It's been an eventful few months, but I've gradually been getting back at it again. Many thanks to those who messaged me while I was gone, I appreciate the thought. My health has improved a bit and we've sold our home, so lately I've been able to get little bits done here and there. I don't have any in-progress photos, so this post will be a catch-up from the last update. Here's where we are today:
Doesn't look significantly different from this time last year; almost all of the work is structural and/or internal.
A new styrene lower glacis textured with Mr. Surfacer 500 to get a cold-rolled steel effect. I used my soldering iron's hot knife attachment to make the torch-cut armour plate edges; they're 0.3 mm styrene strips that have been melted into shape. They're stronger and more subtle than the Milliput versions I did earlier. I also made new tow shackle attachments, sculpted and blended with the Taigen metal parts, styrene, Tamiya putty and Mr. Surfacer 500. I'll need to do some weld seams around them, but I want to get some practice before committing to anything on the model.
I used laminated styrene arcs to build up the armoured collar that protects the throat under the mantlet from ricochets. It'll be suitably textured with Tamiya putty for a cast steel effect, and will need weld seams around the perimeter.
I ended up replacing the original upper hull; I broke the resin Juckenburg transmission cover when I (foolishly) attempted to remove it to sell the kit. I think I'd cut too much out of the original Heng Long upper and it was flimsy as hell (and now had no transmission cover). You can see where I recut the new upper's transmission cover out, then sliced off the rear curve, turned it 180° and reattached it to create a more accurate KV-1S shape. This has the advantage of keeping the strength of the original ABS hull.
The same Mr. Surfacer treatment on the rear of the hull, it adds some visual interest and will help tie together all the different materials. I was planning to use the tail light fitting from the Tamiya C sprue I had, but I suspect it was eaten by the vacuum cleaner so I had to scratch built a new one from bits in the spares bin. Some nice Schumo shackles as well.
On to the most significant changes; a DKLM PDSGB and OpenPanzer TCB setup. The bulkhead holds the switches underneath the transmission access hatches, and the Sabertooth ESC is wedged between the hull wall and the speaker box. There's a Benedini TBS Mini snuggled underneath the TCB. I'm considering installing a little amplifier in-line; the TBS Mini is plenty loud on its own indoors, but it distorts a bit at max volume and I don't know how well it'll hold up outside yet. Like on my T-34/76, I've routed wires underneath the suspension; main battery on the chassis' right-hand side, TCB power and LEDs on the left.
I've had a couple test drives, but I don't have any videos of it in action yet; still some troubleshooting to do with the PDSGB first. Still, now that the internals are revamped and good to go, the upper hull will be getting textured and detailed next. On to the fun stuff!
