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.

Bob Hall
Another Fine work of art J. Very Nice !

Ingo F
Turned out really great!

Eelco Gregoire
Nice job James!

Neuling
A masterpiece.

Slavo Hazucha
Came out spectacular, totally fits into the forming line of your modern Soviet/Russian green heavy metal! . You really have the highlighting & weathering process mastered, it looks very convincing & makes the single color green machines looks very realistic while bringing out a lot of details, nooks & crannies

The Zvezda kit really seems to deliver - details sharp (particularly the ammo handling assembly in the back), posable gun barrel & transport position gun-support... Great OOB value indeed

Guy Rump
Excellent build, really impressive

James C
Many thanks Bob, Ingo, Eelco, Neuling, Slavo and Guy.

Cheers guys, I really appreciate your feedback

@ Slavo - I started the year with the goal of representing the British army... and having done that, these latest Russian units are all a bonus!
I do have 1 failure... in the form of an Italeri F-14.... I'm in two minds whether to put it back on the bench or not....

Spanjaard
back on the bench!

James C
Thanks Brian & Daniel

@ Brian - Another way to check a Zvezda kit is to examine it's history in the "Time Line" and look for it's initial release. Make sure the first kit in the time line is Zvezda and indicates "New Tool" and you should be ok. If the history timeline links back to other manufacturers like Dragon or Skiff etc pre 2010 then you could run into issues. That's not to say that all older Zvezda kits are bad, but something to be aware of when deciding on a potential purchase.

Zvezda hasn't helped by re-releasing their older troublesome kits in their new box styling, so I personally won't buy anything released by them now on a whim, that I may have done in the past without first checking it's lineage here on Scalemates.

Ingo F
Sadly for their future Shilka kit. Was hoping for a new tool but they will use old Dragon molds for the kit.

James C
That's disappointing and not going to do anything positive for their reputation.

Brian Eberle
Thanks James! Great info.

Henrik Persson
That is a awsome job James you have done with this model, really nice job!

Sebastian Meyner
Great work & stunning paintjob James

James C
Thanks Henrik & Sebastian

James C
Album updated with assembly pictures and a few more outdoor shots of the completed build.

Sebastian Meyner
Great painting & weathering James

James C
Thanks guys

Lode Schildermans
Beautiful build and weathered. At your high standard, as usually

Slavo Hazucha
I guess that was a "challenge accepted" scenario

Looks excellent in desert finish, lots of cool fine details with the grilles and I really like how you treated the barrel

Lode Schildermans
Slavo, James is an expert in highlighting and weathering with oils. Never overdone, always subtle and always revealing the details. I don't know how he does it, but the results speak for themselves

James C
Thanks Slavo & Lode

This is one of my older builds. But I was doing a bit of binge watching on youtube from the Tank Museum in the UK and thought the short clips were really interesting and would go well with some of my previous build albums. I'm still undecided on how to paint the 2S35 Koalitsiya

Christian Bruer
Very well done James

Chris
Wow, great work. I like the weathering.

Rui S
Well I like all your models

Olivier
*****

James C
Thanks Rui

@ Olivier - Not sure what ***** means, but thanks ?

Spanjaard
looks great in my opinion!

Tomaz Klemencic
Very nice Stug, nicely painted and weathered!

Olivier
@James. It means five stars.

James C
@ Olivier, wow... and thank you. You didn't have to do that. But I appreciate it

Neuling
All praise you got here is well deserved.

Gerald Willing

Olivier
I am right now trying this scheme on a Marmon Herrington MkIII. Quite a challenge...

James C
Good luck with it and post some progress pics

Daniel Klink

James C
Just figured I'd add these links as they are quite interesting.

Olivier
Very interesting ! Thanks James for the links.

Rui S
Oh yeh. This is a Beautiful build and weathering. Very well done all arround

James C
Thanks Rui, glad you like it

Just a correction to my last... the green used was MMP-032 "Russian Green Modern"

Ingo F
Looks great mate! Love this subtle weathering, right amount.

James C
Thanks Ingo

Lode Schildermans
It just looks fantastic

James C
Thanks Lode

Bob Hall
NEAT ! Thanks J !

Spanjaard
beautiful Königstiger!

Nathan Dempsey
Yes, more beautiful work James.

Spanjaard
really sorry about your loss

James C
Thanks mate

He was an amazing individual and taught me a lot of practical life lessons.

Bigglesof266
Looking forward to this one James. Is is a Zvezda new/recent tool? (saves me looking).

James C
Supposed to be a recent and newly tooled kit. It's molded in grey so I think I should be ok with this one... (I hope)

Carlos Cisneros
Gonna follow this one!

Carlos Cisneros
Isn't this a rebox of the Dragon kit?

James C
Yeah, that's what I mentioned at the end of my comment

Bigglesof266
Appreciate the 'forthright' report James C. = ] Like you, I don't mind the newer tool Zvezda 1/35 armour kits, and especially their 1/48 aircraft series which are universally, good, but I won't buy anything from them which is old old tool. With Zvezda's policy of now reboxing everything in their new glossy brand associative yellow outer boxing, all I can say is thank goodness for Scalemates so people can identify the original year of tool release. A repeat of the Airfix rebranding nonsense when Airfix started reboxing everything including a lot of dross from the 1950s & 1960s in bright red boxes.

James C
Yeah, I stopped purchasing Airfix kits altogether because of that. (Italeri as well) I won't even consider their supposedly newly tooled kits either unless they are drastically reduced in price.
Kits retailed here in NZ cost generally twice as much as they do in Europe or the US presumably due to the shipping costs of stock etc.

This kit reminded me of their similar vintage T-80UD which was also originally a Dragon tooled kit.
I received that as a Xmas gift about 6 years ago, and was the only reason that I persevered and modified it to complete it, but vowed never again. Seeing this one headed in the same direction was very disappointing to say the least.

I don't mind building older kits, and/or having to use a bit of filler to clean up joins etc.
That's just modelling, and if it's in it's original boxing you accept that as being a product of it's time. What is unacceptable (to me) is passing off shit like this from the past as being something new, without making any attempt to correct the original assembly flaws... yet still charging prices equal to that of their newly tooled kits when they don't have the same quality of modern molding and engineering techniques etc.

Anyway, that's my whinge, piss and moan for the month over with

Bigglesof266
Haha.. No you just speak the truth. Airfix pricing in AU is outrageous as well. I place the blame squarely on the single line import distro's shoulders. Before Turnbull pushed 10% GST onto all AU imports regardless of value, I used to buy Airfix from Hattons in the UK who would take off UK VAT which compensated for the international shipping and exchange rate which worked well if amortizing consignments cleverly. But Airfix squashed that refusing supply to Hattons because of High street retail Hobby shop unceasing whinging re Hattons "predatory" local pricing in the UK. Whilst Airfix's newer tools are a vast improvement, their pricing isn't. It's also just a nonsense over here. Armour is reboxed Academy, Dragon Smart Kits 2020 they ain't. Aircraft, well let's just say Eduard before the USD went 'bullistic', and I'm glad I bought my new tool Airfix Whitley V, Blenheim I & Do-17Z from Hattons. I like Soviet, Japanese and German subjects, so I'm well served by a healthy stash of Hasegawa, Tamiya, Zvezda, Eduard for air with a smattering of reboxed Hasegawa Revell or new tool Revell & predominantly Dragon for armour although Zvezda new tool opportunity buying is increasingly featuring due that import/USD situ.

James C
Cheers Ingo

joe strenko
I like the camo paint job..well done????????????

joe strenko
Opps sorry for the question marks....how did you accomplish such a detailed pattern?

James C
Thanks Joe. Sorry for not replying sooner.

The camouflage was achieved by airbrushing the basic green pattern first (Over black primer) then I masked it off with thinly rolled tubes of blue-tack. I then sprayed the Dunkelgelb over the top.
After removing the blue-tack, I did a number of touch-ups to the green again free-hand.
I finished up by using assorted oils on the lower panels and recesses to give it a bit of depth.

Guy Rump
Great looking model

Jos Jansen
Good tip James to first spray the green areas with the Blue-tac afterward... learned something again! By-the-way a superb model mate, love it !

Bigglesof266
Agree Jame's camo result was super. Just a heads up. For those who mightn't know, J's Work do two different camo scheme 1/35 Ferdinand mask sets. Search here for PPA5070 & PPA507. Another way to achieve the scheme. I've used them on other AFVs e.g. my early and late Hetzers, aircraft with complex camo patterns e.g. Su-33. They're very good, but with the caveat they do result in that harder edge look typical of a factory stencil or field brush applied scheme. The Kursk Ferdinand camo was field applied by crews using both application methods. J's Work stencils of course, come at additional cost in terms of $ and time. What James did works fine for the price of some Blu Tack and would be easier to and take less time to apply IME. Alternatively you could also use Microscale liquid Micro Mask or its ilk marketed under various brandings.

James C
Thanks Guy, Jos and Bigglesof266

Olivier
You made quite a good showcase for the Caunter scheme with this one.

Rui S
IMHO, Both Matildas are very well painted

James C
Thanks guys

This is Tamiya's older tooled kit from the 70's and is WAY over scaled and when compared to their newly tooled Matilda kits... is a bit of a turd to be honest.

The AK "Caunter Scheme" (AK4030) paint set that I used was a bit disappointing in that the silver grey didn't even come close to matching the colour as indicated on the box art. The colour provided was just a slightly darker version of the "Portland Stone" with a slight greenish hue to it. For this one, I tried to darken it up a bit and add more contrast by going over the top of it with a blue-grey from Tamiya's weathering Master pastels set which largely did the trick. The rest of the colours in the set look ok though.

It is for this reason that I chose to use the RLM blue when I did the newly tooled kit.
While it too isn't correct, it was a far better and more accurate kit to build and the paint scheme looks much tidier as well.

https://ak-interactive.com/product/the-caunter-scheme-1940-41/

Al
Good job despite the kit; I know exactly what you mean about the older tooled kits, I made the mistake of buying a couple on Ebay because the price was really good (compared to the newer tooled kit) . Of course I got what I paid for and life is too short to waste time on polishing turds.

Neuling
Missed this one: a mistake! Very beautiful, especially your choice of colors!

James C
Thanks Al and Neuling

@ Al - I couldn't agree more

James C
Thanks Daniel, Nigel and Alexander

@ Nigel - Yeah, I completely agree mate. Tamiya are doing themselves a massive dis-service reboxing older Italeri kits. The Italeri/Tamiya M24 Chaffee kit for example was pretty bloody awful, although to be fair this Crusader kit did go together very well in comparison. But still way over priced for what it is. Their Sd.Kfz.231 (6 wheeled armored car) was also another abomination that just annoyed the hell out of me and not worth the cost of the plastic it was molded from. I've yet to build their M109 Paladin, so will be interesting to see what that's like as I have both their Vietnam and Gulf war versions.

@ Rui - I received the Thunder Models Scammel Tank Transporter kit for Xmas last year; so the plan is to possibly load this Crusader on to the trailer.
Scammell Pioneer TRMU30/TRCU.. (Thunder Model 35200, 1:35)

Rui S
Do you have the trailer James? That will be wonderfull

James C
Yep. It's one of the reasons I concentrated on British armour this year... to see which one I load up on the back

Rui S
Great, I see that the truck brings the trailer. I'm looking forward to see that big set, Mate.
Do you have a album of the Sd.Kfz.231 build? Why it was an abomination? I like that armored car.

James C
No I didn't bother re-shooting it as I disliked the result so much. If it had been priced more in line with other typical Italeri boxings like their Puma kit that I also did, I wouldn't of minded so much. For what its worth, the Italeri 234 Puma (8 wheel) is better than the Tamiya/Italeri 232 (6 wheel) and just a quarter of the cost! Very dishonest marketing by Tamiya.

In comparison, I found their 232 is poorly molded, the fit of that angular hull was not the best and the fit of the rear axles to the chassis was just sloppy as hell. Tamiya included a metal barrel which given it's basic shape was a bit unnecessary, as well as a standing commander figure to pose outside of the vehicle and then quadrupled the price!

I agree that it's a cool looking vehicle, and If you can find the original Italeri (2004) boxing, I'd recommend it as it includes the overhead aerial frame, but I would not recommend the Tamiya re-issue as your not getting anything for the inflated price and they did away with the aerial frame. Given the overall quality, I'd also avoid the later (and much more expensive) Italeri re-boxing as well)

I'm a fan of Tamiya engineered kits in general as you know your getting quality... even with their older kits. But your not getting that quality with these re-released Italeri kits, but your still paying Tamiya prices.

Rui S
I see, and I agree To pay a lot more just for a nice boxart??? Tamiya shouln't overprice it.
Italeri had an upgraded kit with PE & resin parts.
Sd.Kfz. 232 (6 Rad) (Italeri 6445, 1:35)

Zach Wilson
exceptional precision

James C
Thanks Zach

Rui S
Looks great. Would like to see details

James C
I've got some close ups from the original album backed up somewhere. Just need to find them again.

Neuling
You really brought this old kit to life. Good paintwork!

Lode Schildermans
James, nice paint and detailed. I like it

James C
Thanks guys.

It looks better attached to the half-track with its top up in this album:
Sd.Kfz. 7 with towed 88mm Flak 37 | Album by Jim C (1:35)

Rui S
Great camo and weathering

James C
Thanks

Neuling
I agree with Rui.

Lode Schildermans
Not my favorite kit, but you always turn it into beauties

James C
Thanks guys

@ Lode - Yeah, 90% of it was Tamiya's old Sd.Kfz. 7 kit from the 1970's. But it was a simple enjoyable build, and a good test bed to practice the camo pattern on. There are more recent and accurate kits of this vehicle by both Trumpeter and Dragon.

Rui S
like this one for exemple

James C
Thanks Rui. This one got on top of me and I did not intend it to look so beaten up.

Spanjaard

Nathan Dempsey
Nice work James. I remember selling many of these at the old hobby store. Its great to see it built up.

James C
Thanks Nathan

Neuling
Menacing looking vehicle. Good work!

James C
Thanks Neuling

Lode Schildermans
Very nice weathering. It sure does look as it has some miles done

James C
Cheers Lode... It was way too heavy handed on the weathering with this one and toned it down a LOT after this build

Rui S
Nice paintjob

James C
Thanks Rui

Lode Schildermans
The russians knew how to build tanks. This one fired a lot of shells apparantly

Slavo Hazucha
Nice big daddy Josif Stalin tank - been in the wars, a little rusty & itchy... Nicely done

James C
Thanks guys

Rui S
I like the weathering

Olivier
Why last attempt ? Are you unhappy with the outcome ? By the way what is this red thing amongst the crew in picture 1 ?

James C
Thanks Rui

@ Olivier - Yes, I was never happy with the final result of how the crew turned out, and overall I just didn't enjoy the process. The crew member in the second row is supposed to be eating an apple. Perhaps I should have painted it green instead. I made another attempt to do the crew figures on the Patrol boat build but I ended up just binning them.

Neuling
Top build. Colours and weathering are absolutely convincing.

James C
Cheers

Rui S
Great work

James C
Thanks Rui. I believe that this Italeri kit is still your only option, if you want to build an A15, Crusader Mk. III in 1/35 scale etc.

Spanjaard
very nice job James!

James C
Thanks Spanjaard, much appreciated mate.

James C
Thanks Jeremy

Slavo Hazucha
Looking very fancy basking in the NZ Sun. The top pic on the black table being my fav as usual Nice job - glad to see a full-color navy pattern nice & clean

valiente84
Good job, congratulations!

James C
Thanks Slavo & Valiente84

I'm considering doing the Italeri F-14 next

Lode Schildermans
James, a flawless build, viewed from my side. The details, paints and decals are son nice that in another background set, as on a carrier, one wouldn't belive it is a scale model

James C
Thanks mate

Clifford Keesler
James. Well done.Very nice A-7

James C
Thanks Clifford

Brian Eberle
Another of your builds that I like a lot. The finish on the camouflage is smart looking! Oil paints for weathering?

Rui S
Another beauty from a great 1/35 collection
If I may say. Imho, i would give a mate clear coat on the sand bags.

Acki
Great job on this old beauty!

James C
Thanks Brian, Rui and Acki,

@ Brian - Yes, after applying Tamiya dark brown panel liner to all the raised details, I hit it with MiG oil brushes. Mostly "Dark Brown" and "Earth" tones.

@ Rui - Yeah it could probably do with another flat clear coat all over, as I see the turret has a bit too much reflection on it as well.

ForestFan
Excellent job on a weird looking tank!

James C
Thanks Forestfan

Rui S
@Jim C, I Think metal always reflect a bit, even if painted with mat colours, but fabric for sandbags or litter doesn't, so one material would be more mate than the other. Just my two cent...;) Anyway, I think the weathering in the tank is beautifully done.

Lode Schildermans
One of my favorite jet planes, and what a beauty. Thanks for it with us Jim

James C
Thanks john & Lode

A. Price
This is outstanding, beautiful work!

Joseph Russo
A very nice build of an unusual aircraft

Scot R
Very clean build. I like it very much.

Clifford Keesler
Very nice S-3.

Lochsa_River
Understated and clean....

James C
Many thanks A. Price, Joseph, Scot, Clifford and Lochsa_River

James C
@ Oscar - Thanks mate
I too have always been intrigued by half-tracks.
To get them to sit flat, I applied a hefty dose of CA to the bottom of the road wheels and to the top of the upper idler wheel where they make contact with the tracks, and then set a flat weight on top to compress them to lie flat, and then left it for an hour or so to cure.

Oscar Benavent
Yes, I know it. I did it too, but over time vinyl tracks take off. It's so frustrating. There the worst plastic item to paste. Better change it for another product of good quality and best details.

Kerry COX
Bloody beautiful Jim.
The road tyres look exactly like they have been driven many k's away from any wet weather, but what road conditions it has been through is well represented indeed.
Great touch Mr Jim.
I like it heaps.

John F
Very well done, when I used to be in Navy I shot a dual mount 50 cal. The noise was deafening, can't imagine the racket from a quad must make.

Rui S
Beautiful eye cacther. Great paintjob, very well done. Realy like the amount of dust . These tracks are a problem indeed I had a similar issue on my RSO....

James C
Thanks Kerry, John and Rui.
It's an ancient kit, so I can forgive it for the issues with the tracks.

@ Kerry - It was supposed to represent a vehicle operated in Italy... hence the dry dirt/dust, but I can't find my prev build notes at present. I'll update it with unit info once I find them.

Kerry COX
It rained in Italy during the war too James C.
Of that I am certain.
Still a stunner from where I sit.

James C
Thanks mate. Much appreciated

Brian Eberle
Wow, very well done!

Rui S
I Agree with Brian . would be nice to see some more detail photos... both kits look great and deserve it

Treehugger
Seeing this I got an idea. I imagine it could be fun making an extra large diorama ground surface, like a desert area, and then, just use that for photos with models, that way one can just store the whole thing without the models on it in the shed or somewhere else.

James C
Thanks Brian, Rui and Treehugger

@ Rui - These are all new pictures, but I was fast running out of useable natural lighting when I took them, so didn't have the time to fluff about with close ups. The original album had more close-ups, which I may re-upload at some point.

@ Treehugger - I was thinking of purchasing some of those pre-made landscape mats for doing something very similar for taking finished pictures. I don't have the skills, or display space to do diorama's unfortunately. But I do enjoy looking at other peoples displays.

Brian Eberle
That takes up alot of shelf space. Hopefully you have a glass enclosed place to keep them.

James C
Yes, I have a number of glass wall units to display everything in and to keep the dust out.

Jos Jansen
Excellent Jim....(welcome back )

James C
Cheers Jos

It's been good to get rid of some older builds completely and re-photograph the ones I've decided to keep. Also a few new builds to add as well.

Neuling
Looks very good! Maybe a little bit of red dust on the tracks and wheels? Interesting info on the kit.

James C
Thanks mate and yeah, I think your right. The red is probably a little too red in places like the lower hull.

Neuling
Very realistic looking Matilda. The winter camouflage is well applied.

James C
Cheers mate. I learned a lot on this one. I intend to do something similar on a Tiger 1

Denis Savchenko
"Zvezda" has significantly improved the quality of its products over the past few years, approximately since 2015.

James C
Yeah, I'd have to agree with you Denis. I just finished assembling the Zvezda 1/35 Ferdinand and am currently in the process of painting it. It too was a joy to build, and every bit as good as the Tamiya 1/35 Elefant which is more the twice the price!

Rui S
Very Nice paintjob and soft /subtle weathering

Neuling
I agree with Rui.

James C
Thanks Rui and Neuling

Brian Eberle
I like the end product, it was worth the fight. Oils for weathering?

Neuling
Top result and interesting info on the kit!

James C
Thanks Brian and Neuling

@ Brian. Yes, a combination of Italeri Acrylic for the base coat of olive drab, followed up with Tamiya dark brown panel liner and MiG oil brushers and assorted pigments.

Brian Eberle
Nice!

Neuling
Top build as all your models you showed here in the last two days!

Daniel Klink
Great Stuff.. really
is that you James from new Zealand with the former Otto Sanders AVatar?
Nice to read from you again... Already missed you ...

James C
Thanks Brian, Neuling and Daniel

@ Daniel - Yes it is mate New albums with hopefully better images of some of my better builds. I've gotten rid of most of the early stuff and builds that I wasn't happy with.

Brian Eberle
Jim, I like it. Very good! I wish the Oshkosh logo was included on the cab and mud flaps. The shape is there, but the words omitted. A copyright thing and lack of agreement between Oshkosh and Italeri? l agree, the bumper numbering scheme was off.

James C
Yeah, there was a lot wrong with it. A big issue I had was that the mounting brackets for the fuel tank didn't line up with the corresponding locating holes on the chassis and the engine deck appeared to be mis-shapen and slightly warped as well. Did you have similar issues with yours? The decals were also problematic in that the main set were coloured to overlay on top of a NATO paint scheme for some odd reason and the alternative decals that I used for this Gulf war scheme appeared to have been included only as an after thought. The best thing about the kit were the Def.Model resin wheels lol!