International Scale Modeller

SU-85 (Samohodnaya ustanovka 85) was a development of the SU-122 assault gun on a T34 chassis to mount the D-5S 85mm gun as developed by Petrov in mid 1943. The first units reached the frontline in August 1943 and production ceased with the development of the T34-85 in late 1944, 2050 vehicles were produced and was effectively replaced by the Su-100 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SU-85)



















Construction begins with building a series of boxes containing springs, theres good news and bad news here. the bad news is that throughout the kit sprue gates are large and theres 4 of them per spring, the good news is that the springs and the boxes are all but invisible.



I gave it all a prime with Ultimate black and then Vallejo rust on the springs



swing arms fitted, these have pins on the rear that locate in the holes at the bottom of the springs.



thanks for looking

Paul

Good choice Paul I was looking at the Tamiya SU-85 it was a kit I always wanted as a kid but there was always something just a bit better and never built one. I was very tempted to buy one, I've been good and picked from my stash instead opted for a StuG just waiting for a few bits to arrive.

thanks Kev, I looked at the Tamiya one but it was the extra crew that swung it for me.

I'll look forward to your Stug!

cheers

Paul

Should be a great build!

I love the Soviet TD's with their fuel tanks on the outside.

Progress is continuing almost unabated, I have however discovered that Miniart have delusions of Dragon and that bits are included in pictures and on the spruce but with no guidance as to how what or why.... the breech is built and the innards painted. If any Soviet colour experts are experiencing apoplexy I'm sorry...(not) most of it will be invisible and I have a correct pot of UB40 in the post












Thanks for looking
Paul

Great progress Paul!

Looks a really nice kit and the texture on the gun mantlet looks especially good.

Thanks Alex

A mini update as some progress has been made and an annoyance come to light...

the two below exemplify my Dragon comparison, the red arrow shows the part but there's no identifier, fortunately I found it in the morass of sprues




The annoyance, there are three tiny locating pins on the bolts, it is almost impossible to locate them into the holes and to be honest its unnecessary to be this delicate here and its the same in lots of other locations. Using Tet if you don't hit the hole first time the pin is so small that it melts and mushes and disappears making it often hit, and usually, miss....


A final one just to show where I'm at so far


cheers

Paul

Nice start Paul and a fascinating subject too.

Interesting that Miniart have decided to follow the Dragon style of instructions too...

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:14 pm Nice start Paul and a fascinating subject too.

Interesting that Miniart have decided to follow the Dragon style of instructions too...

Good start to a nice kit, great to see some Rusky armour clanking around the battlefield

well the build is complete, I had a few little issues but mostly because I find PE an almost unrewarding struggle so on this I have replaced some of it with strips made from wine bottle tops (no wine was hurt or wasted in the making of this strip...) It has about the same dimension as the pe and looks nearly as good. I think it bends into shape much easier too.





so before priming, I had to use a little filler for gaps, the most surprising one being where the front hatch meets the glacis






and then primed in Ultimate Black





this is the rough colour scheme I'm going to go for



I have discovered that the figures that came with it are not the best but more on that in another post. I have however decided to push the boat out and take a look at this Miniart Diorama which should be interesting as I have no experience of vac form kits



thats all for now folks and thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

Paul

Wow that came together quickly and looks awesome! Do you prime and paint after you've attached the tracks?

I'm part way through my first Miniart dio kit. It's been a mostly enjoyable experience - building and painting were fun, but I've found it difficult to stay interested in weathering it. Hopefully taking a break from it to join in this SIG will help!

Yep very nice work mate

The wine bottle replacement PE worked nicely, and I've also used thin masking tape for straps and stuff around stowage before as well.

Like Rob I'm interested in how you tackle the tracks as I've never figured out a way to get the running gear sorted before adding it to the hull so end up doing it all separately and then fitting it (and covering the screw ups) afterwards.

I've got that miniart dio base lurking in the stash somewhere too... from memory there's only a couple of pieces of vac-form to make up the scenery so it's a good one to start with. One thing I would check is to see if there's any flex in the base itself once the vehicle is placed on there - I've had to put some bracing underneath a couple of the ones I've done to keep it level.

Great start to this! I'm looking forward to seeing the Miniart dio progress too, I really like them.

You're on a roll here Paul, it's flying together

Great idea using the foil from wine bottle cork seals I'll have to tell the Mrs I need a good supply of wine to keep modelling I wonder if she'll agree

Thanks guys. For me the issue with the tracks is simple, I am extraordinarily bad at these Magic type tracks, I inevitably end up having to stick the tracks to the wheels, fight gaps or have two of the same bits together so to save myself endless tears, gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes I go for assembling it as best I can and then solving it in the painting especially when its going to be covered in snow and mud. If I’m needing visible tracks then I’ll use metal ones but as we know, a Friul and his money are easily parted….

remember Kev it has to be good quality wine to have the right foil, I suggest trying a variety of bottles...

cheers

Paul

Quax wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 1:03 pm remember Kev it has to be good quality wine to have the right foil, I suggest trying a variety of bottles....

It only worked

I'm working form home today the Mrs is on a day off and went shopping, she's only come back with lovely bottle of Chianti and said will this one do............... Oh I'm a lucky guy

We go to the Cite de Europe in Calais once or twice a year, you have to be careful with some of them, J P Chenet I mean you.... because they use a waxy paper!

Paul

Looking really nice so far. The details and mold quality look pretty nice (rough cast, weld seams, etc.). Is it as good as it looks?

Are you going to use the hair spray technique for the worn winter camouflage? Just curious as I've been wanting to do one of those some day. If you are keep us up to date as I may use your data for a reference on my build.

Ben

Nice going there, looks great. The diorama is going to look specky

Thanks Ben
This time I'm going to use Migs Washable Camo White over AK's Real Colors, I've become a huge fan of the Real Colors mixed with MLT; they're the product Tamiya should be as far as my limited skills go, plus my Apex loves it



But as you asked I thought I'd use the excuse for a gratuitous Hetzer image, this was using hairspray with Tamiya white over and then mapped with oil



cheers everyone

Paul

Short update. A quick highlight using NATO black and progressive sea grey





Then AK Real Colors 4BO thinned with MLT




Cheers
Paul

End of the day


Cheers
Paul

Quax wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:12 pm End of the day


Cheers
Paul

Looks good an subtle chipping, guessing the photo has come out a bit lighter than the actual color on the hull.

Nice work Paul - love the subtle work with the whitewash - is that AK RC as well?

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:56 am Nice work Paul - love the subtle work with the whitewash - is that AK RC as well?

Hi Neil no it's Ammo of Mig washable (there should be a pic on page 2) however this is mostly how I sprayed it as I thought I'd try to get it as I wanted and then scrub the overspray.
@digger yes it does seem a little lighter in the photos than reality
Cheers
Paul

That is some fine work right there
I can't inmagine it would have much fun inside one of those as it is rather cramped but they sure did the job
Keep up the good work

Cracking job so far mate

Today has been working on the miniart diorama, I mostly used the Lifècolours set which was a first for me with their paint, the green is a lightened RAF green from AK.






The snow is the first pass on the base but I need to let it dry out
Cheers
Paul

Looks great! What did you use for snow?

Hi Rob and thanks. The snow is Woodland scenic soft flake snow SN140.
Cheers Paul

Nice work on knocking that base into shape mate - that looks great

Great looking base mate

Yep, really like the base and the snow effects

Many thanks chaps, I now need the thoughts of the hive mind as to which way around?



Or



The headless chap on top is




Looking forward to your thoughts because I can't make up my mind...
Cheers
Paul

I like the second position.

I like the first one as you can see the base of the wall

Both look great, but I like the 1st one the best.

I'm the same. Both look great, but the 1st pic gives a better view of the building.

Some fantastic work by the way!

Yes sir, the first one for sure.... (balance and view).

Ben

thanks guys, the first one wins by a short head! I think that side of the tank is more interesting so it was good news

Paul

Calling this done now, here's a quick snap and I'll put some more in the finished section.
Many thanks to everyone for their kind words and input and I shall now look forward to seeing the rest of them!



Cheers
Paul