1941. The Winter War. Russian forces were fighting against the Finnish on the enemy's ground. Russian were at a loss, even with numerical superiority and better war equipment. Still, the Finnish were driving the Russians back. It was their homeland. It was Finland! It was their backyard!
The bitter cold bogged down the Russians. Their heavy tanks; Kv 1 and Kv 2, were constantly breaking down.
"Comrade, vat is the strength of our tanks?"
"Zero, Comrade General"
"Vat! Zero? How many destroyed?"
"None. They all broke down on the way to the front."
"Идиоты!! (Idiots! - Russian)"
Despite the KV 2's weakness, it had a very thick armour. German guns could not penetrate it armour. The only Deutsch gun i have read of that could confidently penetrate its armour was the Flak 88 gun. Scary considering the Flak 88 had, well, 88mm caliber rounds; artillery rounds. I think.
Theres this popular story about a broken down KV2 stranded alone on the opposite side of a river from where the Germans were. I think two battalions of the much distiguished Germans were held back from crossing the bridge for a long time (a couple of days. Or was it a couple of hours..) until the tank ran out of ammo (it was carrying a naval gun in its turret.) and the crew abandoned it. A few hours later the Germans were crawling all over it with astonishment on the single tank, without any support from artillery or infantry, that stalled the movement of the batallions.
I bought the model for a very simple reason actually. It was in the shelves of Northpoint's Popular bookstore for well over a year. When the bookstore started clearing up its scale model tank stock (now there are no more Tamiya model kits there) , the KV 2 was the only one there. No one wanted to buy it. Its plastic wrapping were torn, acts of a kid curious of what's in the box, and the packagaing had a slight yellow tint on it already, representing the age it was manufactured. The price tag showed $29.90. The cashier noticed the date the price tag was made and made some alterations - $24.90.
Personally, the tank was ugly.
Just like all Tamiya model kits, details were crisp. Thick plastic (sometimes too thick and not right to scale) and easily put together. This was my next big project.
Learning from my Chi Ha, i planned out the procedures i was going to make and even wrote down the theatre of operations it was in. I built the model and in an hour, it was done.
I tried to be creative and wanted to cut down on cost. Those huge spray cans sold at hardware shops seemed like the solution to my cost-saving plans. I bought a can of paint, sprayed my model.
"AAAHHHHH SH*T!!!!"
The paint melted the plastic somewhat, i had globs of paint on the KV2 and now the model resembled.. well... uh.. it looked like crap.
Immediately, I washed the casualty model in hot water and started scrubbing the paint off. Some did fall off like mud, but the scars of my mistake were still there; the sudden bulge on top of the turret - the most prominent place - was obvious!
Like the Chi Ha, i kept the model in a shoe box and placed it unto my shelve.
As for the paint? I threw it into a burning pile of garbage. BOOM!!!
Just recently i picked up the KV2 and started reworking the whole thing. I sanded down the buldge... still there but no so obvious. Next, a black coat was applied to get it ready for the pre-shading process.
I don't know why, but suddenly the black acrylic paint had a very strong sheen to it.
At the same time, i black-coated all my other unfinished models (Panzerkampfwagen IV, Flakpanzer Möbelwagen and Königstiger). Used up three bottles of black paint just for that. $12 dollars gone, 36ml used.
The following month, I started the real painting process. Firstly, Tamiya XF-61 was applied in and around the centre of every panel on the KV2. Leaving a thin shade of black at the edges.
That following night (2 am or so), i mixed up a lightened mixture of the paint. Thinned it properly and start spraying again from the centre of panels out. I did a bit of overspray otherwise the three different shades would have a very strong contrast with each other.
It does look interesting doesnt it? Sadly, it's not realistic. And i still have not learnt my lesson; TAKE GOOD PICTURES!!!
The lighting's all wrong and the background is distracting.
After that, I switched on my air-con, set the temperature at 16 degrees celsius, shut the windows (it was raining heavily), switched off the room light, tucked myself in my warm cosy bed, messaged my sweet little girl a silly message ("Why didnt u message me good night today???". I told her not to actually...) and then went to sleep.
The next day, i sat back down behind the workbench. Tamiya has a good selection of decals for the KV2. The had many slogans that were painted to the sides of the turret such as "Motherland Russia" or "For Stalin!". I opted for "Motherland Russia". Taking out a flat sable brush and dipping it into a bottle of Microscale's Micro Set solution (that thing stinks) and brushed it onto the area i was going to put the decals on. The solution is meant to provide a good base for decals to adhere to. Modellers usually gloss-coated their models prior to the decal applications but i didnt. I didnt think it was worth it....
After setting the solution on the model, i brushed Micro Set unto the decals and pressed down the decal with a cotton tissue to squeeze all air bubbles out and figuratively speaking, telling the decal,"THIS IS WHERE YOU BELONG! *squeeze*"
The next step would be to spray paint some earth colours unto the lower hull to depict mud and also to buy some Micro Sol to apply unto the decals. Micro Sol is a solution used to force the decals to fit snugly unto the surface of the model and since Tamiya decals are thick, i think Micro Sol is pretty much needed. Then i would gloss coat the model, apply some washes,seal everything with a flat coat and start drybrushing. Add some chipping and rust and then, the grand finale; WINTER WASH.
It'll make the tank look like this somewhat...
Then I'm going further into the art of modelling by building a DIORAMA. Background, The Winter War.
Till then, have a nice day. I'm tired and i've gotta sleep. Its been hectic in school.
The bitter cold bogged down the Russians. Their heavy tanks; Kv 1 and Kv 2, were constantly breaking down.
"Comrade, vat is the strength of our tanks?"
"Zero, Comrade General"
"Vat! Zero? How many destroyed?"
"None. They all broke down on the way to the front."
"Идиоты!! (Idiots! - Russian)"
Despite the KV 2's weakness, it had a very thick armour. German guns could not penetrate it armour. The only Deutsch gun i have read of that could confidently penetrate its armour was the Flak 88 gun. Scary considering the Flak 88 had, well, 88mm caliber rounds; artillery rounds. I think.
Theres this popular story about a broken down KV2 stranded alone on the opposite side of a river from where the Germans were. I think two battalions of the much distiguished Germans were held back from crossing the bridge for a long time (a couple of days. Or was it a couple of hours..) until the tank ran out of ammo (it was carrying a naval gun in its turret.) and the crew abandoned it. A few hours later the Germans were crawling all over it with astonishment on the single tank, without any support from artillery or infantry, that stalled the movement of the batallions.
I bought the model for a very simple reason actually. It was in the shelves of Northpoint's Popular bookstore for well over a year. When the bookstore started clearing up its scale model tank stock (now there are no more Tamiya model kits there) , the KV 2 was the only one there. No one wanted to buy it. Its plastic wrapping were torn, acts of a kid curious of what's in the box, and the packagaing had a slight yellow tint on it already, representing the age it was manufactured. The price tag showed $29.90. The cashier noticed the date the price tag was made and made some alterations - $24.90.
Personally, the tank was ugly.
Just like all Tamiya model kits, details were crisp. Thick plastic (sometimes too thick and not right to scale) and easily put together. This was my next big project.
Learning from my Chi Ha, i planned out the procedures i was going to make and even wrote down the theatre of operations it was in. I built the model and in an hour, it was done.
I tried to be creative and wanted to cut down on cost. Those huge spray cans sold at hardware shops seemed like the solution to my cost-saving plans. I bought a can of paint, sprayed my model.
"AAAHHHHH SH*T!!!!"
The paint melted the plastic somewhat, i had globs of paint on the KV2 and now the model resembled.. well... uh.. it looked like crap.
Immediately, I washed the casualty model in hot water and started scrubbing the paint off. Some did fall off like mud, but the scars of my mistake were still there; the sudden bulge on top of the turret - the most prominent place - was obvious!
Like the Chi Ha, i kept the model in a shoe box and placed it unto my shelve.
As for the paint? I threw it into a burning pile of garbage. BOOM!!!
Just recently i picked up the KV2 and started reworking the whole thing. I sanded down the buldge... still there but no so obvious. Next, a black coat was applied to get it ready for the pre-shading process.
I don't know why, but suddenly the black acrylic paint had a very strong sheen to it.
At the same time, i black-coated all my other unfinished models (Panzerkampfwagen IV, Flakpanzer Möbelwagen and Königstiger). Used up three bottles of black paint just for that. $12 dollars gone, 36ml used.
The following month, I started the real painting process. Firstly, Tamiya XF-61 was applied in and around the centre of every panel on the KV2. Leaving a thin shade of black at the edges.
That following night (2 am or so), i mixed up a lightened mixture of the paint. Thinned it properly and start spraying again from the centre of panels out. I did a bit of overspray otherwise the three different shades would have a very strong contrast with each other.
It does look interesting doesnt it? Sadly, it's not realistic. And i still have not learnt my lesson; TAKE GOOD PICTURES!!!
The lighting's all wrong and the background is distracting.
After that, I switched on my air-con, set the temperature at 16 degrees celsius, shut the windows (it was raining heavily), switched off the room light, tucked myself in my warm cosy bed, messaged my sweet little girl a silly message ("Why didnt u message me good night today???". I told her not to actually...) and then went to sleep.
The next day, i sat back down behind the workbench. Tamiya has a good selection of decals for the KV2. The had many slogans that were painted to the sides of the turret such as "Motherland Russia" or "For Stalin!". I opted for "Motherland Russia". Taking out a flat sable brush and dipping it into a bottle of Microscale's Micro Set solution (that thing stinks) and brushed it onto the area i was going to put the decals on. The solution is meant to provide a good base for decals to adhere to. Modellers usually gloss-coated their models prior to the decal applications but i didnt. I didnt think it was worth it....
After setting the solution on the model, i brushed Micro Set unto the decals and pressed down the decal with a cotton tissue to squeeze all air bubbles out and figuratively speaking, telling the decal,"THIS IS WHERE YOU BELONG! *squeeze*"
The next step would be to spray paint some earth colours unto the lower hull to depict mud and also to buy some Micro Sol to apply unto the decals. Micro Sol is a solution used to force the decals to fit snugly unto the surface of the model and since Tamiya decals are thick, i think Micro Sol is pretty much needed. Then i would gloss coat the model, apply some washes,seal everything with a flat coat and start drybrushing. Add some chipping and rust and then, the grand finale; WINTER WASH.
It'll make the tank look like this somewhat...
Then I'm going further into the art of modelling by building a DIORAMA. Background, The Winter War.
Till then, have a nice day. I'm tired and i've gotta sleep. Its been hectic in school.
Posted by
Audi
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Scale Modeling
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