1/72 Zvezda Soviet Tank Destroyer SU-100 Snap Kit - £9.99 from JH Poynton & Sons in Derby

[PlaStix]

This is my second kit for this GB:

 

This was purchased from toy/newspaper/jigsaws stand - JH Poynton & Sons - in Derby Market Hall - probably about 5 years ago or so. Not reduced - just the price it cost at the time.

 

I've made a couple of Zvezda's snap kits and they usually turn out quite nicely. But I will be using glue!

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

 

[Foxbat]

Aargh, that box kicked off my curiosity something rotten - I know 'Istrebitel' is the Russian for 'Fighter' in the air force so I had to know how that worked here. Turns out it is derived from the verb Istreb, to exterminate so Istrebitel can be fighter or destroyer depending on context. I promise I'll be quiet while you're actually building it  

 

Andy

[PlaStix]

6 minutes ago, Foxbat said:

I promise I'll be quiet while you're actually building it  

Absolutely no reason to be quiet! It's always interesting to learn stuff like that!

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

You just know that this  will end up looking anything like a snap-fit kit when it has had the Stix treatment.

[PlaStix]

On 14/05/2021 at 22:06, modelling minion said:

You just know that this  will end up looking anything like a snap-fit kit when it has had the Stix treatment.

Thank you Craig.

 

Well I've made a start on this one - but some box and contents photos first:

 

 

 

 

 

 

First job was to clean up the lower hull parts ready for painting - including removing these rather heavy seam lines:

 

And the parts finally cleaned up with some minor assembly done:

 

I'm also building Dragon's T-34/76 Mod.1941 with Cast Turret, in this GB and this is a photo of both sets of parts:

 

Both sets of lower hull parts ready for painting:

 

The Zvezda kit parts:

 

And this is how they looked with a couple of coats of Humbrol's acrylic 102 - matt Army Green - on:

 

 

The paint was thinned with water and applied using flat brushes.

 

Next up I'm going to start my usual base weathering.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Foxbat]

Annoying when the box art isn't on the decal sheet, but some interesting markings. I'd go with variant 5 because I never built anything from Uzbekistan before.

 

Andy

[modelling minion]

Off to your usual good start mate, lovely smooth coat of green that will make a great base for your weathering.

[PlaStix]

On 16/05/2021 at 20:47, Foxbat said:

Annoying when the box art isn't on the decal sheet, but some interesting markings. I'd go with variant 5 because I never built anything from Uzbekistan before.

Andy

Hi Andy. I hadn't actually realised that!! Very odd. Not sure which one I'm going to do it as yet.

 

On 16/05/2021 at 21:15, modelling minion said:

Off to your usual good start mate, lovely smooth coat of green that will make a great base for your weathering.

Thank you Craig. I've started a bit of my base weathering on these parts - plus started to put some of the upper bits of the SU-100 together.

 

Over the past week or so I have managed to find a bit of time to do some work on both my kits for this GB.

 

Over the top of the Humbrol 102 on all the parts from my post above, I first applied my usual washes. First to go on was Revell's Gunship Grey - which was applied very, very thinned, (thinned with water), with a medium sized soft brush. Once that was dry, I then applied a very thinned wash of Revell's Anthracite (again thinned with water) but this time applied with a very fine pointed brush - into and around all the details on the surface. To my eye it creates a sort of artificial shadow effect. Next up in my process, I dry-brushed on a lightened version Humbrol's 102 - this kind of creates artificial highlights. My only problem was that some of the raised detail isn't as well defined on this kit and so I didn't feel the results were as good as I sometimes achieve. Then the tires were painted with Anthracite using a fine pointed brush and, once dry, these were given a wash of very thinned Gunship Grey followed by a very, very thinned was of Humbrol's Dark Earth. This photo shows the results at this stage:

 

The tracks for these Zvezda snap kits are made from firm plastic, but there are sections where they will bend more easily - to go around curves, etc. I've made a couple of these Zvezda snap kits before and found the tracks really easy to make. For some reason, these were a real pain! They just didn't seem to want to fit properly to the central wheels - so there was a lot of faffing about! Anyway - these photos show the tracks in place after having been painted with thinned Revell's Anthracite over which, once dry, I dry-brushed some Humbrol metallic Gunmetal. They've also had some washes of Humbrol's Desert Yellow and Railmatch's Light Rust applied:

 

 

 

 

I also had chance to add some of the parts to the upper hull:

 

I drilled out the end of the main gun with a micro-drill for a better appearance:

 

 

And finally there was a bit of a test fit with the upper hull resting on the lower hull:

 

I'm hoping to get a bit more done at the weekend.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[PlaStix]

Little bit more progress. I have been adding the remaining parts to the upper hull and have got it now glued in place on the lower hull. I'm just about at the point where I should be able to start painting the upper hull:

 

 

Quick comparrison with my T-34 build:

 

And a low down view to show off the BIG gun!:

 

There's still a few parts to add but they'll be fitted in place once the intial paintwork and weathering are done.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[modelling minion]

Just catching up with your build mate and she is looking really good.

Your usual painting technique is working it's magic as always, even if the details on the kit aren't responding to it as well as you hoped, and the tracks look really nice.

Looking at the lower angled picture you posted really does show off the size of the gun on these beasts.

Amazing that these can be found trundling around the battlefields of Yemen to this day.

[PlaStix]

Hi Craig and thank you again for your comments! And thank you for the information about them still being in use. I hadn't realised that!

 

This is pretty much a repeat of my T-34 thread's post:

 

Over this weekend, when it was a little cooler, I managed to get some painting done on both my builds. First - thinned (with water) Humbrol's acrylic, Army Green, 102, was applied over all the upper surfaces with a small flat brush. Once dry, I did my usual overall wash of very, very thinned (again with water) Revell's Gunship Grey acrylic. When this was dry I used a fine pointed brush to apply very, very thinned Revell's acrylic Antracite, in and around all the details. The Gunship Grey tones down the basic overall colour and also gives a bit of an impression of a dusty finish, whereas the Anthracite emphasises the shadow effects. Once fully dry again, I drybrushed all the upper surfaces with a lightened version of the 102 - to which I had added a touch of matt yellow. I use an old flat brush for the dry brushing.

 

This was the result:

 

 

 

Next up I need to start adding some of the detailed weathering - plus I need to get all the additional parts painted. Hopefully some cooler weather will be on the way again soon.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[modelling minion]

And this one is looking just as good as your T-34 is mate, the highlighting really shows all the raised details very nicely.

 

Yes its surprising to find these beasts still in action and they are being used alongside T-34's too, though they are the later 85mm armed versions.

[m4rky]

Looks a great little kit. Painted beautifully as all yours are 👍

Do you still have a link to your brush painting video you did? I have seen some of your posts mentioning it but cant find a link??

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, m4rky said:

Looks a great little kit. Painted beautifully as all yours are 👍

Do you still have a link to your brush painting video you did? I have seen some of your posts mentioning it but cant find a link??

in @PlaStixthe sig line,  but for ease of  reference , here 

https://youtu.be/QwdZtF_dpDY

 

I use a similar method for acrylics, the crucial parts seem to be the flat brush and getting the thinning ratio right.   

For smaller build i use a plastic palette, and a small amount of paint, and add water with a small syringe.   I use a mix of 95% de-ionised water and 5% flow improver,  added a drop at a time, which is easy with the syringe.   I used de-ionised as I have a container, and where I live the tap water is really 'hard' as it come from aquifers from the south downs, which are chalk.  Flow improver just breaks the water surface tension.   de-ionised is sold in supermarkets for use in steam irons.  

Note that @PlaStix also brushed Tamiya like this, and a very common grumble on here is "Tamiya won't brush".... it will if you do this.

 

Neat work so @PlaStix, only just caught up with it.

 

I'll have to try the thinned acrylic washes,  I use oil paint thinned with lighter fuel, as it make an incredibly thin and seeking wash, and dries off in seconds.

 

cheers

T

[m4rky]

Thanks for the link @Troy Smith. I am viewing this forum in Safari on my iphone and i dont see any sig??

 

i will review the video later and dig out some cheap kits to test the process on. 

[Troy Smith]

54 minutes ago, m4rky said:

I am viewing this forum in Safari on my iphone and i dont see any sig??

I don't know if the sig lines show on a phone, on occasion I have got a co-worker to look up the forum to show what I am talking about and no sig show on that.  

 

57 minutes ago, m4rky said:

i will review the video later and dig out some cheap kits to test the process on. 

Flat brush, right consistency, multiple thin coats  and it's easy. 

[PlaStix]

Hi @modelling minion, @m4rky and @Troy Smith. Thank you very much for taking time to comment in my thread.

 

Over the past couple of weekends, I have managed to find some time to get this project finished. First, I did a bit of weathering - by applying some very thinned acrylic Gunmetal, from Humbrol, which I applied with a fine pointed brush to some corners, edges and surface details - which I felt may have got worn in use – I look at photos of actual tanks, from the time, to get some ideas. Over this, I toned down the shine by applying very, very thinned Revell’s acrylic Anthracite – but I also used this thinned Anthracite to represent some other worn areas by dabbing it on in some areas – again using a bit of artistic licence. Finally, at this stage I add some touches of very, very thinned  Railmatch acrylic Light Rust to these areas. I find that this creates a nice dirt area in most places, but also gives a bit of an impression of slight rusting where I want it to. These photos show it at this point:

 

 

 

Next it was time for decals – not that there were a lot. Where I could, I cut away the backing film, to try and minimise the silvering. These decals seemed to go on well:

 

 

Then, finally, with all the remaining parts added – I painted some very light runs and streaking effects using very, very thinned Anthracite, Light Grey and Light rust. When I apply these effects, I often wipe some of them off, quite quickly, using my finger in the direction of the run or streak. This thins them out, making them look a bit more faded.

And this was the final result. A few photos here and the rest can be found in the Gallery and the RFI section:

 

 

Taken on an off-cut of 12mm Guagemaster Grass Mat with a sky photo background.

 

Thank you to everyone who to has taken time to comment in my build thread.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

[modelling minion]

Yet another perfect example of how it should be done.

The weathering and amount of dirt and grime on her looks perfect, certainly not over done.

Just shows what can be done on a budget.

Excellent work mate.

[Ravnos]

Looks fantastic Stix! sorry I haven't commented until now, makes me want to try some tanks soon