Sebastian Meyner
Following 👍

Matthew Stec
Following, nice subject

Lode Schildermans
I'm in, James

Whiskey Actual
Looking forward to seeing this build!

James C
Welcome aboard guys 🙂

@ Lode - You've inspired me with your awesome battleships mate😉

The kit was a gift from my brother last Xmas and not having built a Takom kit before, I decided to make this my next project.

With the hull completed (excluding the sponsons) I made a start on the replacement Friul tracks yesterday (completing one side) and found that they fit perfectly... which I was a little nervous about.
At 112 links long, they are easily the longest runs of tracks that I've done. This is a big beast!

Rui S
I'm in. Looking forward for the next steps😎

James C
Cheers Rui😉👍

I finished up the second run of Friuls today and encountered a minor oddity.
When I completed the left side yesterday, I settled on 112 links to achieve a reasonable amount of sag, where as the kit calls out to use 110 if using the individual plastic links provided.
But today I found that when using the same number (112) on the right side, that there was significantly more sag. I'll double check that I haven't miss-counted, and if not, I'll definitely remove a link or two on the right side prior to painting just to keep both sides looking even.

Anyway, next step is to install the sponsons then move onto the turrets.

Lode Schildermans
James, I don't know how my battleships could have inspired you to your already impressive work. And the SMK is promising to add another top piece to your collection

James C
Thanks mate. The staggered turrets remind me of "A" and "B" turrets on a battleship😉

I finished up with the assembly this afternoon.
There's still a number of gaps/joins to fill, and assorted clean up to do before I think about shooting a coat of primer on it, but I'll tackle that over the weekend hopefully.

Jos Jansen
Following James, that's a brutal piece of armor...👍

James C
Cheers Jos and yes it's definitely eye-catching, but quite typical of some of the larger (particularly Russian) designs that came out during the inter-war period and up until the late 1930's.

With the clean-up done, I gave everything a coat of Stynylrez grey acrylic primer yesterday and am ready to begin adding a bit of colour. I had to use the grey primer as I'm almost out of the black that I normally use and have been unable to source any more locally. There's quite a bit of shortage over here at the moment on modelling supplies in general due to the Corona virus unfortunately.

James C
I've finished airbrushing the camouflage and wheels, and have also done a little post shading with Tamiya X-19 smoke.
Next up will be to do the finer detail painting on the assorted tools, gun barrels and spotlight etc by hand.

Lode Schildermans
Nice camo, James, implemented with high precision and very smooth. This baby is coming to life

James C
Thanks Lode 🙂

The smooth finish is down to the Mission Models acrylic paint that I used for the "Protective Green". It's an amazing paint and I can't rate it highly enough! I used AK Interactive AK748 For the "7K Russian Tan", and Tamiya "NATO Black" XF-69 for the stripes.
A bit of a mix of brands, but they all tied together quite well.

I finished off the detail painting and gave it a clear gloss coat yesterday to prep for the decals. Once those are done, I'll seal them with another clear coat and then think about the weathering process, and how far I want to take it.

Lode Schildermans
Sounds promising, James. I really am looking forward to your weathering

Whiskey Actual
Love the camo pattern so far. Really suits this monster of a tank well

James C
Thanks Lode and Whiskey 🙂

I got the decals done today, but they still need a few more applications of "Microsol" to get them to settle down over some of the raised bolt details on the upper turret.

James C
This was my first Takom kit and it exceeded nearly all of my expectations.
Very nicely molded and engineered with clear, and easy to follow assembly instructions.

Despite being a large vehicle, there wasn't an abundance of parts to deal with... excluding the tracks.

I only have two issues with the kit.

The first is with the tracks themselves, as they are individual links, but are NOT workable; which is disappointing as Takom would have done far better to be replicate them with link and length sections due to their overall size, or at the very least have made them workable instead. This was the main reason why I opted to use metal replacements.

The second issue I had was the lack of Polly caps. The road wheels were quite good and didn't really need any, but the rear drive and front idler wheels would have benefited greatly by having them, and made painting and assembly far easier.
But, other than these two somewhat minor issues, it was still a great kit to build and I'd highly recommend it.

I had intended to paint it in an overall "protective green" scheme with a winter whitewash, but in the end decided against it; favoring a camouflage instead as a "what if" unit, had the SMK gone into production.

The Friul tracks proved to be money well spent, as it's doubtful that I'd have gotten the kit supplied tracks looking as tidy as these do. I ended up using 112 links on the left side and 111 on the right.

Anyway, thanks for following 🙂

Whiskey Actual
Glad to hear your review on this kit. It came out beautiful. Excellent work!

James C
Thanks mate 🙂

I also meant to ask if anyone is able to translate the script on the sides of the upper turret?

Sebastian Meyner
Beautiful work mate 👍 You make it look so easy 😉

Lode Schildermans
Interesting to have all the information about this tank and the review of this kit. It surely will be helpful to those who want to build a tank as good as you do. It is beautifully done and has deserved more than it's place in your collection and here on SCM

Olivier
Thanks for the history chapter. And I like the result !

Peter Schijvens
Camo is beautiful!!

Rui S
Beautiful big model. Makes the T28 look small. Very well done 👍
Nice info too😉

James C
Many thanks Sebastian, Lode, Olivier, Peerke and Rui 🙂

Neuling
Turning a monster into a beauty .......... 👍👍👍

Peter Hardy
Holy smokes Jimbo! That is bloody awesome! I like it the best you have ever put on Scalemates and that is saying something! Even the track sag is perfect. (Good crew in that unit). Love the paint and the final finish too. Love it mate, love it!

Jos Jansen
Very nice result James...as always 😉, well done mate!

Spanjaard
excellent!

James C
Thanks Neuling, Pete, Jos and Spanjaard. Cheers for your feedback. Very much appreciated guys. 🙂

@ Pete - I wish I could take all the credit for the tracks, but it is mainly down to the metal Friuls that I used and the natural sag that you get with them due to their own weight. While a little pricey, they are ideal to use on vehicles like this where the running gear is completely exposed and a huge improvement over what you get in the box... not to mention easier to work with.
The only thing I had to suss out was just how many links to use. I never did get to the bottom of why one side was a link shorter than the other, but I suspect that minor spacing differences between the links collectively added up over all 110+ links per side.

The camo was a last minute decision, as my brother whom gave me the kit was against a winter white wash, and I also regretted not doing a camouflage scheme on the prev Koalitsiya build. So in the end I decided to make up for it with this one. I also discovered while writing the background info that there were some questions over whether or not it was actually given a winter white wash at all, as pictures taken of it headed to the front appear to indicate that in was left in overall "protective green" and that the white was actually snow. But being that the vehicle no longer exists, I guess we will never know for sure.

Thomas K.
gefällt mir! 👍

Björn Svedberg
That's a really nice tank, James! Great looking pictures too! 👍

James C
Many thanks Thomas and Björn 🙂

Jorge Coelho
Excellent workmanship, immaculate camouflage! Excellent job, James! This monster is also on my wish list..., one day, who knows...

James C
Thanks Jorge, despite it's large size it is quite a simple and very enjoyable kit to build.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend that you replace the plastic tracks with metal Friuls etc, as doing so will allow you to mount the sponsons to the hull prior to painting making life a LOT easier and not to mention that they look a lot better as well 🙂

Jorge Coelho
Thanks for the tips, James.