now :)

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This model deserves far more recognition. It's really REALLY good and looks every inch a Stridsfordon 90. Just the right amount of weathering and really good choice of splinter colours. I'm really tempted to buy one myself!

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Thanks guys, the camo is just down to masking tape - lots of little bits, making sure they're pulled taut when laying them down. It probably wouldn't matter if they weren't perfectly straight (and I'm sure some aren't...) - you can't really read the outlines clearly because the pattern is so busy.

The masking must've been particularly troublesome around the rear? With ladders, corners and quite a few bulky hinges to work around.

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Thanks! I must admit I'm pretty pleased with it - it's such a cool looking vehicle in real life and it's one I'm glad to have a model of.

Re: The masking at the back. Yes, it was a bit fiddly, I tried to make sure that there was enough slack in the tape as I laid it so that it could fit around the raised details, and where necessary I moved the pattern edges to avoid masking over the worst of the features. There were definitely some soft spots - see e.g. here:

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behind the main door handle, or the upper edge of the black patch between the hinges. But they aren't too big, and the weathering makes them pretty much disappear. I did have a couple of leaks on the flat surface as well, where I hadn't got enough tape on a corner and got a little spike of the darker colour on the light, but these were easy enough to paint out.

If you're thinking about making one, this is a pretty nice kit, and Hobby Boss do the up-armoured version as well (although I read that their suspension arrangements are symmetrical rather than offset - not sure if this would be a big deal on the model though). I quite fancy doing the CV90-120 in the grey urban splinter camo which appears to be a sales and demo vehicle? It looks very futuristic :)

Cheers,

Will

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