Trumpeter D-20 152 artillery

1
September 10, 2020
I always start out working with the barrel piece with an artillery kit. I will later add a thin layer of primer and see if I can better evaluate the quality of the surface. Ideally there should be no noticeable seam lines, nor any tiny gaps or pits anywhere. I haven't yet fully cleaned up the sprue goo that was added. Correction: I used Vallejo Model Color 'Carmine Red', not scarlet red in two thick layers with a brush.
2
September 10, 2020
Again, having used sprue goo, it takes some time for it to dry. :| Several things just dry fitted together here on the barrel piece.
3
September 10, 2020
It is a very good idea to pay good attention to how things fit around the breech block. In addition to preparing to use filler, I also had to sand some stuff thinner to get to have what presumably would be a cast breech block with a simple geometry to it, as opposed to a volumetric shape obviously made out of various parts that doesn't have flush seams. I will have to sand the "top" (or bottom) side here down, I guess I got a little careless with that part in particular there.
4
September 11, 2020
The molded parts were a little weird. I couldn't tell if the breechblock was entirely boxy or had an irregular shape, but I tried make it look more box like. I should probably go paint some other stuff on some other projects now. 🙂
5
September 11, 2020
I like this kit a lot, looks really nice, but it has some tiny, tiny parts. Not really flash on these, but some clean up is required after snipping them off the sprue.
6
September 11, 2020
I thought at first I wouldn't bother finding some copper wiring and make new handles, but then.. I accidentally dropped the kit part into the mightly garbage bin below me. So back to working with copper wire. I straightened the wire by gently rolling it on the table, pressing gently with a sanding stick.
7
September 11, 2020
Very happy with this. Glued onto the kit part with cyanoacrylate glue, using a glue loop tool.
8
September 12, 2020
I think I can clean this up a little better, a tiny pit that has to be filled in, in a couple of places, and maybe scrape the plastic just a little bit. Build guide states the bottom "flap" to be in the collapsed position, but I found a photo with the "flap" down, and besides, the flap doesn't neatly glue on if in the collapsed and locked position anyway.
9
September 12, 2020
It is such fun being able to spend minimal amount on clean up and then things just fit. One has to be careful though, when things end up being interlinked, then one should dry fit some parts before gluing any of those parts down for good. Else, you risk having to rip parts off and reposition them later on. I am also keeping an eye on any weird stuff, such that I can glue things together and also being able to airbrush everything, else I have to start paint things separately before I can glue things together.
10
September 13, 2020
More dry fitting. An assumption of mine is that things are supposed to be parallel with the barrel direction, so some nudging is required on some of the larger loose parts.
11
September 13, 2020
I have a bad feeling about this..
12
September 13, 2020
Sry, a little blurry here.
13
September 13, 2020
So I eventually learned to place a piece of masking tape over the photo etch, to better keep it in a fixed position, while I add cyanoacrylate glue with a glue loop tool. 🙂
14
September 14, 2020
I think I might go for this light green, unless I change my mind. I'll use the russian green as a primer.
15
September 14, 2020
Main barrel has been glued on, and I added some photo etch at the base of the barrel. I am fairly happy with the result.
16
September 18, 2020
I've been waiting a long good while for the sprue good to go hard inside these, as I had filled the cavity to drill out a more clean hole. The one on the left looks good, the one on the right has to be fixed, again. I only have to fix the outer most part of the hole so it should be fairly easy. Update: I have since fixed this. Warning: Adding sprue goo to thin plastic parts like these, will make the original plastic soft, so don't squeece the original kit parts while the sprue goo is still soft. Not that I recommend using sprue goo, but I like having plastic melt into plastic without putty sometimes.
17
September 20, 2020
So, I had been hoping I could airbrush it all, but that doesn't seem like a good idea, so I will have to airbrush the gun parts and its two other parts for the main seembly separately; and then the other stuff (not shown) will have to be airbrushed and then glued onto the main assembly.

I suppose I should now try out the self adhesive metal foil I have, for the pneumatic, or hydraulic actuator arms. I bought that foil a long time ago, maybe 2 years back, I hope the adhesive is still ok.
18
September 20, 2020
I tried to hide the seam of the metal foil, on the insides. I think I've read that you can very carefully smush the seam so it becomes invisible, but I didn't try that. Happy with the result, but it is only as good as how smooth the underlying surface originally was. I had to drill out a slightly larger hole. I made a test hole with the new diameter on styrene sheet to make sure it fit as good as I wanted it. Sadly I did not have a 1.1 mm Ø bore available. Uuh, I should probably take out the one acutator arm, and sand the cylinder a little shorter to match the apparent length of the other one.

When working with the metal foil after detaching it from its paper, make sure to not let the foil wrinkle, else you might have to work unwrinkling it, which might work ok, but it seem iffy. I guess the foil is strong enough to not crack. Good thing, the foil is thin enough to easily cut with a sharp blade.
19
September 21, 2020
20
September 22, 2020
Hm, it looks to me that this smaller hand wheel is what makes the gun move left/right. and then the big hand wheel probably make the gun go up/down. Also, if one doesn't glue the socket on the "leg", you can still move the "legs" in and out I think.

Update: If wanting the legs to open and close (movable), one must replace a small cable, with rubber, or the plastic will obviously snap when closing the legs for transport mode. I can't find any suitable material, so I'll glue this plastic on and keep the legs open into firing mode.
21
September 23, 2020
This is a fun build and a nice kit. I wish every scale model kit was equally good. I should finish this and get back to the F-14A group build. I've finished the F-14 cockpit interior, and should be able to go on and working on the canopy glass and the nose.
22
September 23, 2020
It was very difficult trying to bend these eight pieces of flat photo etch. The flipp'y side had a groove for each on the photo etch, but the bend itself, I had to use a tweezer and hope for the best. I do not have tools for such tiny bending of photo etch. The thickness of the photo etch plate, forces you to apply force, but I guess one could annheal it (risk of easily cracking?) to more easily bend it.

This reminds me, I should grab some piece of scrap photo etch, and test some annhealing with a lighter flame. Never done that before. I should try it out. 🙂
23
September 24, 2020
There are spare parts, both plastic and photo etch, but the build manual doesn't show this, nor explain it. So, I won't use those parts. Note, if wanting the assemble the gun in travel mode, the paint guide show that some parts apparently has to be glued on, differently than the build guide (!). I haven't check with photos on this though, but I would think the depictions in the build guide might be correct.
24
September 24, 2020
So far so good. Somehow, a tiny bit of paint was rubbed off in two places, but fixable. Just a few parts, either has to be airbrushd as well separately (I forgot), or I could try hand paint these. Next up: Drying and then airbrushing on light green.
25
September 24, 2020
Image re-uploaded. This was a lot of work. A little tedious making sure you actually cover every cavity and inside every corner. 🙂
26
September 25, 2020
I am tempted to airbrush some glossy primer on the barrel again and try sand the seams smooth, not 100% currently. I guess I was rushing the paint job, without exampining the initial airbrush work when putting on a layer of dark green primer. At one location, I ended up with the paint pooling on a large sufrace and the air pressure made it look like a crater sort of, I will have to sand that, and maybe airbrush the light green on again. I am fairly happy about the result, not 100%, but I should be pleased I think. NEXT: Later I will airbrush on a gloss coat. The two wheels is to have a white ring on them. I will simply fill the cavity with liquid white paint and hope I don't mess it up. It would be difficult to mask off that particular area I think. So I will simply drip paint into the circular pit where the white line is supposed to be.
27
October 20, 2020
I sort of found the time to airbrush on Humbrol Clear gloss coat liquid, with psi around 8-10. I've noticed that if the underlying surface already is smooth, it looks really nice when adding a thin layer of gloss. I honestly do not know how thick the layer of gloss coat ought to be. A nice thing about a thin layer of gloss coat, is that it dries really fast, as opposed to airbrushing it really wet, which makes the gloss coat sticky for a good long while with big risk of leaving fingerprints behind. Edit: On second thought, I suspect I should not have gone over the model two three times over in one sitting. It looks ok, but maybe I could have been ok with just one thin layer of gloss coat here I am thinking.
28
October 20, 2020
It looks rough perhaps, but I think it should be fairly smooth. Though, it looked the best after the very first round of airbrushing on a glossy coat. I think I should try stick to the first gloss coat and be happy with it, or, maybe lower the psi a little, or use my 0.5 needle airbrush for airbrushing on the gloss coat. I am here using the 0.35 needle airbrush.
29
October 20, 2020
An interesting thing about the paint scheme for this artillery piece, is that I will have to add a white ring into the cavity. Not sure how to do it, as masking this seems tricky. I hope to find a way to drip white paint into the cavity and try just fill the ring around the wheel. Hm, maybe I could use the glue looper tool to drop paint into the cavity and hopefully do minimal clean up afterwards.
30
October 23, 2020
At this point, I have added a pin wash to the whole thing, somewhat tedious, but also fun. I have here used my smallest pointy brush and added lots of white paint into the cavity, basically flooding it until it all turned white. I am ok with the result, but I should probably clean up the edges a little bit.
31
October 23, 2020
Oh I thoght this was tricky. I wanted to try 50% Vallejo satin varnish and 50% Vallejo thinner, but it sort of looked like maybe the tip dry happened too quickly, and lowering the paint flow, unsure. I should perhaps have added some flow enhancer, unsure, or.. I should have airbrushed on the varnish using my other airbrush, the one with a 0.5 needle. I imagined this build to be a "clean looking" artillery piece, but I should probably look over it all and see if I should add some very subtle weathering or adding other colors for the shovels and the other details like handles.
32
October 23, 2020
I wanted to try make a satin look on the green paint, and then, maybe afterwards consider airbrushing one some thinned matte varnish. Vallejo satin varnish bottle suggest two layers with four hours drying inbetween, I wonder why.
33
October 23, 2020
A photo showing how the "hook" on this side, became pressed down under the rod thingy that turns the turret sideways. I had to yank off the "hook" and glue it back on.

Update: It is a miracle. Looking at this photo again, I realized that a tiny tiny knob was missing, and I found that tiny tiny piece of plastic, still on my table, under my A3 sheet of paper. 🙂 I glued it back on.
34
October 23, 2020
Well, I did manage to assemble it all, after having painted various parts separately, so in that regard, it was a sucesss.
35
October 23, 2020
I couldn't figure out if any visible parts of the breech block was made of metallic copper or not. Photo seem to show, maybe all green, with no metallic parts visible. I probably added too much gloss coat, or, I should have stopped after the first layer. Usually, the gloss coat looks very smooth when airbrushed once over a smooth painted surface, but one wonders, just how smooth is it? So I added some more, possibly a mistake. The shine here is intentional, but feel free to comment on the final paint finish.
36
October 23, 2020
I really should make a light box or something for getting better lighting in my photos. :| Here, the two wheels can be raised or lowered, not glued, making the round disc touch the ground, and the two wheels then sort of points inwards. I thought it would look maybe weird with the wheels raised, so I just had the wheels touch the table in the photos.
37
October 26, 2020
Having the wooden floor sort of angling with the barrel was unintentional. 🙂
38
October 26, 2020
39
October 26, 2020
The coloring is a bit plain. I sort of imagined this to be a museum piece that looked shiny but just painting everything green. If I build another one, I'll make it look more matte, and adding some weathering and adding some distinct coloring to the details. One other modeler on the internet had painted the shovel handle light tan for example.
40
October 26, 2020
41
October 26, 2020

Comments

15 10 September 2020, 10:22

Rui S
Looking good. I´m in 👍

12 September 2020, 13:48

gorby
Very nice work so far.

20 September 2020, 14:40

Treehugger
I can probably show a photo later, but I thought it was important to point out, that..
..when gluing on the parts at the rear on each side of the "legs", the two big parts that perhaps dig into the dirt, well, those part won't swivel into the fully extended position, unless you sand off some plastic on the legs. I can't find photo of this particular detail, so I just sanded the plastic thinner so that I could fully extend the eh big shovel shapes that sticks into the ground when the gun is deployed in the field. These parts are not yet shown, so not shown in photo 19.

21 September 2020, 16:57

Treehugger
After me re-filling the primer paint into the paint cup for a second session shortly after the first, even thought I cleaned the cup and flushed the nozzle with the needle in, I think some flake of primer got past my sift, or, some paint dried inside and reduced the paint flow. No issues other than, somewhat less paint flow on my second run with the airbrush after a refill and quick cleaning without disassembling the airbrush.

24 September 2020, 15:48

Treehugger
The kit parts are very nice, but the build can be difficult, so not recommended for beginners. I am finishing gluing things togehter now and completing the buid as such.

Problem #1: The shiny actuator arms, might not look that nice in the end, if the hydraulic parts are not well positioned. although the hydraulic parts are not glued very firmly in place, still, it is a tight fit, and it isn't clear to me why the hydraulic parts aren't aligning 100% towards the bottom where the actuator arms are. Luckily the shiny actuator arms are only visible from the rear, and sort of hidden at the very bottom.

Problem #2: There are two "movable" hooks of sorts glued at the front, glued in place, but supposed to be moved around in "joints". If one glue these on early before putting the "turret" onto the chassis, one of the "hooks" might get pressed down, and it should probably be above not below.

Problem #3: I don't see how you can glue everything together and still airbrush it all. I like to think I did as well as I could. For the last part, I was not able to create a seamless join, for the very base of the "turret". I had to keep these two big parts for the turret separated so that I could assemble the gun onto the "turret" base.

Note: The kit as such, have the parts molded, such that the gun has to face forwards. I guess it might be possible to mod one of the parts, such that you could move the turret, I never thought of that. Ideally one could drill out a part to have a fully rotating gun+turret part as a whole with the two shields and all swinging to either side.

23 October 2020, 14:54

Neuling
Top result with amazing attention to details!👍 Crew wanted ................

24 October 2020, 05:24

Treehugger
Good idea. Having crew around would put the human scale into things. And thank you.

It was a fun kit to build, I am tempted to build it a second time with camo or something.

24 October 2020, 08:20

Album info

This should be a fun short build. Bsically a light green coloring, with a thin white ring around the wheels.

Trumpeter's D-20 152mm artillery in 1:35 scale

41 images

1:35

Completed

1:35 D-20 152mm towed gun-howitzer (Trumpeter 02333)

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