It's been a weird few months, lots of things not happening and lots of things unfortunately happening. Been working on a classic Tamiya kit and figure for the better part of three months. I gussied up both the the figure and tank. Considering the original molds are 50 years old, they are pretty good out of the box but not up to today's standards. I improved things with styrene, copper cable, some etch mesh and new tracks.


Here's what I ended up with after a fair bit of work. Click on photos for full size.

























And here's where I'm at after 4-5 painting sessions.




































I decided I was going to give NMM a try for the entire project for a change of pace and to see how it would turn out. So far so good, the tracks will be the make or break moment. If they don't work out, I can always go back and use metallics. I'll try and show the process for the tracks when start them.

Kimmo

The extra detail you have added to the figure really does elevate it to the next level and the paint job is excellent. Looks great!
Gary

Cheers Gary and Nap! Feels good to be doing something again. Hopefully I'll have an update early in the week.

Kimmo

Fantastic work on this venerable kit! Looking forward to seeing your results with the tracks, Are they 3D?

tom

Great job Kimmo.
I really like the upgrade you did on the figure.

greets,
RJ

Cheers Tom and RJ!

Tom, the tracks are Vision Models injected individual tracks. They are a major improvement on the kit's rubber tracks but are kinda disappointing. They should just click together, which they do, but fall apart unless you glue them. And if you glue them, you press them into each other more to make sure they stay put which shortens the run which means less sag. You get 4 links extra each side which isn't nearly enough for my taste. The link is a very complex shape, and there were some problems with the track pin hole splitting as it is very thin walled. If you look closely in the photos below you'll see what I mean. If money was not a concern, I'd go with 3D tracks or Friuls. Considering how much work is needed to get to the kit looking this good, I'd think about starting off with the Fine Molds or Dragon offering.


Finally got an update. I spent two days getting the tracks to a point where I could test fit them, and realised I needed to add the wheels and some basic dust to the lower hull. I really couldn't take in progress shots, just not enough space to shift everything around. The process was pretty basic, dark grey brown base colour, followed by a darker wash, rusty wash, then a mid grey brown for the initial tone on the track faces and worn areas and edge highlight/glaze to taste. Tedious, but not terribly difficult as it turns out and I'm happy with where it's at now.

















Now I can glue the tracks and wheels in place and fine tune the NMM and continue with the weathering, which will basically be a dust coat using paint and maybe washes. Can't be bothered to use pigments this time around.


Kimmo

The tracks look great. Thanks for the feedback on them. I’ve been considering building some Japanese armor. I have both this kit and the Dragon one.

tom

Really awesome job on this old kit. IJA tanks are a neglected subject which is a shame as their color schemes are as much fun to replicate a the German schemes. IMHO. Great job!

Cheers Tom, Steel and Nap!

Japanese armour is neat to be sure, funky looking things with some interesting schemes. I really like inter/pre-war camo schemes, so many interesting patterns and the thinking behind them. I have a couple more in the stash that would qualify as eye catching, just need to sort out some details and schedules.

Nap, indy tracks are extremely tedious at best, a right pain in the backside at worst. These are not too bad as far as things go.


Another session in, this time getting the lighting sorted out now that the running gear is glued in place. The most irritating part of all this is waiting for things to dry out properly to see what you have. I went a touch too light with the track faces, a few glazes should sort that out.






















A crop of the front end to show the brushwork. One of the greys I'm using is Panzer Aces German Tank Crew II, it has a greenish tint and works as a nice compliment to Basalt Grey which has a wee bit of blue. I'll take a shot of the palette for the next update.





Another couple of rounds of tedium should sort the tracks out. I'm undecided on whether to give all the metal bits a coat of satin varnish or not when all is said and done to smooth things out and to give them some shine. We'll see...


Kimmo