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Wow, the amount of patience required to assemble those must be..... ( i mean i get frustrated from just GW kit!)

I was wondering, what kind of glue do you use ? any
specific brands?

Hey Luna, I use superglue to attach the photo etch.

At 1:35 scale though people use a soldering iron! I've not moved onto soldering yet though and at 1:48 I can still get away with glue use.

The key is to just use the tiniest amount of glue you need apply with either a toothpick or a scalpel blade for really fine thin lines.

I just use regular superglue, Loctite is the name of the brand here in the UK, not sure if thats availalbe also overseas.

It's certainly a challenge to assemble, I made sure I invested in a good quality pair of very fine tweezers! It's really rewarding though when it all comes together.

Gundam-Mecha wrote:Hey Luna, I use superglue to attach the photo etch.

At 1:35 scale though people use a soldering iron! I've not moved onto soldering yet though and at 1:48 I can still get away with glue use.

The key is to just use the tiniest amount of glue you need apply with either a toothpick or a scalpel blade for really fine thin lines.

I just use regular superglue, Loctite is the name of the brand here in the UK, not sure if thats availalbe also overseas.

It's certainly a challenge to assemble, I made sure I invested in a good quality pair of very fine tweezers! It's really rewarding though when it all comes together.

And next up Gundam-Mecha assembles an entire US Navy ship fleet in a bottle!

-J.

Another great blog from ya Gundam-Mecha, I loved your T-34 one, so many great tips to "borrow"

perplexiti wrote:Another great blog from ya Gundam-Mecha, I loved your T-34 one, so many great tips to "borrow"

Thanks Perplexiti, I'll have some new tips on this one as well, in particular doing weld seams on armour from modelling putty/material.


Alazahr - you know I may just do that one day!

Hi guys, so I'm finally back after a little break from modelling the last few weeks.

Here are some more updates, I'll be posting a lot more regularly from now on that sports and work have calmed down a little.

The GAZ 67B






This was a really nice kit to make, it was something totally different as I've never done jeeps or trucks before and was a real joy to put together. There was a photo etch set for this kit but it contained minimal parts, only having 1 component of any real interest (an etch grille for the from of the car). In the end I decided not to bother as the kit parts out of the box do the job very well anyway. I may add a few left over etch parts on this anyway such as a few tools etc. or some tow cable but nothing too drastic. Theres a clear plastic windshield yet to be added.

Scale comparison with one of the Officer figures:



Scale comparison with the figure and the KV-1:



Some more work on the KV-1

Photo etch replacement for the inside drivers hatch (KV-1):



Photo etch storage boxes (KV-1):





Comparison with the plastic kit storage boxes and the photo etch upgrades:





Two completed Officers:







These figures are really fantastic, brilliant sculpts and fantastically detailed, they are some of the best plastics I've ever worked with. I'm really looking forward to painting them as they are such characterful minis.

The officer with the note book looks real nice,if you don't mind me asking how much did the tank kit cost.Can't wait to see this diorama done.

Hi Deff, the actual plastic Tamiya kit was quite cheap, it was about £18.

The photo etch parts vary from £14 for the main upgrade set to £6 for the replacement storage containers etc.


On the whole scale model kits are cheaper than Citadel plastics and offer much finer quality, especially in terms of options for photo etch components and super detail upgrades.

Are the officers from the same kit or do they come in their own?

Great to see you back on this project! I hope the sports went well.

I think I'll be bugging you for weathering tips as I work on a Golden Demon diorama soon.

Cheers
Dave

Great stuff ! I loved your T34 and this one is shaping up to be even better. I wish GW / FW produced more photo etched parts, I'd live to 'super-detail' a Predator.

@ Deff - The figures came in a limited edition Tamiya GAZ set, however they are also available seperately as they are produced by Ukrainian firm ICM. They are sold via them as Russian Aircrew set (Red army and Red Airforce wore the same uniforms during WW2).


@ Dave - sounds great! A dio for GD? Fire away I'm happy to share tips and advice anytime!


@ Stubby - I totally agree thats an area where FW really miss out, Decent photo etch upgrades would really bring their kits alive.

More work and more tiny photo etch... this one was made up of 6 different parts and was quite tricky! It's a bracket for the cuppola for the Heavy Machine Gun. (The cogs are also seperate components that had to be glued on as was the handle!)






Finished the main parts of the Turret and now it's starting to actually look like a tank!





Photo etch Storage boxes (one will be modelled to be left open showing the tools inside while the tanker works on the engine) and the rear turret mounted Heavy MG.



Close ups of the turret mounted Heavy MG, this is based heavily from my reference photos and cross section diagrams of KV-1's for accuracy and detail, and is kit bashed from the Tamiya Infantry sprue and the photo etch components. I also added the bag pouch underneath the MG to catch the shell casings during use as with the actual version.

Im still incredibly amazed with your patience , and also just realized... Your models dont have any of those super glue marks ! ( Even my super glue bottle have that weird white dusty things on its cap ) Your fingers also have no trace of super glue either!

Hi Luna, thanks for the comments.

I try my best to be as careful as possible with applying the superglue. Your quite right if you use too much it can leave that nasty white dusty residue.

I find though that if you use tiny amounts it doesnt do this too much. Of course in some areas even on my KV-1 it has a little but this is easy to fix after the glue has dried. You can easily remove it by carefully sanding the area with some fine quality modelling sandpaper, I use Tamiya finishing paper myself as its great at removing glue spills and marks and also scratches and damage.

Alternatively if you find that you have a large blob of dried glue you can wait till it dries and just carefully shave it off with a scalpel blade.

I actually find working with plastic glue tougher than super glue. When super glue goes onto a surface it dries hard and is relatively easy to remove, however when plastic glue goes onto a surface it melts it, which is really tough to remove and tidy up! I've had to fix a few plastic glue spills as well and those take much more time.

I use the Revell plastic glue with the needle tip, however even with this it can sometimes get jammed and all of a sudden overflow during the middle of an application.

Some more updates, most of the external detailing is finished now, I still need to add some weld seams though that I will move onto next as well as a few tools etc. Once those are done though I will move onto painting








Tools and equipment:







Engine deck (this will have a kneeling tanker working on it with tools, hence the open hatch):



Drivers hatch:



The female NCO:



Scale comparison with the finished tank:






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Once I do the weld seams I plan to put a little guide up step by step like I did with painting tracks in my T34 blog.

Painting I hope will start tonight, The GAZ is built now, as is 90% finished on the KV-1, I just have a few more figures to finish then I can paint these also.

I've cut a piece of wood for the base and got myself some Das pronto modelling clay for that, I've also got some Crystal resin to use for the river and water features. all I need now is a stryofoam board for the main body of the base that I will attach to the wood and cut to the shapes needed.

This scene is going to have more features than the flat ground of the T34 Dio. I'm planning a river, trench works, and lots of surface features like grass and plants, barbed wire, and Tank traps.

so as far as the diorama scene itself goes, I'm going for something like this:



Lots of surface detail, vegetation, and contours in the ground.

I've now glued the insulating board onto the wood base and have started work on carving the polystyrene sheet into the shapes needed for the scene.

I had to leave the base overnight with some heavy books ontop of it to hold it down while the PVA glue dried, so I'm hoping that by this afternoon it should have set fine and I can carry on.

I've also ordered some great scenic materials online yesterday that should arrive today or tomorrow from a company called fredericus Rex. They supply fantastic clumps of grass and other natural scenic scatters that are really natural and effective. Much better than scenic scatter or flock. I ordered these via a UK based company called SK miniatures and the service was first class. Can't reccomend them enough.





I got myself a mixture of these different flocks of various shades of green from strong green to dry grass. I also ordered some more 1:48 scale leaves for the base from Netmerchants. Netmerchants also gave great service and have a huge catalogue.

Those do look better than the flock GW makes.


I can't wait to see this diorama done already,I know I can trust you to turn out an excellent diorama.
(no pressure,lol.)

Nothing very constructive to add other than, thanks for sharing, it's very nice to follow these blogs

@ Deff - Yes and the best thing about these flocks is that they come in little clumps that are attached to a sticky sheet. Just pull them off and stick them directly to the scene and you get some great grass and plant formations.

I've used GW flock for years, and for basing figures it's fine, however scenic scatter isn't so useful for a large area like those you get on a diorama base.

@ Migsula - Thanks for the comments, I'm glad that your enjoying the blogs. I think its great that so many people are doing diorama projects (Connan, myself, and shortly Dave Taylor also), it's also great to see people doing scenery work, the various space hulk scenery boards that have been going about recently in the boarding party blogs have been awesome!

Once I finish some of the WW2 projects I'll be moving back to some 40K stuff hopefully. I have a Warhound Titan thats gathering dust and I need to finish off my Thunderbolt also.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
for those who are interested in the scenic materials Here are a few links to the suppliers I used.

The service from both was fantastic.

Grass and turf

http://www.skminiatures.co.uk/#/dryg...ump/4533213819

or for leaves

http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/14746/447/leaves_oak/5da77b2adca46422cc3de041309bd8d7




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The next problem to deal with as I mentioned before is the lack of weld seams on the Tamiya kit.

Here are a couple of comparisson photos from Perth Military Modelling with the Hobby Boss and Tamiya Kits that really highlight this, and show the areas that need extra detailing with modelling putty:

Upper Hull





The front area also needs some weld seams as per this example



Turret comparisson







As you can see the Plastic Hobby Boss parts in Grey have more moulded detail in the kit, however personally I prefer to add such details myself with putty to get a better result. Also the Photo etch parts address a lot of this issues as well in terms of detail that even exceed the Hobby Boss parts.

Even though the Tamiya kit has a few downsides in terms of sprue detail I still think it's the better kit for the experienced modeller as it presents a blank canvas to build upon ourselves.

Uuh the photos didn't work for me in your last post man, but either way it is looking very good I should do one of these in my summer break, keep me busy.

Wow thats really great stuff. I was inspired to try a similar project when i visited Normandy but never got around to it but you have inspired me to try again

Great project going on here!

Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I've fixed the images, on my PC it was showing the photos but i noticed from an outside machine that linking to photos from that site was not allowed so I changed this.

Airborne a D Day dio would be really interesting to see, you should definitely try it!


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Just a small update on the progress of the scenic base.

My grass clumps and leaves arrived yesterday! Brilliant service, ordered Wednesday and arrived Thursday!

The Insulating board has finally dried and stuck to the plywood base. Last night I started marking out areas of the scenic features with a marker and began carving the shapes out of the polystyrene base.

Theres a lot more to do, and the base will be covered with Das Pronto Modeling clay, so these are just very rough initial stages.

Marking out the river, dirt track road, and machine gun nest



Carving out the river and ditch for the machine gun nest:



The river bed, this will be covered with modeling clay, sand, and filler and filled with crystal resin to make water.



Some updates on the KV-1

The open tool box and tank tools, as a Tanker will be sitting by the exposed engine working I will also have tools and equipment spread over the engine deck area.





The final Officer figure:





Another great sculpt and pose from ICM.

Managed to find sometime today to do some more work on the dio.

Building up the river bank and machine gun nests with Das Pronto modeling clay:







Surfacing the ground and machine gun nest:





Next whilst the ground and clay were drying I moved onto making the sandbags for the Machine gun nest and the anti tank barriers from photo etch:















Rough placement of the vehicles:

The rough layout looks good,can't wait to see it all done.

Those figures have amazing detail,they look rather great without paint even IMHO.

Thanks Deff, yeah I really was impressed with the ICM minis. They are going to be a real pleasure to paint and are so much more detailed and refined than the Tamiya figures.

I will probably start painting them this week.

Here are some reference photos of Kursk that I've been working from.

The Machine Gun nest reference and inspiration, (and example of Maxim Machine guns used in dug out's)



Mixed Kursk battlefield images as terrain reference's







Russian Sapper's cutting wire fences, this was an interesting photo that outlined the types of barbed wire fences used in Kursk as I plan to include some of my own in the scene:



This one brings back memories of my last project! Russian Infantry riding a T34/76 in Kursk:



The next few images were also inspiration for the scene that I am doing and served as great reference material. They show Tank crews discussing orders and mission plans in Kursk pre battle (exactly what our Tankers and Officers will be doing in the Dio):

A T34/76 and Crew



An SU-122 and Crew



I also found this little gem today that is a great reference for Soviet Mortars. I was initially considering making the dug out a mortar position but didnt have any photos of Russian Mortars or any kits to represent them. I'm now considering scratch building a mortar using this photo as reference material and possibly changing the machine gun nest to a mortar emplacement.



As you can see from these reference photos the Kursk Landscape was rather bleak, mostly grassy plains and small isolated villages. This is a bit challenging for a modeller to represent without making the terrain look too boring. I've decided to focus my scene around a defensive position near one of the small villages, pre-assault. This allows me to include some small buildings in the scene to break things up and add more than just a flat field.

This is incredible. How many hours have you put into it so far, including research???

Can't wait for you to put it all together!!!

Where did you get all the reference photos from.

I'm somewhat of a soviet union buff, and i love what your doing! I always wonder how genuine soviet war photos are as they tended to be staged, however for your purposes those are quite excellent.

I really like the officer with the mustache and im tempted to track him down for use as "Commissar Joe".