SAMOKHODNAYA USTANOVKA-152/KV14 RENOVATORS DREAM!

[Ad Lav]

Looks cracking with a coat of primer. Looking for forward to green!

[HERMAN BIX]

https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/view ... ool_theses

A well written angle of the Kursk battle.
quite a lot to take in, but a very good read.

[HERMAN BIX]

Looks cracking with a coat of primer. Looking for forward to green!

Well ok then !
I took a huge risk on a base coat. As there was nil stock of Gunship Grey (TS-48)around, I used a light gun metal spray TS-42.
On it went.
Poor old tank looked like it was off to the moon
But, buoyed by the fact that its only to provide a base for hairspray & scratching later, I figured how bad could it be ??
I also spent time making up my own 4BO green base.
XF-81 Dark Green 2 RAF was the starter, mixed with XF-13 J.A. Green and a dash of XF-4 Yellow Green.
I used the MIG shadow for the usual spots to create shading.
Once the shading was on & dry(and it was 33c outside so that didnt take long!) on went the home made 4BO.
Once that was dry(in 5 minutes flat) i used the MIG light Base to add contrast to the larger areas likely to see more sun than other bits.
Seems to have worked, well better than my previous attempts at this Soviet Green caper anyway
Left overnight to absorb into everything, today I spent the morning making up a mix for the so-called Russian Tan that seems by the few references to be a yellowey Khaki.
I just kept adding XF-52 Flat Earth to a base of XF-49 Khaki and used the rest of the yellow green XF-4 to get the odd hue to it.
As the temp outside was an effective baking oven, the stirrer sticks I used dried, and I could use them as sample pallets until I thought I'd got it close to right.
Lucky I used a very large Tamiya jar to mix in, because by the time it looked right and was thinned, it was chocka.
So without any real plan on a pattern other than 'not too much' on the Russian Tan went.

Now I'm a bit biased...........but I bloody nailed it
Very happy with the look and tone of both colours & the way they work together.

Still a mile to go to finish, but its a proper model now rather than a renovators dream/dogs breakfast..........

A slogan, numbers, clear seal and wash to come on the upper, pigment and mud build up for the lower to tie it all in.

[HERMAN BIX]

Cont..............

[Ad Lav]

Wasn’t expecting that - nicely done!

[Estnische]

Nice tone in that green.

[HERMAN BIX]

Wasn’t expecting that - nicely done!

Nope!, neither was I really but it worked.
You took a punt on that KV1 you did, so I thought why not.
The brain says "Russian tank=green" but the eye goes damn it looks good.
Perhaps I have done too many German tanks that my grey slush is used to seeing some form of camo ??

[HERMAN BIX]

Nice tone in that green.

Thanks Mr E, after a full day of 'soaking in' its got better.
Everything seems to have blended in & calmed down a bit.
The Tan camo has taken on a yellow tone, which is apparently how it was supposed to look.
They also used a very chocolate Brown over green combo in the earlier days.

[HERMAN BIX]

Nice to have something different..............

The eternal quest !
Looking to do the paint disruption over the coming days, the old wet toothbrush caper.
Im going to try to put single scratches into the surface of the paint to hopefully expose that gun metal undercoat.
If it does work but its too bright, I can tone down the scratch with a sharp pencil.
For some reason, this paint scheme and its super matt finish is just marvelous, to the point of making me sad to muck around with it too much
But a clean tank anit a "my" tank, so I will certainly overcome any reservations & bash it up

[HERMAN BIX]

I’ve got my scratch on!
Used a toothpick to score the top coat off areas likely to be munted by trees and fences etc.
hand painted the patriotic slogan “Stalin’s Sledgehammer “
Ready to chip seal and wash today I hope.