DocRob

The Crew is looking great, ready for Rock'n Roll. Not so easy to paint that many figures with the same uniform and give them something individual with the faces and their posture, well done here. Cheers Rob

Splendid. I love the mottling and the spare cowl for contrast. Cheers Rob

I like that new "channel" here in LSM. Great BuReview James. I wish somebody would have done one about the ZM TA-152 . Cheers Rob

Stunning result with an not so easy to build kit, congratulations. Cheers Rob

It's time now for the many little things that have to be done to put some live in a kit. First I filterd the camo with a reddish brown MiG filter, which was an important step, because the camo colorus blend more and loose the too seperated look. Then the tank got a treatment of light scratching with knifes and toothpicks, some detail painting by hand with lightened or darkened versions of the original colours and some work with crayons. I wetted the rubber skirts for chipping and liked the look after the removal of the camo, because it looked like rubber, which in this case it is . Except the rubber skirts, chipping is not excessive, because the tank will be shown as relatively new, but completely covered in mud, snow and ice. Then I added the fabulous SKP lights and sensors, which enhance the look of the beast and are highly recommended by the way. Later I will add some reflective coating on the smaller optics. Cheers Rob

Ladieees and Gentlemeeeen, for this one I need a little of your imaginative powers. Last week I ordered the Scammell Artillery Tractor from Thunder Models. While doing so my first thought was to get the more 'spectacular' looking Recovery version, but then I instantly remembered a great book I bought some years ago about creating fantasy scenes. i will build the Scammell as a circus truck for some weird clowns, wearing medival clothes and looking mean and badass. Combined with some alterations to the truck (maybe a little steampunk) and adding lots of strange details will hopefully lead to something like the initial picture in my head. I will put Crazy Clown Time from David Lynch on my turntable and refine the idea. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gus, but there are lots of things to do before the beast earns it's right to get dirty . Some detail painting, decaling, filtering and chipping will be done before it gets messy. And then there will be mud and snow and ice. Cheers Rob

Today I did some more masking for the Nato Black (for a Russian tank ) using tape and liquid mask and got the beast as ugly as possible. After drying of the black dots I removed the tape (easy), the black Panzer Putty (medium to hard) and the liquid mask (very hard). The difficulties arose because of the complicated shapes of the tank and the putty and liquid mask's tendency to flow in every tiny corner and gap. To remove I needed a steady hand, toothpicks, adhesive sticks and tweezers. The best method for removing small residues of the liquid mask is to use a rubber or some rests of dryed mask to rub off carefully. After doing so I got that for a result. There have to be made some corrections, but first I masked the ERA-tiles with the same pattern like the rubber mudskirts. Generally spoken, given the complex shape of the tank, the combination of the three different masking materials were the right choice. As a base for further steps I'm satisfied and if you look from above the fit of the camo-pattern of the turret fits to the camo of the tank body, phew. Cheers Rob

After a short break i got back to the bench and masked the beast for the second camo colour. I used a mix of Kabuki masks for the hull (not that many details protuding) and Panzer Putty for the turret. Applying the masks was not that easy and will have to be redone for the ERA Armour which I will add later above the sideskirts. I used Vallejo Duck Egg Green which looks very pale, but if I have to tone it down, I will use a filter and oils. This time I had no problems with that Vallejo Model Air Colour. Next will be the complicated masking of the small dots of black as the third camo colour. Looks a bit messy at the moment, but i hope it will look good after removing everything, masking a Panther is a piece of cake with all the big plates and sharp angles compared to this one . Cheers Rob

Hola Senhoras e Senhores, the beast went Hulk. It got it's first camo colour not without problems. The planned Vallejo Russian Green was like oil on tin and was not usable and I don't know why. In the end I used Tamiya Olive Green which went on well, but looked a bit greenish to me. I did some lighteneing of the tone in parts to create a little volume. The preshading, as I suspected, was completely worthless. Because of the complicated multi-angled shapes and details of the TA-90 you had to do a lot of spraying from different angles. I couldn't go so thin with the colour to keep the preshading, but no problem here, because of the three tone camo and the planned mud and ice, that will not hinder. For the wheels I used Quick Wheel masks, which are perfect to the rim and they hold six wheels, so it's just four passes with the airbrush for the inner and outer side of the wheels. Anyway, I like that Meng added a PE-Mask for the wheel painting an idea which coul be taken over by other companies. Cheers Rob

Nice Free, can't wait to see the Se5a to fulfill it's purpose. The trees look pretty close, aren't you afraid. Today is a Paraglider Festival on my island, maybe a chance for some (mid size ) freeflight action on photo. Cheers Rob

Thanks Mike, it's good to see this one finished and there were lots of things to learn. Cheers Rob

The beast got some Tamiya rattlecan primer applied and after drying the tracks, wheels and rubber sideskirts were airbrushed with Tamiya Nato Black. With the remaining colour I gave the tank and turret a very rough preshading, but I doubt that can be seen in the end whe i'm finished with all the planned painting and weathering steps. The rubber sideskirts were brushed with Heavy chipping fluid, because after painting I will rub () lots of the paint off the rubber. And now begins the fun part, painting and weeeaaaattthheeerrrriiinggg! Cheers Rob

Thanx Jeroen, it might be not enough brass for your liking , but in this case it is really not neccesary. Level of detail is very high and you are right, these tracks are among the best I have seen in plastic, that good that I decieded against the Friuls. the only neccesary AM is the barrel, because the kit one is a halved multi part affair. heers Rob

Hi Folks, bad weather leads to more benchtime, so the assembly of the T-90 is finished. I left out the antennas and AA-gun and some tiny handles and the sensor lenses. These will be added after painting. Wow, nearly 1.500 parts, no kit I built had more, but mainly putting everything together was without struggles, the kit is well designed, albeit some parts could have been a little bit more refined or sections not broken down in too many single parts. The finished kit is hard to handle, some parts fell victim to my clumsy paws. The good thing is that you can add and remove almost every wheel with the mud-skirts mounted, with the exeption of the back toothed drive wheels. I broke an axle while trying, the other was easier added with detaching the sideskirt a little. The tracks are just fiddled in for optical and practical test. The beast got company by a hooded Russian soilder, who will be up to his knees in mud and snow beside the tank. The figure is casted by Corsar Rex and detail is excellent, but there are some tiny bubbles and the barrel of the not shown Kalashnikov was broken. Cheers Rob

Thank you Rick, there were some serious demons connected this time, but while taking photos of the result you tend to forget... . Cheers Rob

Great review about a very interesting subject. I can see a steam punk conversion with my blurring eye, sweeeeet. Cheers Rob

Yes Gus, I think so and weathering will be even more funny. I will try to show that beast mud caked and snow and ice covered and this will make small mistakes in the paintjob disappear .

If you, like me, thought of russian tanks as a rather simplistic affair, I altered my opinion while assembling this one. The turret only took me four days to (more or less) finish it. Of the 1500 parts of the tank, seemingly 500 went into the turret. There are sensors everywere and lots of ERA tiles are to mount, often with multi part substructures. There is a lot of cleanup to do, but in the end you get tons of detail. The brass smoke dischargers were included with the Voyager barrel and look way better than the plastic ones. I more or less abandoned the idea of using precut masks for the camo, because of the huge amount of parts and details, it seems like my freehand airbrush skills will be tested. The clear parts for the sensors will be added with SKP coloured lenses or reflective foil after painting. Cheers Rob

Impressive work and great attention to detail, love it. Cheers Rob

Long time no see on this one, other projects kept me sidetracked, but finally I have some small steps to show for the T-90. I finished the rubber side skirts, using rubber ones from Tetra Works, because it looks more rubberish, than these provided in plastic. I plan to chip lots of paint away on them to show the black rubber. The parts left out are lost due to the harsh conditions this tank will be shown in. You need some patience to assemble these side skirts and there is no real need to do so, as the kit ones look good, but for me it was easier to show wear and loss of parts this way. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Senhores, it was great to have you with me during that build by the way of encouragement. Cheers Rob

Ladies and Gentlemen, finally I got the ZM TA-152 done. This build was not free of troubles and I'm somewhat relieved, that this bird is finished now. If you are interested into the 'how to's' you will find the 'WIP' under that link https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/5340-ta-152-zoukei-moura-132-my-first-zm/ I had lots of fun through that build, but there were moments of sheer frustration, even to the point of nearly abandon the project. Because of that I will show some pro and cons. Pro - Interesting subject, most subassembleys are well detailed - Great presentation of the kit with nice boxart in a sturdy box, everything is well and safely packed, and a great manual in colour and style. - Canopy masks are included and you get details like brake lines (nicely reproduced) and two pilot seats, one with sufficient reproduced seatbelts and a complete engine. - Decals were good, complete with stencils and great to work with (with the exception of the yellow and red fuselage ring, because big opaque markings are better painted). Cons - This kit is overengineered, there are lots of subassembleys to show with opened cowlings, but because of that it is a nightmare to get everything aligned properly - There are some flaws in the continuity of the manual, specially with the assemble of the engine with it's struts into the fuselage - You have to be a hardcore test fit junkie as a result of the above mentioned - While detail is generally good and sharp in most places, some parts look almost toyish (Oxygene tanks, the guns, parts of the cockpit, rudder pedals) - Price, I can see, that this kit is worth some bucks and many thoughts and engineering has flown in, but to me personally it is to pricey for the troubles you get while building Used aftermarket products and how I liked them - The PE-flaps from ZM are definetly worth the extra cash, if you are willing to ruin your nerves while bending, glueing and preparing the wings for the installation - The metal guns, aerials and pilot tube are a definite must, specially the barrels - The resin wheels are weighted, so they are a must for me too - The metal gear struts are bueno, but the plastic ones are not bad either, so it's up to you - The interior PE from ZM is a nice addition, but when you deciede to close the canopy not many will be seen. - The exterior PE from ZM was useless to me, the included parts for the wheel covers are nicely reproduced in plastic and most of the hinged cowlings show not so nice detailed inner parts of the TA, so it's not worth the (big) effort - The Concept Notes printed by ZM are a nice and well made source of reference and modelling advices, but sometimes I wished I had a magnifier, because of the tiny fonts In the end the bird looks differently than planned. I found no way to let the engine cowlings removable, not even with the extra PE-hinges, so I glued them in place. What I learned from this build is that test fitting a lot is the only way to get this one done and that some models unexpectedly force you to permanently be open to changes during the building progress. And last but not least, never trust a primer which dosen't smell horrible, but thats has nothing to do with Zoukei Moura. The german camo was a first for me and it went on ok. The best about it is, that I no more fear complicated paintjobs, so lets start with the ZM HE-219 UHU. Wait a minute it's from ZM and I need a little rest from them . Here are some pictures I hope you will enjoy Cheers Rob

Thank you shark and all the other supportive guys and gals? I can see the finish line of that build now. When I finish, i finish all out, which means while finishing I'm breaking a lot of parts. In this case I lost one of the flaps (repaired on the pictures) and the tailwheel. That will be added later, when the varnish is dry, together with the aerials, pilot tube and nav lights. After chipping a little with crayons, pencils and some Tamiya Aluminium I added lots of different pigments to the different surfaces. The lower side was treated with bright blue and some brown and near white pigments to enhance colour richness, than some brown tones where added to simulate dirt from the wheels. The upper parts where treated with chalk white and some brown tones to achieve the icy effect, which I really like. Different browns and black where added for the exhaust fumes. The pictures do not show the final coat with my trusted 75% Future and 25% Tamiya Flat Base varnish, which has a little blending effect in the way of toning down a little. Next step might be the Finished Work section. Cheers Rob

Hi Gregory, that's a nice looking Fiat you built there. The paintjob was a daunting one I guess, but the result justifies the effort. How did you manage to get all that dots evenly distributed? Cheers Rob