Ludwig/Taigen SU-152 (early production)

This section is for builds that are not strictly Tamiya or Heng Long. For instance, replacing the electronics from a WSN or Matorro, or even a scratch-build.
Post Reply
User avatar
Raminator
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:57 am
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Ludwig/Taigen SU-152 (early production)

Post by Raminator »

A nice big package arrived today, coinciding nicely with the tail-end of my T-34/76 project.
  • IMAG0558.jpg
One of Juckenburg's very last SU-152 resin conversion kits, coupled with a Taigen metal lower hull, metal wheels, metal tracks and steel gearboxes. I'm not 100% sure on the electronics yet, but at this stage I'm leaning towards an IBU2 Pro.

I'll be building an early production SU-152 attached to one of the Independent Self-Propelled Artillery regiments that fought at Kursk, supporting the armour and killing the German beasts (Panthers and Tigers and Elefants, oh my). More to come!
Last edited by Raminator on Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:38 am, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
HERMAN BIX
Brigadier
Posts: 10234
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Gold Coast,Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by HERMAN BIX »

Legend !!
Can't wait to see this.
My favorite Soviet AFV
HL JAGDPANTHER,HL TIGER 1,HL PzIII MUNITIONSCHLEPPER, HL KT OCTOPUS,HL PANTHER ZU-FUSS,HL STuG III,HL T34/85 BEDSPRING,
HL PZIV MALTA,MATORRO JAGDTIGER,HL F05 TIGER,TAMIYA KT,HL PANTHERDOZER,HL EARLY PANTHER G,TAIGEN/RAMINATOR T34/76,
HL AN-BRI-RAM SU-85
User avatar
tomhugill
Captain
Posts: 4745
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:21 am

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by tomhugill »

I used an ibu pro in mine
User avatar
Raminator
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:57 am
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by Raminator »

As enjoyable as it is to create something, sometimes it's more fun to destroy. Some men want to watch the world burn, etc.

I've had a pleasant weekend butchering the Heng Long KV-1 upper to prepare it for the SU's big armoured casement. Saws, scribers, knives, files, even a hammer and chisel at one point. In the end, it feels like I've removed nearly half of the donor hull.
  • IMAG0574.jpg
Lots of extraneous bits got the chop too, you can see them piled up on the right-hand side. I hadn't realised how many differences there were between the KV-1 and KV-1S (and by extension, SU-152) hulls.
  • IMAG0575.jpg
Starting to look the business. It dwarfs the T-34 already, and I haven't even put wheels or a gun on it yet!
jtracks
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Posts: 1210
Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:00 pm
Location: Roseville, CA.

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by jtracks »

Following along.
Joe
User avatar
Raminator
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:57 am
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by Raminator »

Committing violence against this thing has been a nice way to unwind after work these last two weeks. More destruction:
  • IMAG0582.jpg
Cut out the transmission deck to fit the lower slope of the KV-1S cover, and spent the better part of 45 minutes hacksawing off the top of the rear armour plate to suit. This will let me have an open grille for the engine, which should help with the speaker volume. I've also removed all of the moulded bolt heads, since I'll be replacing them all with brass ones to ensure they match between the KV and SU portions.
  • IMAG0583.jpg
New front glacis and structural reinforcement for the fenders, since they're all that's holding the upper hull together until I epoxy the casemate into place. Following the theme of the last couple posts, I also filed off the rivet detail on the front armour, since they're only relevant for the KV-1 ehkranami that Heng Long and Taigen sell. The SU-152 should have a plain one.
  • IMAG0585.jpg
As good as the casement's casting is, there are a bunch of warped bits (unavoidable given the size, I imagine) and some of the details are wrong or inaccurate. I've cut, shaved and sanded nearly everything off so I can straighten it out and I'll be replacing them with styrene or brass versions instead. The channel in between the armour plates is for a milliput weld seam that will help hide the discrepancies there.

The resin kit has been a bit of a novelty for me, and I'm quite enjoying it. It behaves very different to plastic or metal, and besides the dust it produces it's very nice to work with.
User avatar
Raminator
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:57 am
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by Raminator »

Making some more progress. The entire rear panel of the casement had the consistency of Swiss cheese; it must have been facing upwards after the resin was poured but a frankly heroic amount of Tamiya putty and Mr. Surfacer have smoothed it out. The moulded loader's hatches at the back contained more bubbles than resin, so I figured I'd cut them out and fabricate some proper scaled functional ones.
  • IMAG0603.jpg
I also epoxied the transmission cover in and blended it in to the plastic hull by using milliput to simulate scale-width oxyacetylene-cut armour panels. My first time using milliput, and it's very different to work with. I like the results.
  • IMAG0605.jpg
More millput armour edges, including cutouts for the periscopes. They're not as obvious as I'd hoped, but with a little creative weathering I'm sure they'll stand out more. I'm not entirely satisfied with the weld seams either, they may require revisiting.
User avatar
HERMAN BIX
Brigadier
Posts: 10234
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Gold Coast,Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by HERMAN BIX »

Coming along great. Where did you get your miliput from mate ?
HL JAGDPANTHER,HL TIGER 1,HL PzIII MUNITIONSCHLEPPER, HL KT OCTOPUS,HL PANTHER ZU-FUSS,HL STuG III,HL T34/85 BEDSPRING,
HL PZIV MALTA,MATORRO JAGDTIGER,HL F05 TIGER,TAMIYA KT,HL PANTHERDOZER,HL EARLY PANTHER G,TAIGEN/RAMINATOR T34/76,
HL AN-BRI-RAM SU-85
User avatar
Estnische
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Posts: 1065
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Wollongong, Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by Estnische »

Are you having trouble getting it? My local hobby store has it.
User avatar
B_Man
Corporal
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:23 pm
Location: Yass, NSW, Australia

Re: Juckenburg/Taigen SU-152, Kursk 1943

Post by B_Man »

Last time I went to buy miliput the guy at Toyworld told me the Australian distributor had either gone out of business or wasn't importing it anymore (can't remember which) and it was no longer available. I went down the road to another hobby shop and had no such issues, they had plenty of stock.

I hope it's just a nasty rumor as it's great stuff.
Post Reply

Return to “Other Builds”