[Paper Panzers] Swedish Kranvagn

[Ecam]

That turret and gun look terrific, can't wait to see the rest of it come together.

[tankme]

The gun is 130mm so the flash LED and the IR LED both fit in the barrel...

[Panzermechaniker]

Great to see one of the true builds starting to move again.

[tankme]

Great to see one of the true builds starting to move again.

It's been moving...albeit slowly. The Kran build is sharing time with several tank builds. I had to touch up some spots on the Kran's turret and wheels tonight so while the primer was drying again I was messing with my M48 early. And yesterday I was playing with the Abrams Herr Dr. parted with. The day before that, I was playing with the Matilda. It's pretty much ready for finishing work as it's test runs were a success. I love building tanks...I just hate painting them...lol Fortunately for me I've got the paint for the M48 and the Matilda worked out.

I'm a little less set on the paint for the Kran. The Kran was a 1950s project so it precedes the modern M90 splinter camo by like 40 years. Trying to find examples of 1950 era Swedish camo isn't easy. I have found some tanks from around that time that look like the modern NATO OD, black and brown hues. I'm considering going that route unless anyone else has any insights into Swedish camo of the 1950s?

[tankme]

I guess no one has any better suggestions for camo...

More progress. Got the tracks all resin printed. Trying out some Sunlu Toughness resin. Seems to give the tracks pretty good tensile strength while still remaining flexible. I tried all kinds of different materials for the tracks and they were all really brittle. The tracks have some thin parts that always seemed to break. I guess we will see how they hold up.



After assembling them I've got some black Mr. Surfacer on them. The turret and road wheels have been base coated. The hull is just about ready for base coat also after filling some screw holes it will be good to go for camo.



That's all for now...

[Ecam]

Those track links look amazing. I hope the new resin mix does what you hope. You are pioneering what I'm sure other will use down the road.

[tankme]

Had a bit of a delay as I ran out of Nato Green, but first two colors on. Next will be the brown and black.





That's all for now...

[MonsieurTox]

Tracks look awesome and very delicate!
I'm curious to know if they hold up. Keep up the great work.

[tankme]

Finished off the camo today. I think it came out pretty good. The Swedish camo patterns always have some lighter green in them...brown added:




Next the black:




Next to do some weathering, finish off mounting the running gear, wire up all the LEDs, add some markings (maybe), and call it done.

That's all for now...

[Herr Dr. Professor]

tankme: awed as always, I am thinking of ordering this book just so I can accomplish something far, far less impressive: a correctly painted modern MBT. Do you know this book at all:
Grummitt, David, ed. Warpaint Armour 2 - NATO Armour 1991-2020. Vallejo Guideline, 2021. ASIN B094RL283N.