Object 279 - work in progress

Black plastic sprues

Upper and lower hull

Hull assembled

Front headlight (used a silver color on the inside)

Tow cable from brass wire, managed to lose a couple of the PE used to hook the cable to the hull)

The kit has sufficient parts to allow you to build two turrets with the two gun configurations

That's one big gun. Next to it the semi-assembled figure included with the kit

The lower hull is devoid of any details. You have the option to build the suspension as active or broken down as it is now in the musem. This is the active state

Drive sprocket and a lot of dust that the black plastic seems to attract as a magnet

The smoke dischargers are very soft and it's very easy to bend the plastic while cutting it from the sprue 🙁

First turret

Second turret

Side by side with the kit included figure (primed in black)

The second turret included in the kit (shorter barrel configuration)

Side by side with the Pershing, not exactly it's counterpart but until I build the M103 it's the heaviest American tank I got 🙂 )

NCB suited figure from the front ...

...and the back

Posing with the standard AK-74

...and the folded one

Next to the "apocalypse" tank

Next to the "apocalypse" tank

Next to the "apocalypse" tank

Next to the "apocalypse" tank

Next to the "apocalypse" tank

Comments

2 28 November 2016, 12:25

Dan M
So, i've started a while ago this unusual kit. A couple of impressions:

Pros:
- it builds into an impressive war machine; those four tracks and the big 130mm gun are intimidating; it really looks like something out of a sci-fi post-apocalyptic movie
- it includes sufficient parts to build two turrets; because of this it's possible to build both gun configurations

Cons:
- that black plastic is horrible; it's too soft and very easily damaged when cutting from the sprue; the PE parts for attaching the tow cable to the hull are so small and tiny that it's easy to lose them (they snapped in half while trying to bend them and the parts were lost forever to the carpet monster)
- the tracks are horrible, nothing like the magic tracks that Dragon used to do, they don't fit very well and they react badly to the Tamiya fine glue
- I really need to take better pictures, my apologies for the crappy ones

28 November 2016, 12:41

gorby
Looks very interesting Dan. I'm not really into tanks, but do like weird or unusual machines of whatever type – this seem to fit the bill, so I'll watch with interest. Not sure if I remember correctly, but I seem to recall that this monster was designed to survive a nuclear blast!

28 November 2016, 16:16

Dan M
Yes, that's correct. The tank had that elliptic shape, almost boat-like, in order to prevent it from being overturned by the shock-wave of a nuclear blast

28 November 2016, 21:37

Dan M
Painted the tank in the traditional "Russian green" 🙂. Or more likely an olive green color. This time I didn't do the usual post-shading as I've used a darker primer for my shadow coat.

2 December 2016, 20:17

Dan M
Thank you James! 🙂

2 December 2016, 22:12

Dan M
Small update: managed to work on the tracks. This time I tried a different technique, basecoated the tracks in a dark brown color, used a green grey filter on it, then added some diluted Rust Texture from the new Vallejo Weathering Range (dilluted to almost wash like consistency), then highlighted with some Vallejo Metal Color Steel. Everything in acrylics, no enamel.

14 December 2016, 22:44

Dan M
Painted all the details (tools, periscopes, MG, etc). Also mounted the tracks. This was the most difficult moment of all as they wouldn't fit properly. These are the worst link-by-link tracks that I've worked with so far. Had a hard time convincing the Tamiya green glue to work with them, they didn't fit well between themselves, they would keep falling apart on me ....in short, the worst.
Also assembled the figure included with the kit and primed it in black (actually a very dark german grey but looks black enough for me 😛 ).

24 December 2016, 20:50

Dan M
Thank you James! Yeah, I prefer the longer barrel as well. Looks more menacing 🙂. My wife doesn't like this tank, says it looks weird, more like a flying saucer than a tank 😄 (she likes the Pershing the more)

24 December 2016, 21:10

Ingo F
More like an turtle with a turret and tracks 🙂

24 December 2016, 21:15

Dan M
An ugly turtle 🙂. Have to paint the figure now.

26 December 2016, 23:35

Dan M
I've painted the figure that came with the kit. That was a lot of fun actually, not as difficult as I've thought. It comes with two AK-74 versions.

29 January 2017, 01:09

Scott Dutton
Looking great, you got a great result on the slime suit. You can get that in 1:16 as well, lots of fun and certainly different in cabinet

29 January 2017, 01:34

Dan M
Thank you Scott!

29 January 2017, 01:39

Ingo F
The figure looks very good Dan! First time painting a figure?

29 January 2017, 08:50

Dan M
Thank you Ingo! Well, about 10 years ago I was collecting a Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine army and I started painting some of the figures. It was mostly amateur work, nothing to be really proud of and I gave up a long time ago. But recently I started watching the Games Workshop youtube channel, they have some interesting tutorials there and decided I can give it a try.

So yeah, first time after a long break 🙂

What I think it's most difficult (at least for me) is painting the face and all the details like eyes, mouth, etc. This one has a gas mask on so it was easier. The true challenge will be when I paint a figure without it's face covered 🙂

29 January 2017, 11:22