RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Turret looks great. Wish I could find estate sales of that kind...KV-1 looks like a Tamiya?

tankme wrote: ↑Sun Jul 23, 2023 6:32 am Turret looks great. Wish I could find estate sales of that kind...KV-1 looks like a Tamiya?

Yip, all 3 are. The SU has the Armoured Models conversion kit on it.

I have that same kit on my SU-152, but I broke the elevation on it and it warped in the Texas sun. I have fixed both issues at this point, but it's been a maintenance nightmare. Still one of my favorite vehicles though.

Looks very neat Ram! With some stippled Mr Surfacer for the cast effect, none of the printing should show.

Mark me down for a Mickey Mouse when you get there.

I think Mr Ram is going to be flat out "marking down"all sorts of things for interested people!!!
Mr Surfacer will certainly sort out any print texture, I for one cant wait to have another piece of Raminator Jewellery

That 1940 version is sweetness, especially with the stumpy gun! Mark me down!

Mike.

Thanks for the kind words everyone, hoping to make some more progress on these and have full conversion kits (with turrets, wheels/tyres, hardware, details, etc.) available soon!

tankme wrote: ↑Sun Jul 23, 2023 7:25 pm I have that same kit on my SU-152, but I broke the elevation on it and it warped in the Texas sun. I have fixed both issues at this point, but it's been a maintenance nightmare. Still one of my favorite vehicles though.

I'm not a huge fan of it; the print quality's poor, the accuracy isn't great, the mechanicals are broken, the PLA is warping a bit... I'm debating whether to rework it or rebuild the lower into something else.

Took me a long time to get rid of the print lines on it and like I said in the previous post, I took a bunch of time to try to correct some of the inaccuracies. I used a heat gun to reform the PLA and as I said, I used some liquid resin on the casemate walls to thicken up so that they won't deform ever again. The elevation/traverse is still a little wonky, but I inquired to James about getting the updated mechanism he used in his ZIK-20, but he said he never finished the project. I custom built the rain shield above the gun and used Miliput to make the external gun mount complete while altering the angle of the front glacis plate where it meets the gun. I dumped all of the plastic rails and soldered my own up from brass. I get compliments on mine all the time, but it was PITA build.

I managed to grab some time during the week to see what a print looks like with some texture, to get a better feel for what the final product should be like. As suggested by Herman, I used a 50/50 blend of Mr Surfacer 500 and Tamiya basic putty for the cast texture, and I think it works better than either product on its own. It was my first real attempt at weld beads using Tamiya quick-type epoxy putty and they (predictably) didn't turn out well; the channels I'd modelled as guides were too shallow and narrow, and the noodles I rolled were too thick. I've adjusted the drawings accordingly. That's the thing with R&D, I make these mistakes so you don't have to!


Still, much easier to judge than a flat-coloured raw print! No sanding or filling necessary, either. I might have to set up my airbrush compressor and give it a coat of primer to see how it all holds up.

Since these earlier turrets have the huge top hatch that allows you to see a lot of the insides, I'm adding some additional details like the hatch lifting spring and vision blocks.


I'll see how they turn out in the next test print.

The texture and weld beads came out great. I am going to give it a try as well.