1941 KV-2A Research

[cannedheat]

painless
toy soldiers do a tin spray Russian green if you have them over the pond, I have in the past done a Sherman with it its good paint but its rock hard on drying and will not remove it sort of like a stove enamel in finish but acrylic..... wot wot ......

[HERMAN BIX]

Hey Mr Canned, I would hazard a guess and say that if the Soviets only had stove enamel at the time to cover bare steel then they would have used it ! the armour on these leviathans would have seen more ricochets' than a dollar - for a - shot carnival side show with the same effect !...............maybe it was the paint ?!

[ALPHA]

Alpha!,
I am paying particular attention to all the shades of green on the KV-2s that I see in color. I spent some time on Neal Stoke's site last night reading about the formula for 'Protective Green' on those tanks and all the various permutations that were possible by switching out the dilution agent. It was described as being a lighter green with a yellow tint. *chuckles* I didn't do too badly by selecting the Testors Bomber Green to paint this particular template tank in. Thanks for the color shots there, my friend.
regards,
Painless

Aren't you doing the Captured version? Check the link I put up... there are some with winter camo...but really if you're sticking to the Soviet green... Remember Pactra Paints.... It really looks like that formula they had for the forest green ...as it was never as true an Olive color like testors

You going to put zimm on the Captured? Saw that some modellers did it on smaller scale Kvs ...but I couldn't find any photo's of the real tank with the application

I have to admit Painless..putting up this thread was a bit of genius on your part... look at all the homework others have done for you
I gotta say though...it was an interesting find ... those "live" photo's of the Captured set up like the Torro ....as I never seen those before

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning, CH, Herman and Alpha,
I'll look for that over here, CH and see what it looks like. Thanks for the idea, Sir. Very good analogy, Herman. ;o) Alpha, I will be doing the 'Capture' version and having seen references and photos of the tank being used by the Germans in it's original paint, I figure that the possibility of a Sov green painted 'Beute' panzer with German markings painted on would exist. That gives me three paint schemes to consider. I'll look around for Pactra paints as well today and look at their color chips. So between the Sov Green, German Gray or the German Tri-tone camo I have seen. The one that comes on the high dollar Torro version is the tri-tone and is easy on the eyes. No Zim on this version. I've seen the pictures and the chassis is ignored which would be kind of silly since that is where a magnetic mine would be stuck on first. I don't know about the homework but I have got to say, having you all participate gives me a really good feeling about this build. There is a lot of interest in these tanks and as I am finding out, a lot has been forgotten over the intervening years that is really fascinating to rediscover.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Greetings Painless...Good luck looking for any Military colors from Pactra... Haven't seen those in a decade ...they were good for some applications...pretty far off by most of today's standards which Tamiya covered ...but if you wanted that "median" ... they usually had it covered ...I kind of miss their "Dark Earth" one of the deepest browns I've seen
The Zimm... Yeah sitting on the fence is a good way to approach it... I've only seen models with the application..If you have other reference that shows a real Kv2 with it then it might be a consideration... I have a hunch the Germans were pretty confident of the armor on the Kv...and perhaps felt Zimm wasn't needed ...who knows for sure... the reasons for and against must have been numerous at the time...and probably be a topic just as endless as those rotor shield plates on the Sherman

Have a good one Painless

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Evening,
Alpha, I did some more research today and Testors has had Pactra Paints under it's roof for a long time until, get this, 2013. They dropped it and had the model railroad guys up in arms. The good news is that this year, there should be a line of polycarb paints out which are the Pactra colors relabeled under Testors.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Good Evening,
Alpha, I did some more research today and Testors has had Pactra Paints under it's roof for a long time until, get this, 2013. They dropped it and had the model railroad guys up in arms. The good news is that this year, there should be a line of polycarb paints out which are the Pactra colors relabeled under Testors.
regards,
Painless

Hey there Painless... yes I did know about that merger ....back then the entire line of military flats disappeared...in both spray and brush ...it was kind of sad in a way... because testors flats were good... and pactra flats were good... together they would have been great...if.. they had kept the entire collection of colors ...unfortunately some big wig decided to nix the pactra flats... repackaged testors gloss colors under the pactra label...what was even worse ...for a little while testors in spray form started getting rid of their candy or transparent colors

I remember when those two companies were the only game in town.... if you built military models... it was usually pactra...it was cool because the bottles were three times the size of testors lol.....And if you did cars... testors all the way... as they had the best line-up of gloss finishes

It's nice to hear testors is going to reintroduce some of the Pactra colors... I just hope they kept the variety of colors ...once some of those mixes are lost ..it's tough to recover them... I think at the time Pactra had about 40 different flats for brush ....about 10 or 15 in spray..in comparison to testors which had about 7 for brush and 5 for spray ... as they favored car modellers more

It won't really affect me now... as I don't build the same things..(which was just about everything lol)...and have already found an alternate source of paint...But I do think for those just getting into it... especially in smaller scales...It provides more selection for them to use

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
I'll keep my eyes open for those new paints and see what they've done. Until then, the local hobby shops carry Testors flats which do a good job even tho' some of them aren't exactly flat. I've noted that their metal colors like 'Steel' take a very long time to cure as well. I use Tamiya whenever I can find them which is a sometimes proposition at Hobby Lobby. With the amount of tanks that I do now, I think it's about time for an airbrush.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Good Morning,
I'll keep my eyes open for those new paints and see what they've done. Until then, the local hobby shops carry Testors flats which do a good job even tho' some of them aren't exactly flat. I've noted that their metal colors like 'Steel' take a very long time to cure as well. I use Tamiya whenever I can find them which is a sometimes proposition at Hobby Lobby. With the amount of tanks that I do now, I think it's about time for an airbrush.
regards,
Painless

The Hobby shop closest to me... carries several types of dull coat paints...mostly Tamiya in shaker cans... funky colors though as they are made for those transparent poly vacuform RC car bodies Testors is still in standard gloss colors... though they do carry a set of military flats using the old formulas

This place is old...and pretty set in their ways... so probably won't bring in anything new...it's unfortunate for sure... but I don't blame them much... just because of the "climate" of modelling in Hawaii... most kids like ready built.. or cyber entertainments ...unlike my generation which grew up nourishing our minds and hands in the techniques of crafting things ...I remember making trees out of wire and toilet paper lol... walls out of foam and plaster... even dirt and gravel ..I don't think the new generation would know how to do any of that

Anyway it does no good to morn the disinterest of the new generation... but revel in the present and future...enjoying the hobby to it's fullest


CARPE DIEM Painless
ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Alpha,
I completely agree. *seizes his mouse and gets back to deciphering the text on the Russian linked images that Blimp provided* ;o)
regards,
Painless