In a bid to blow the cobwebs off and to get over my builders lethargy I have decided to embark on my own personal campaign. This will also free up space for new additions in the new year as well as allow me to add to my soviet fleet. Some of these kits have been sitting on the shelf for years.
The task - to build as many russian tanks as I can from my stash before the end of the year.
Time frame - 30 September 2021 - 31 December 2021
I have a variety of vehicles from Takom, MiniArt, Tamiya, Zvezda and Trumpeter which span WW2 through to the late 90’s. Some will be OOB, some will have aftermarket.
Also if anyone else wants to throw in pics of their Russian builds then by all means please do!
I am starting with everyone’s favorite meme tank, the KV-2 from Trumpeter. I have built their KV-1 before and it goes together pretty easily
Three months? I’d be happy to complete one new started kit in that time frame, let alone multiple new start kits.
I’ll be happy to watch this project as I do love Red Army AFVs!
@Tank_1812 Thanks for the info. I will be leaving the inspection port off per the website. I am not too fussed by the grills so will use the kit parts. The same can not be said for the Tamiya IS-3 which will be built next. I have some PE coming for that one.
@Stikpusher I have a couple of official campaigns starting in the new year, hence the limit. Also putting the crunch on myself gets me moving and productive. Once I get going I can do 1 or 2 month so we will see. Also doesn’t hurt that they are all green so the camo will be easy
Road wheels etc are built and will be attached after painting. Pretty easy build but I am annoyed at the instructions as there were several holes that needed to be out of the sides and front plate that were not pointed out. And the parts are only attached until almost the very end of the build. I was able to do some but had to guestimate the others.
I had wanted to build these in chronological order however the PE I ordered for the IS-3 wont arrive for some time so I am moving onto the T-55A. I chose to build my Takom version as opposed to my MiniArt one simply for simplicity and speed of build. The MiniArt one is way more complex.
I will be switching out the tracks because Takom for some reason decided to use Rmsh tracks for this vehicle and those are not correct. It needs the Omsh tracks. Fortunately the kit does include the correct sprocket weeks. Not sure yet on the camo scheme I will be using.
I find it interesting that you are emphasizing quantity over quality. May I ask how you got to that point? I could see setting a goal like “I’m going to finish two of my already started kits before the end of the year”, or something like that, but I don’t understand the “build as many as I can” motivation. Can you explain it to me?
Long answer: I think you may have misunderstood a bit, especially when you say emphasizing quantity over quality (which is a very Russian saying ). I have no intention of building these kits in a sloppy manner. I typically build tank kits very quickly when I actually get stuck into them but I am also distracted by shiny things. I will be building these to my usual personal standard which typically is pretty clean. Some washes and minimal weathering.
While I may build a tank kit in a month normally - I actually complete the kit in a week and then spend 3 weeks doing other things. This personal campaign is really just me trying to avoid distractions and focus mainly on building kits and not on a silly mobile game that caught my eye or a new show to binge on Netflix.
I also don’t have that many Russian tanks in the stash. 6 total including the KV-2 I just finished construction on and I am not planning on doing the MiniArt T-55. So that really only leaves me 4 kits to complete in the next 3 months. Very doable.
And lastly, I have physically run out of room to store new kits. If I want to buy more (and I do) then I need to build some up. SWMBO has made that very clear. She indulges my hobby but draws the line at taking over extra storage space
I have definitely slowed down in my acquisitions as I now have most of what I urgently wanted. Now its the “Nice to Have” kits I am looking for. Every kit I have I want to build (except that pesky Revel Mosquito which was an impulse buy and which I have no real interest in)
My main problem is that I am a 1/350 ship builder by nature and those boxes can be huge. My CV-6 and CV-65 Enterprises take up a whole shelf just by themselves. Those take me years to build.
So far a much higher parts count than the KV-2. I would not recommend slavishly following the instruction build steps. Definitely read ahead and see what they have you doing. I have jumped back and forth a lot.
Busy day today and my back is killing me. Got the side fenders all done. Again, finicky (especially the fuel tanks and fuel lines) but went together really well. Instructions could have been a bit clearer so I had to go online to look at some build logs to see how some of these parts went together.
No major issues on the turret. The linkage between the main gun and the spotlight was a bit of a pain.
The biggest issue was the instructions. There are multiple options for the turret and it didnt tell you which ones belonged to which vehicle. if building this kit study your references as well as the paint scheme guide closely to see which parts you need to add.
Cool!
Have had a bit of a Russian flow myself lately.
Did a T-62, a T-54, a T 34/76 and a T34/85. A JS-3 is on the bench as we speak.
They are fun in all their monotiny, sort of.
Not a bad kit apparently but it has some issues. I am not going to correct them all but I am going to correct the stowage boxes which are missing. For that I have used the Eduard PE set.
I skipped a bunch of steps here but to me it was easier to do this first than after you added suspension and hull gribblies.
They would have you remove the entire side of the tank to fit the PE but if you are not going to pose the stowage boxes open, then that is not necessary. The PE set also rectifies the lack of a sponson floor.
And pretty happy with how the 2 piece barrel ended up looking. Happily I wont have to spend the money on a replacement. Also god knows what the wait time would have been.
). I have no intention of building these kits in a sloppy manner. I typically build tank kits very quickly when I actually get stuck into them but I am also distracted by shiny things. I will be building these to my usual personal standard which typically is pretty clean. Some washes and minimal weathering.
