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Post by dierk on May 4, 2018 7:31:30 GMT -5
With the Academy T-34 heading toward the finish line, I've decided to start on a project I've been wanting to do for a few years. These are the pic's I'm basing it on: I'll be using the Tamiya kit, plus assorted goodies, and a scratched nose. Although the Tamiya kit isn't bad, it's the wrong version to portray 432. The tanks used by the 7th Independent Guards had welded fronts - the so-called 'sharp nose' whereas the Tammy kit has a cast one. There are several conversions on the market, but none for the welded nose. Plan B was getting the Zvezda IS-2 as the boxart showed the correct version. I was going to cut off it's nose and do a rhinoplasty on the Tamiya kit. Unfortunately, the contents of the box didn't keep the promise made by boxart... So, onto plan C: the shape of the Zvezda kit's nose is closer to what I need. Got myself some of this and used it to make a mould of of the Tammy hull and the Zvezda nose I'm currently waiting for that to cure, so I can use it as a template to scratch a welded nose. Talking of welds: I'll have to come up with a way of recreating those typical Russian welds (for discussion purposes only) I'm thinking stretched sprue/rod melted with cement and shaped with a hobby knife. But if anybody's got a better idea, please let me know. Currently, I'm working on the cupola - it's 1.2mm too low. I've already done the lower hull, and assebled and burnished some Frillies. More as and when.
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maschinenkrueger
Reviews member
Jan & Dec 2014 MoM Winner
Member since: June 2012
You want MaK with that?
Posts: 836
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
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Post by maschinenkrueger on May 4, 2018 14:03:30 GMT -5
Will watch with interest. The IS-2 is one of my favs. thought its odd I still haven't built one.
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Post by Leon on May 4, 2018 15:33:38 GMT -5
Looks like you have your work cut out for you Dierk!
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Post by dierk on May 5, 2018 3:11:14 GMT -5
Will watch with interest. The IS-2 is one of my favs. thought its odd I still haven't built one. It's my first IS-2 too. The Tammy kit receives almost universal praise, and it is pretty good...unless you want to build an example from the 7th Independend Guards. Had this kit sitting in the stash for years - I didn't start it, because I knew I'd be openening a can of worms...see my answer to Leon. Looks like you have your work cut out for you Dierk! Never a truer word spoken, Leon: the cupola should also be more oval - but, I don't think I'll bother, as the lower part is moulded on the turret. However, the turret roof plate is the wrong shape - the back should be faceted, not curved. The casting seam on the turret is in the wrong place. ALL of the welds that are present are too subtle, many are not present. Naturally, the cast texture is nowhere near textured enough. Quite a few of the more subtle details, like drain holes are missing...I miss the days before the internet, where you'd just buy a kit and build it OOB...sigh.
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Post by dierk on May 7, 2018 4:54:43 GMT -5
Made a start on the turret, changing the semi-circular roof plate into an angled one, and removed the, way too tidy, moulded on welds while I was at it: I decided not to let the Zvezda kit go to waste, but rather use it as a base for an early, so-called 'broken nose' IS-2 - to that end a couple of resin conversions are on the way. So, I've back-dated the running gear by adding bolts to the hubs of both road wheels and return rollers. The return rollers need six holes, rather than the three the kit parts come with The Zvezda two-part vinyl tracks got binned as soon as I opened the box. As the Tammy kit is getting a set of Fruit Loops, the Russian kit is getting the link and length Japanese ones Lastly, I cut out the moulded on screens in preparation for replacing them with PE items
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Post by Leon on May 7, 2018 5:04:40 GMT -5
Nice work on he modifications Dierk!
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Post by rbaer on May 7, 2018 9:19:11 GMT -5
Watching this one here, very interesting. I did one recently, largely OOB, and of course did "432".... but had a lot of fun.
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Post by dierk on May 7, 2018 10:18:01 GMT -5
Watching this one here, very interesting. I did one recently, largely OOB, and of course did "432".... but had a lot of fun. I remember it well. I was going to go mostly OOB, until a friend sent me a link to a Russian forum...
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Post by TRM on May 8, 2018 18:38:32 GMT -5
Looking good Dierk! You seem to be handling the modifications pretty well! Keep at it!
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Post by dierk on May 9, 2018 7:23:37 GMT -5
Cheers Todd - I'll try my best. So, did some trials at replicating what is apparently called 'automatic welding', which seems to basically involve putting strips/rods of metal on the mating sufaces of two plates and heat them until they melt, possibly going over them with a grinder to smooth them out. The bits around the hatch were the first attempts, which are too chunky as I was sticking too close to the 1:1 scale recipeby using several bits of thinly rolled 2 part epoxy. The other bits are mostly single bits which I then worked with a blade. The real thing for discussion purposes only Think I'm geting pretty close.
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maschinenkrueger
Reviews member
Jan & Dec 2014 MoM Winner
Member since: June 2012
You want MaK with that?
Posts: 836
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
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Post by maschinenkrueger on May 9, 2018 9:08:41 GMT -5
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Post by dierk on May 9, 2018 10:15:01 GMT -5
Can you share the Russian link with IS-2 references? Sure: There are two - both a Russian modelling forum Link1 and Link2Some of the pictures are missing - they had the same problem we've had on MSC I've got a PDF of that mag, apart from using Tamiya putty for the welds, some of the technique on the thinner welds looks similar to what I've tried - just with a lot more practise. How he does the big flowing ones is a mystery to me, though
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Post by Tobi on May 9, 2018 10:44:14 GMT -5
It would seem weld beads on a Russian tank can never look crude enough...
I always imagined the tanks were produced by arc welding, where you automatically get a continuously fed filler electrode that is consumed during the process right out from the nozzle of your welding tool, but I don't know for sure.
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Post by dierk on May 9, 2018 11:31:21 GMT -5
It would seem weld beads on a Russian tank can never look crude enough... I always imagined the tanks were produced by arc welding, where you automatically get a continuously fed filler electrode that is consumed during the process right out from the nozzle of your welding tool, but I don't know for sure. Up until the factories were evacuated to behind the Ural mountains, Russian welding was actually really excellent. After evacuation it was all hands on deck and quality was sacrificed for quantity, even the tank crews had to spend time on the production line, as part of their training. From what I could glean from Russian sources using google translate two kinds of welding were used: 'manual' for little things like brackets - I'm assuming that to mean 'arc welding' and this mysterious 'automatic' welding for the big stuff, that results in beads looking like lava flows.
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maschinenkrueger
Reviews member
Jan & Dec 2014 MoM Winner
Member since: June 2012
You want MaK with that?
Posts: 836
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
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Post by maschinenkrueger on May 9, 2018 14:50:20 GMT -5
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Post by Leon on May 9, 2018 15:48:09 GMT -5
Nice progress with the welds Dierk!
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Post by dierk on May 11, 2018 7:00:41 GMT -5
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maschinenkrueger
Reviews member
Jan & Dec 2014 MoM Winner
Member since: June 2012
You want MaK with that?
Posts: 836
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
Jun 7, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
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Post by maschinenkrueger on May 11, 2018 11:45:17 GMT -5
Nice progress. Is the chamfered top plate a feature of a particular factory or run?
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reserve
Senior Member
Member since: July 2012
Si vis pacem para bellum
Posts: 2,325
Jul 11, 2012 9:11:45 GMT -5
Jul 11, 2012 9:11:45 GMT -5
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Post by reserve on May 11, 2018 22:50:59 GMT -5
Slick brother this is a pretty ambitious project
Regards, Mark
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Post by dierk on May 12, 2018 3:47:50 GMT -5
Nice progress. Is the chamfered top plate a feature of a particular factory or run? From what I could glean using google translate, the tanks used by the 7th Independent Guards were made by factory 200, and they had that kind of plate.
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Post by Leon on May 12, 2018 3:57:17 GMT -5
Really nice work on the welds Dierk!
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Post by dierk on May 12, 2018 5:33:12 GMT -5
Slick brother this is a pretty ambitious project Regards, Mark Ain't that the truth - hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew There'll be a small interlude on the turret work now, so time to go for a pee and get more snacks in, as I'm waiting for some Milliput fine to do the cast nubs on the bottom edge of the turret. Tamiya has represented them, but in a very subdued manner. The Milliput should also come in useful for the finer welds, especially around the massive grill on the back...
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Post by TRM on May 12, 2018 6:58:32 GMT -5
Looking pretty darn good from here Dierk! Welds can be a mind-numbing process! LOL
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Post by dierk on May 29, 2018 6:41:58 GMT -5
It's been way too hot to do any meaningful modelling, with temps getting close to 90 degs F (32 Celsius) - just done 'sitzen und schwitzen' (sitting and sweating) But a parcel arrived from Russia today. Goodies to turn the Zvezda kit into an early 'broken nose' IS-2. Normally these kinds of parcels get handled by DHL in these parts (usually invloving a trip across town to pick it up from customs and facing the third degree: who's this from, how do you know them, open it and let's have a look, surely the value is higher than declared - whilst pretending to look the items up online. Just a bunch of codology to try and catch you out) As the Russian tracking site informed me that it had arrived in Germany May 11th, I was starting to get progressively more worried as the days went by. Once the website informed me that it had been handed to customs on the 23rd I started chasing it. Phoned customs - nothing. Phoned DHL, was told it was being handled by the post office, and gave me a phone number...totally automated, with no option of speaking to a human and about as useful as a swift kick in the balls - got told to get in touch with the sender, for them to trace it Anyway, ding dong at the door today and our very nice post girl handed me the goods in return for a squiggle. But what really delighted me (almost more than the above) was that Ivan from Yeallow House Club also included a freebie in the shape of a resin M-11 engine to replace the crap that Trumpeter to saw fit to give us
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Post by tonylee on May 29, 2018 11:18:55 GMT -5
My My My Mister Dee Tony lee
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Post by dierk on May 29, 2018 12:08:33 GMT -5
Still boiling here, but sat in the garden and cleaned up the parts. Strangely, the loader's hatch is not included, presumed missing - but I shold be able to use the one from the Zvezda kit. There is also a bit of a casting fault on the turret, but nothing that a sanding stick and some Mr. Surfacer can't sort out. Unfortunately, the metal barrel that came with the hull doesn't fit the mantlet, but the resin item provided is good enough. My My My Mister Dee Tony lee to think my parents called me Dierk, because they wanted to give me a name that can't be shortened
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Post by Leon on May 29, 2018 15:14:21 GMT -5
Nice looking goodies Dierk!
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Post by dierk on May 31, 2018 12:06:21 GMT -5
Got a bit done before it got too hot to move The casting mark was made using 0.3mm wire. Once I've given it the once-over with Mr. Surfacer it should look less proud. Added the drain holes around the turret ring, too, and cut the tail end off of the Zvezda top hull B4 I forget - here's a ref pic (for discussion purposes only) of the casting mark
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Post by panzerjager2 on May 31, 2018 16:56:07 GMT -5
NICE WORK my friend, NICE WORK indeed PJ2
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Post by rbaer on May 31, 2018 19:57:22 GMT -5
Whackin' and a hackin', I love it.
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