Hobbyboss Soviet T-30S Light Tank

Here's all the parts, except for the tracks, which come as seven sprues of individual links. I won't be using those. The Masterclub set are on order. 

Stage 1 done, except for fitting the return rollers. 

Two evenings in and it's starting to take shape. I lost some time last night when I managed to knock over an almost full bottle of thin superglue. Luckily, it missed all three kits on the bench. Step 6 of the assembly tells you to cut some rivet heads off a strip of plastic & attach them in position. Might help if they had included them in the kit. 

Most of the major joints need some attention. Mr Surfacer to the rescue. 

The Mr Surfacer has been cut back with Mr Colour Levelling Thinners. It will need a little patching, but is okay on the whole. 

Further progress and a test fitting of the wheels. 

The headlight bracket is PE, the headlight lens is, disappointingly, not a transparent part. An odd decision given the amount of PE, wire & metal gun barrel included. I've sent off for some third party lenses. 

The horn is four parts alone and very fiddly to assemble. 

The turret comes with a choice of armament. I've gone for the basic metal barrel but there is a slide moulded plastic one too. The other option is the 20mm ShVAK automatic cannon. 

Apart from a little tidying up, I can't do a lot more until euther the tracks or the headlight lenses arrive. 

I can't believe how quick this has gone together. 

See that thin plastic rod? Broken it twice so far. Really needs to be metal. 

I did have some spare rivets from the BA-20. It does look like something should be fitted in the middle of the rear armour, above the hook. Nothing in the instructions. Nothing likely looking on the sprues. I suspect it's a leftover from the amphibious T-30 kit 

Primed, base coated and 2nd camo colour done, although it might want a third coat. (Edit: This morning I found the worst brush marks ever in the tan paint. It'll have to go.) 

After removing the tan colour with IPA & cotton bud, I gave it a quick coat of green again. Then it got a coat of semigloss varnish. 

Then it got the dark green wash treatment. 

This was followed by a filter. You can see the rivets on the rear that are not in the kit. 

And this, in turn, by chipping. 

Test fitting wheels, tools, etc. 

The earth pigment around the running gear still needs a bit of a tweak. 

I'm not very happy with the tow cable, but I guess I can live with it. 

The exhaust is still recovering from getting a coat of rust pigment, so I skipped that part for now. 

Masterclub T-30 tracks. I must be mad. I need 172 links out of 220 in the box. There are so many either miscast or broken, that it's going to be a close call. Don't even get started on the track pins (0.4mm dia). I've had up to half a dozen ping out the tweezers before getting one in the hole. I'll be finding them in odd places for the next five years or so. Then, when you pick the track up, several fall out again. No glue required, it says. Ah well, half way there. 

Tracks done & fitted. The kit says 86 links per side. I've got 92. Maybe I'd get away with 91. Needless to say, several track pins either broke or fell out during the process. One issue was the fact that the holes in the tracks are not wide enough for the drive sprockets to fit into, so I sanded the teeth down a bit. It's not perfect, but there is only so much material that can be removed. 

Nearly done. The track pin heads need a dab of chipping colour to blend them in, then all it needs is a good coat of matt varnish. 

Finished! The last few little tasks are done and the matt coat applied. 

Daylight shots, as promised.