WIP Soviet draisine "Krasnaja Zvezda"

Wilfried Bogaerts
Currently working on 2 Polikarpov I-16's and a Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder, so why not throw in a third Soviet subject. The build was uneventful, nice and sharp detail and good fit. I chose this subject for 3 reasons. First reason was (as with all my projects) to have fun ! 🙂 😄 ! Second reason was to experiment with a new (for me) paint, Vallejo Air. I used a set of Russian Greens for this. And the final reason is to try the famous hairspray technique. Gonna do a winter camo on this one and I think this is a very good model for a first try. Wait and see...

Wilfried Bogaerts
After construction, the bogeys were primed with black, followed by a coat of Alclad II ALC-112 Steel. Hull and turret received black primer as well, and that's where the experiment with the new paint brand began, Vallejo Air. I bought AFV painting system Russian green for this. First came the hull, a few drops of paint directly into the spray gun (according to the Vallejo instructions no thinner is needed) and the "fun" began. The paint sprays fairly good but regular cleaning of the needle tip is necessary and the nozzle is obstructed by dry paint fairly quickly. Very nerve-wrecking but most important, the end result on the model is very satisfying. Cleaning of the airbrush is another horror-story. Lots and lots of dry blobs and paint particles, it needed a lot of effort, swearing and at least 3 sessions with the ultrasonic cleaner to get my airbrush back in business. Next job, the turret. This time the paint was thinned with Vallejo 71.261 Airbrush Thinner and Vallejo 71.262 Airbrush Flow Improver. Same story, annoying obstructions of the nozzle and frequent cleaning of the needle tip was needed to get going, but in the end the result on the model was again very good. Cleaning of the airbrush was once again #*%!#µ*$#. So, will I use this paint again? Yes, BUT ONLY if I can't find the required colours from Gunze or Tamiya. Despite the good results this paint is a real PITA to work with and compared to those other brands, it is NOT user-friendly. And some more nitpicking, the bottles may look handy and convenient, but what to do with left-over paints, you can't pour them back in the bottle so ... thumbs up for the standard paint pot with screw top! Oh well, most important, the model looks great, so far so good. I'm allready looking forward to try the hairspray technique ... until next time!

Holger Kranich
Hey Willy,
cool paintjob, indeed! But Vallejo screwed you, the bottles are way too small! LOL

Wilfried Bogaerts
After the application of several shades of "Russian Green", all this was sealed with a varnish coat. Next came the decals (all eight of them !) again followed by a layer of varnish for protection. A brutal oil wash was then applied and again ... a good coat of varnish. Next step is a coat of hairspray followed by white which will (hopefully) result in a nice worn winter camo...

Edgar Wells
Great work Wilfred, Holger your comment made me laugh as I thought the same thing when I opened one of the Vallejo modulation sets.

Wilfried Bogaerts
Foul weather here yesterday, so time for some modelling. First job was to dab the model with a piece of Scotch Brite and Maskol on "strategic places". Then the markings were masked with Blu-Tack followed by a few light coats of ordinary hairspray. A few passes with the hairdryer speeded things up and in no time I was ready for the next step. The entire model was coated with a few thin coats of matt white in 2 different tones. When dry, the Maskol and Blu-Tack was removed, with an allready satisfying result. Next came the water and a short haired brush, but without succes, sigh! Even after 10 minutes of rubbing the undercoat of hairspray did not disolve to create the desired effect, I must be doing something wrong here. Maybe the tap water in our village isn't wet enough? We'll try again on a next model but now on to Plan B. The white layer was then "attacked" with a small diameter glass fibre stick instead of the "water and brush" system, works a treat (caution, these tiny little pieces of fibre are a real pita, and protect your eyes, you don't want this in one of your eyeballs!). Next time another layer of varnish and we are ready for a wash, more chipping effects, some rust staines etc ... still plenty of work ahead.

Alexander Grivonev
Awesome chipping technique, Wilfried! Have to try that...

Wilfried Bogaerts
Hi Alex, actually it is quite simple, even a bungler like me can manage 🙂

Kim Branders
Nice.

Alec K
Very nice job Wilfried, and excellent photography. Thanks for sharing your process 👍 I have been eyeing the Vallejo paints for some time, looks like I should stick with what I have been using.

Wilfried Bogaerts
Thx mates 🙂 @ Alec Tamiya and Gunze are imho unbeatable. Recently I tried Lifecolor for the first time and was pretty impressed so I will be using this paint more in the future. Vallejo, yes but for small brush paint jobs and detail work but Vallejo Air ... hmmm ... no I don't think so ... 🙂

Wilfried Bogaerts
All smaller items attached and the whole once again protected by a layer of gloss. Ready for more weathering...

Zsolt Czegle
Great work so far! Following... (👍

Alec K
Looking fantastic 👍

Wilfried Bogaerts
So, the Soviet armoured train is finished, but you will have to wait a little longer for the pics ... now it's time for the (kit supplied) base. First we applied a black primer/undercoat. This was followed by spraying Gunze H345 Rough Gray and Gunze H455 Cement Gray in randomly patches. The paint was mixed with a fair amount of Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss, this to better protect the paint from the oil washes to come and it saves me the time and effort to spray paint a clear coat separately and hey, it works! The oil washes were also applied at random and I used Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber and Raw Umber, and 502 Abteilung Wash Brown and Olive Green, all thinned with ordinary White Spirit. To conclude a little drybrushing was done with a very light grey mixed from black and white oils. Then we sealed all this with a thin layer of Tamiya Gloss. Out with the Tamiya tape to mask the ballast and paint the wooden sleepers. This was done with a mix of 40% Tamiya XF-79 Linoleum Deck Brown and 60% Gunze H77 Tire Black, don't know why but it just looked good to me! Again a masking job, this time to mask the rail fasteners. As I had no suitable color at hand I mixed my own, about 60% Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown, 30% Gunze H7 Brown and 10% Tamiya XF-63 German Grey did a good job. The rails were treated with the same mix, but the running surface was painted natural metal. The rails were assembled to the base and a general oil wash with Titanium White was applied, trying to replicate that frosted look. Now we have to apply more dark brown, dark grey and dark olive coloured washes on "strategic" places, add some tiny spots of weed and last but not least, patches of snow and hopefully straight to the finish line!

Wilfried Bogaerts
Final WIP pictures of the base added. Now some pictures of the complete display (train + base) and another model is ready for the display cabinet woohoo! 🙂

Alec K
Almost there Wilfried! Looks excellent 👍

Wilfried Bogaerts
Thx Alec 🙂