KV-1 model 1942 with simplified welded turret

mannmitbrille wasd
Nice progress!
I see you struggled with the grills too. (had Aber, very detailed and elaborate to bent)
How are the Masterclub tracks?

Jean-Christophe Zeus
Thanks! I've been away for two weeks and now procrastinating with the tracks. They are very nice, though. I would say even better than Friuls, as they have better detailed track pins.

mannmitbrille wasd
Nice, will definitely have to try out one set.
The hobby is not about rushing anything.
Enjoy the time out.

Jean-Christophe Zeus
Update on the Masterclub tracks: they are very time consuming. The links have to be cleaned up slightly, but that's OK. The tricky part concerns inserting the resin track pins. As already mentioned, there are two different types in the set. One type represents the "head" and goes to the inside of the track (close to the hull). These go in without effort if the track links are well aligned.

But the "tail" ends, which go to outside of the track, are slightly conical and require a bit of force to push in. If you get the angle only slighty off, you break the pin. After 4 broken pins for only 20 track links, I started to be a bit more cautious, as you have not that many spare pins.

The trick is to work the two track links to be connected back and forth a couple of times until you have a bit of wiggle room. Then insert the conical pin until it begins to offer resistance. Usually, that's when there are still about 2mm of the way left.

Then take the whole track segment assembled so far and push the edge against the edge of the workbench, for example. Now you have still 1mm of the way left, because the pin is level with the outer edge of the track. For the last millimeter, I use a narrow square object that fits between the outer parts of the track links. I use this is my "anvil" and push the track against that, carefully, until the pin is fully inserted.

That requires time and a lot of patience, of course. So in the end I would use Friul the next time I do a KV.

mannmitbrille wasd
Sounds like right up my alley.
Thank you for the insight, might try them on either one of the KVs or the T-38, currently still stashed with Friuls & Broncos workables.
Now I'm taking a small break after the fenders adventure.

Jean-Christophe Zeus
The first track is finally finished, but it's been very tedious work. For me it takes 1 hour to assemble about 16 track links. It's 87 links per side, so...

mannmitbrille wasd
Sounds like fun, read a few reviews by now, they seem to be like „Lego" of aftermarket.
Looking forward to the result.

Jean-Christophe Zeus
What do you mean by that? My verdict so far: I'll never do them again, at least not for any KV or JS tank. The only parts that are better detailed than Friul ones are the bolt heads, on the "inside" of the track (close to the hull). If that's worth the tedium everybody should decide for her/himself. I have definitely made up my mind.
If I should build an early KV-1S someday, I'll have no choice but to use the Masterclub 35030 set, but with these it should be easier to push the pin all the way in, as you don't have to get between two track links to do that, which is the difficult part.
For the Bronco Panzer II D1, I already have the Masterclub tracks, as they are the only brand that provide the correct type for this tank (35070).

mannmitbrille wasd
Like Tamiya kits, good fit and everything goes well together. Thats what I call Lego.

I'm about to get some as well, their range is quite impressive. Especially in regards of rarer patterns.

The pins I bought are quite impressive in quality and detail.
Looking forward to my first track set from Masterclub.

I guess would be a shame to hide them under lots of weathering.

Jean-Christophe Zeus
Now I got it, thank you.

Did a bit of research myself and my impression is that it heavily depends of the set in question. Some are super-easy: virtually no cleanup, the links fit easily together and the pins almost go in by themselves.

Then they are some - like this 35025 set - that require lots of cleanup and where one of the two types of resin pins are quite fiddly to insert. Yesterday was a bad day: 2 broken pins out of 10. It's not that bad: the track holds together nonetheless, I'll just have to glue the pin head with superglue. But that's still more work to do.

In this case, where there is a viable alternative - for example Friul ATL-51 - I wont bother with this set again. Definitely not Lego!

mannmitbrille wasd
Its a running gag in regards of Tamiya kits because of their exact fit and easy built up.

Thank you for the heads up, probably a bit wire (In the middle part) might be useful for these after all.

Jean-Christophe Zeus
It's finally done! The second track was a bit quicker to assemble, as I slowly got the hang of it without breaking too many pins. See the result on the pictures 23 and 24.

I kept the broken off bolt heads and will fix them with superglue.

The number of track links corresponds to the original, between 87 and 90, so the pitch is absolutely correct: 87 for the right-hand track and 89 links for the left-hand track. There 30 or so excess pins, so it's not that dramatic if you break one from time to time. As I said, even if you break a pin, the links hold together just the same, as at this point there are only 1 to 2mm missing. So you can clean up the broken head and put it on with superglue and it's OK.

mannmitbrille wasd
Congratulations,
just got my first MC tracks as well (for T-34/76)

As far as I can tell it should be possible to strengthen the construction with wire in between and use the Pins (if broken) to cover them.

Getting finally closer to painting mine.

Have you decided on yours yet?

Jean-Christophe Zeus
I used a piece of 0.5mm copper wire for testing the articulation, which fits perfectly. I also used that for the provisional link between the two track ends, which will be replaced when each track is painted and weathered.

Next I'll test one of the spare pins to see how it reacts to the track wash I use and to the pigment fixer. I've heard they don't like white spirit, but I have no idea if one of the two contains some.

The tank will be painted in overall 4BO green, with a red inscription on each turret side. That's the tank I'm trying to replicate, but still in working order:

imgur.com/r/destroyedtanks/1QwuLY6

mannmitbrille wasd
Excellent, let me know how it went.

Priming might do the trick?

Nice selection for the topic, I try something daring on mine: (2nd picture)
beutepanzer.ru/Beute..kv-1/kv-1e/kv-5e.htm

Jean-Christophe Zeus
Excellent! I think I've seen this tank in the KV-book and/or in "KV Tank on the Battlefield" by the same author, so maybe I can provide some additional information.

For the metal tracks I'll use the same method I first tried on the Sd.Kfz. 7 tracks (see here: Sd.Kfz. 7 initial / sFH18 15cm | Album by jczeus (1:35) ) and which works pretty well for me:

1. "Priming" with burnishing fluid, after which the track is dark grey and takes paint fairly well
2. Track wash to give it a slighly brownish tint
3. On the inside of the track - the parts that get polished, so to speak, by the road wheels: graphite powder applied with a coarse brush
4. Dry-brushing of the guiding teeth with true-metal wax, steel colour
5. Only applicable here, not on the halftrack tracks because of the rubber pads: sanding the outside of the tracks until the original white metal is visible again for the parts that have contact with the ground
6. Dirtying up with pigments

But as mentioned above, I'll have to test the chemical reaction of the pins in steps 2 and 6 beforehand.

mannmitbrille wasd
Good morning Jean,

nice will have a look at it, have you tried Acrylic based products for the weathering?
Vallejos/AK Earth textures work quite well (water based) they handle very well when thinned with water and applied by brush (especially on tracks)

Regarding references always welcome, if you need any as well let me know (but all all are in Russian)

Best

DJ Fajardo
Glad I found this. Thanks! I've got a couple KVs in the stash and will be looking for metal tracks as well.. and I was considering Masterclub. Very helpful info! Following..

Rui S
Looking good 👍

Jean-Christophe Zeus
Thank you for the kind words. I spent an inordinate amount of time on the tracks and I'm still not happy with them. So I put them aside while I painted and weathered the rest of the tank.

Here's what I did with tracks so far: after burnishing I treated them with a new product: Dark Brown for Tracks (VMS 09b) and their pigment thinner. After that I used EU Light Earth (coarse texture), also VMS. The result was a bit too uniform to me, so I added some other pigments by MIG, but now they're too garish compared with the rest of the tank. Unfortunate side effect: the thinner/pigment mix got into the movable parts of the track through capillary action, so mobility was lost. Trying too bring some life back into them broke lots of the pins. A very frustrating experience, and I don't know what to do better next time.

Weathering once in place is not an option, as most parts won't be accessible. Preventing the thinner from getting into track pins is near impossible I think. The only solution would be a suggestion from mannmitbrille: additionally to the track pins, also insert a short length of wire for extra strength.

The rest of the tank was much more fun to paint:

* 4BO primer by Vallejo
* Satin varnish by Vallejo
* MIG Dark Wash for pin-washing
* Abteilung 502 green for dry-brushing
* The inscription on the turret sides were made with a paper stencil, approximated from the original photo. Dark grey seems correct when converted to black-and-white. After airbrushing I corrected with a small brush.
* Oils by Abteilung 502 (brown, yellow, pink) for filtering
* VMS light earth pigment for the dust + Thinner for Washes by MIG (non-permanent). I first apply too much, and when it's dry I remove the excess pigment with a dry or moist brush. When I was happy I fixed it in place with Pigment Fixer, also by MIG.
* On the drivetrain, I additionally applied VMS dark earth in spots, to depict moist or wet earth.