1/72 Takom Russian Tractors. Special Delivery

[minitnkr]

Love the finishes. Tilt came out great. Ist cuppa always generates idyl thoughts. Maybe hogging out wheel holes will give enough reach/scrunch to the trailer bed? Have you given any thought to faking some tie downs? PaulE

[Si Benson]

Tidy work Andy, this is coming together really nicely :thumb2:

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Nice work with the wet stuff.

[Guest]

Thanks all, it might take me a while so I hope you can all stick around long enough :smiling3:

Love the finishes. Tilt came out great. Ist cuppa always generates idyl thoughts. Maybe hogging out wheel holes will give enough reach/scrunch to the trailer bed? Have you given any thought to faking some tie downs? PaulE

My current thoughts - you can just see the pins that the wheels locate on, if I cut those off I have enough vertical jiggle room to pull it off. Wheels won't go up much or they'll touch the bodywork (more clearance on the real article) but they will drop down a fair way. I'm currently playing with the wreck to have the wheels turned somewhat for a bit more realism. Plenty of mud should hide the bodge work :smiling5:

And yes, chocks and tie down straps or chains are in the plan.

[Mini Me]

I've never used AK putty but just plain old "Silly Putty" (children's toy) works the bomb. Great color contrast Andy.
Rick H.

[Guest]

Cheers Rick. I've used blu tack before but thought this might work better. It certainly "slumps" to the surface given a bit of time so follows details better, but will have to try it again to see if the issue was a one-off.

This little beauty turned up today. I tried to find one at the Newark show (or rather Zoe did!) but ended up having to go elsewhere. I'm sure some will shout that it's decades out of date for this dio, but with a Ron inspired twist to the tale, it was rescued and restored by a local farmer many years ago and he's been using it ever since. He happened upon our luckless duo and offered to help them out, in exchange for what vodka they hadn't yet drunk.

Nice looking box art, which only bears a passing resemblance to the model inside! It shows wood grain on the load bed (nope), glazing in the windows (nope, but I intend to make some), doors which look like they could open (nope) and various other details that the kit doesn't actually have.

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Anyway, for 1/72 it'll do, and there's very little inside the box

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And within an hour it was ready for paint

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I couldn't resist improving a few things though. The two steering control levers were moulded in one piece so a bit of careful cutting ensued

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Also the towing pintle was sadly lacking. I couldn't reach it from the side to simply drill it out, so cut it off and fashioned a new one from copper wire, referencing the size from the ones in the Takom kit. Not brilliant but at least it can actually tow something now.

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I then shot it with my usual black Mr Surfacer 1500. I also tried a bit of pre-shading with MrC white, then promptly buried it by putting on one too many coats of Vallejo Olive Drab!

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Plenty of detail painting left to do but, like the KZKT above, at least the main colours are on and can harden up over the next few days while I'm back at work.

[minitnkr]

Came together very fast. At least the glass is flat. I see the winch cable was provided-a detail opportunity. Would have thought first mod would toss out rear seats to make room for more turnips:smiling3:. PaulE

[Guest]

Came together very fast. At least the glass is flat. I see the winch cable was provided-a detail opportunity. Would have thought first mod would toss out rear seats to make room for more turnips:smiling3:. PaulE

A buddy of mine gave me two small sheets of clear styrene which is the perfect thickness too.

And I hadn't even realised that was a winch cable! Now you mention it and I can see it properly on the blown up pictures I see I missed a trick there. Most of the parts are still only dry fitted though so I may still have chance to do something with it.

Really must learn to spend more time studying and planning instead of just forging ahead :smiling5:

[Guest]

Are you quite sure your new to this modelling park Andy.
The putty takes getting used to, various ways of angling the ab will give harder or softer edge. As to your problem how long did you warm the putty in your hands ? I found the longer you moulded it the more elastic it became and easier to use. Perhaps that might have had an effect on the paint if it was cold, can't see really why.

[SimonT]

Andy - the box art for this one and the similar Voroshilovets that I have built are actually their 1/35th versions, hence the increased level of detail

Cheating somewhat

[Guest]

John, it did take a while to warm it up as it was so cold, so maybe something transferred from my hands. I certainly won't knock the product for what could easily have been user error. Will try it out again when the weather is a bit warmer!

Andy - the box art for this one and the similar Voroshilovets that I have built are actually their 1/35th versions, hence the increased level of detail

Cheating somewhat

Ah, thanks, I suspected as much. Rather naughty of them!

[Jim R]

Hi Andy
Nice little tractor. As for preshading it is the bane of my life I have tried quite a few times. Carefully spraying a nice dark colour along lines and edges and into shadow areas and then obliterating it with a clumsily applied top coat - one day I'll get it right :tongue-out:
Jim

[Steve Jones]

Bloody Nora!! Its all happening here. I take a weekend off and you have built and painted all these vehicles. The guys have said it all really. Your certainly no novice now. I particularly like the engine and canvas work. The camouflage has come out well also. Keep up the great work mate

[Guest]

Thanks Jim and Steve.

I'm the same at work, 200-250% efficiency is the norm for me lol.

I do need to slow down a bit in this hobby though as I'm overlooking stuff and making mistakes.

The winch cable mentioned by Paul E should have been attended to, and if you look carefully I made a big mistake with the canvas. I made one end more pretty than the other and added an access flap. When I took the masking off it was at the wrong end! :smiling5:

So the less pretty end is now on show, after adding another flap. A bit more care would have prevented that, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

[Guest]

I needed the 2.5x magnifiers and a new No.15 blade, but managed to scrape off the moulded winch cable without losing too much other detail. Didn't have any thin enough wire for the hooks so filed and sanded some 0.4mm copper stuff to a more in-scale size, then the cable itself was some twisted strands from a CAT5 cable.

Paint still wet and needs the cable picking out in a different colour but I'm happy with how it's turned out. Thanks for seeding the idea in my head Paul :thumb2:

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