Takom 1/35 AK-130 Naval Guns

Kerry COX
I was expecting a package the size of the other naval anti aircraft guns I have, but when a truck was required, I was speechless.

Ben M
That's a cool looking kit

Kerry COX
I should have expected it to be large. Just imagine doing a ship in 1/35. !!!!
There are some videos all ready of the build.
Youtube Video

Bart Goesaert
oh boy... I'm in for sure....

Kerry COX
Bart, I won't be starting this for quite a while, but I will post a "Wotz in da box" review. 👍

Lode Schildermans
Wotz in da box? A lot a fun, it seems

Kerry COX
This kit has been eagerly anticipated for well over 12 months now, and WAY bigger than I imagined. hahahahahaha 👍 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Another floaty thingy bangy bangy!

Kerry COX
Yes mate. A kit that has blown me away and I am looking forward to getting it started, but not for a while yet. ;_0 👍

William O.
Ooouge hunk of modelling happiness 😛. Pat on the back for wanting to tackle such a beast 👍.

Kerry COX
There is nothing really complicated about it I am pleased to say, but time consuming it will be, especially with all the cleaning up of the seam lines and ejector pin marks. 🙂 👍

Scott Dutton
Saw review, didn't realise was so big, and that the real thing could fire so quickly, watching

Kerry COX
Hi Scott, Good to know your here mate. 👍
It blew me away when the delivery driver turned up with this huge box, and I was expecting something WAY smaller. ! hahahahahahahaha.

Slavo Hazucha
Never miss a CIWS build by Mr COX, I would not dare to!

Looks great - Russkie doctrine has a weak spot for the massive in size, no wonder the kit got more obese than expected😉

Treehugger
Nice to hear Takom seem to at least have a nice kit, despite the weird ejector pin marks, as I have the twin flak gun of theirs in 1:35 scale to build later. 🙂 I've never built a Takom kit before, but I think their stuff might be above average or so it is tempting to think.

Kerry COX
Thank you Slavo and Treehugger, I am looking forward to posting progress images, but right now I am gathering as much visual information on just what are weld and seam lines that are all part of the dome.
Hate to rip them off when these is no need to. There are a few colour schemes I can follow, but what lets this kit down is the lack of decals of stencils that proliferate the outside of the unit. 🙁
I have searched high and low for something that would fill that gap, but no luck as yet, unless some of my esteemed friends would have some answer to my problem. ?

Bart Goesaert
I can only find a small marking, hardly what you are looking for: [img1]

[img1]

Kerry COX
Bart, some of the images I have found have quite a number of stencils on them, like on ladder and steps, doors and general 'warning' in big red letters.

Bart Goesaert
Looking good so far... maybe an option to shave off the handles from the doors, thin these and re-attach them...

Kerry COX
Bart, that is always an option, and something I was thinking about too, as it's big enough to do it too. ! 😉 👍

Lode Schildermans
Most impressive kit, Kerry. The sprues are indeed very well detailed. Nice to see your progress on this kit. As usual, well documented and a crisp building. I'm looking forward to see more

Kerry COX
Greetings Lode, and thank you for your most welcome comments. 👍
They mean a great deal. 🙂

William O.
Impressive, most impressive mate! Other then those weird ejector pin marks, looks like a wonderful kit 👍. But i'm too broke (and chicken) to tackle it, i'll leave it up to you masters to build it. Great stuff 🙂.

Kerry COX
William O Thank you for looking in mate. 👍
All the ejector pin marks have been dealt with and all looks much better than original. 🙂
There is not all that much info on the gun system it's self, but what images are available are quite stunning, and in many ways, "Colourful". !
I am still looking for decals of russian naval stencils that I can see on the gun, but no avail. !
Oh well. 🙁

Scott Dutton
If they are not in white you can make yourself, use Google translate to get text and paste into word then print onto decal paper. That will get The text in Russian, Cyrillic. Or can type in yourself directly by installing Russian keyboard support, it will remap your standard keyboard onto russian alphabet and can then type, slowly as it's hard to find the keys, I use russian stickers on my keyboard to assist. On a PC when you install a different language pack there is a key combination to switch between languages or there is an icon on bottom right of screen EN for English RU for russian that allows you to change easily, as I forget the combination. I say not in white as alas can't buy alps printer any more.

Kerry COX
Scott. That for an old fart like me is way too complicated.
I do understand what your suggesting as I have used the 'translator' facility many times but never though of printing something like you suggest, 👍
I will investigate further.
Cheers mate and thank you. 👍 😉

Scott Dutton
If its limited, I can make a word file for you

Kerry COX
Scott, It would be wonderful if I had a list to choose from, but up to this point, I have no idea of what any of the stencils would look like or say. 🙁
This is why I am hoping that there are some decals of the size I need (1/35) available, or find some one here on SM that knows where I could go to get some.
I have emailed TAKOM and asked them if they have anything in the future that would include a decal sheet for some of these Russian based subject matter kits they are producing and hopefully, I will get some sort of response in the positive that will help not only me, but all other modellers who will end up with this kit and a set of stencil decals that will make this kit even more impressive than it is as it is. 👍
I dream. 😉 Cheers mate. 👍

Bart Goesaert
do you have an example of what you want?

Kerry COX
Bart. The ONLY example I have seen are in the images I have downloaded.
Other than that, I can't find ANY examples of how the Russians post warning signs or maintainance stencils on their ships, getting tempted to look at the aircraft stenciling and hoping that they will look similar. 🙁

Bart Goesaert
Russians are the kind of people that don't place these as often as our American friends. They rely on common sense in a certain way... Modern aircraft receive special markings as of crew maintenance badges etc as far as I know... This one seems to have some gunnery badges:
[img1]

Also look at how "straight" the white line runs on this one...

Kerry COX
I have been to www.rusarmy.com and looked for information there, but mainly the stencils are on access doors or beside ladders or steps. The white line I have also got looking to scale as well.

Treehugger
I think that does look like a straight line, but maybe not horizontal and just offset with a distance from the deck. Extra masking required. 🙂

Yes, the white line is obviously not horizontal, and the true horizontal level seems to be the top of the railing/structure around the cannon, so the white line looks like it has been given the same offset distance around, but just offset from the presumably angled deck.

Bart Goesaert
Every ship has it's surrounding around the gun in a different way. Large holes atop, a lot of small holes atop. holes down and atop... that white stripe is also very narrow or broader, think there's some artistic licence IRL...

Slavo Hazucha
That´s the two-face nature of "going Soviet" - on one side the indisputable full artistic freedom, since no judge, not even Vladimir Putin would be able to prove at court that something you modeled did not exist somewhere at some point... on the other hand, if you want to be really true to "a" original, you better get 100´s of pics of that single specimen, since virtually no 2 items are really identical 🙂

I really wish you the best of luck in finding some good sources & possibly decals, but I fear this will not be easy at all...

Kerry COX
Hugger, Bart and Slavo, I am an optimist and I do hope that something will manifest. !
There are Slavo, as you mentioned, many variations of this one gun system and many are all totally different from the next.
This is why I have just ordered a second kit, wanting to put out two really different versions. But as I said, I will find something that will work, and I hope that my email to TAKOM may bare fruit. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Scott Dutton
Where was kit ordered from?

Kerry COX
Scott. BNA in Melbourne.
Here is the link. 🙂
bnamodelworld.com/

Scott Dutton
Ta

Kerry COX
Ready for the finals and I can then call it "Finished".

Treehugger
For masking, I recommend bits of small masking tape. Like, instead of cutting one bit of masking tape, end to end, in one length, it is easier to cut two bits that overlap. That way you don't have to cut the length precisely. Anything that looks off after painting, I can fix with a tiny tiny Tamiya brush and thinned paint. On primer, the thinned paint seem to just soak into, and blend well into the existing paint (Vallejo).

Treehugger
Oh, wow. Looks really nice out in the sunlight. 🙂

Kerry COX
Hugger, The masking was the tricky part, with so many irregular surfaces and angles to deal with. 🙁
But, it turned out ok I think and yes, in the sunlight, it's a totally different animal. 👍 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Tuning in to the waves of praise - even the unforgiving natural sunlight smiles on the result, and with good reason 🙂 Very much like the subtle differences on the grey! 👍 Looks all very authentic, good stuff!

Kerry COX
Slavo. !! Thank you my friend. 🙂
That makes my effort all worthwhile. 🙂
My second one will be toned right down with light grey and no high lighted access steps, just for something different. 🙂

Bart Goesaert
Splendid result...

Kerry COX
Thank you Mr Bart. 👍 😉

Bart Goesaert
Leave the Mr please, he's not at home 😉

Kerry COX
😉

Scott Dutton
That is awesome, so what colour did you end up with, gunship grey or sea grey. Those highlights on steps etc are beautiful touch, breaks it up. I'm assuming that the version you did called for red base, i thought it would be either that deck orange red or green depending on fleet, but that is not doing any ref checks you have done. Just shows don't go with gut feel. Now I know its big, you say huge, the photos suggest that but can you do a photo that will give a size perspective. One 0hoto shows lounge in the frame but it can't be that big, can it????

Kerry COX
Scott, from all the images I could find, the deck colour was red. And as for size, the house bricks in the background show how large it is I think. 👍
Roland, thank you too for your appreciation. 🙂 👍

William O.
Man Mr. Kerry, you are one modelling machine😉 . Came out wonderful 👍.

Scott Dutton
Thanks, looks good in cabinet

Kerry COX
William. I am pleased you like the results. ! 😉 👍
I just hope that I see some one's rendition here soon. 🙂
I love building new and unheard of kits.
FUN FUN FUN. 🙂 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
I hope Takom or some other manufacturer will release a 1:35 Pom Pom soon (and you build one...), would be fun comparing that to Lode's perfected art of building them in 1:200 😄

Kerry COX
Slavo. A 1/35 'Pom Pom' would be heaven on a stick mate. ! 👍 🙂
The IJN triple AA by Pit Road was a great kit to build, presenting some awkward alignments and a great result.
There is so much subject matter that is being addressed by all the major kit producers, and I think it's all because the Russian and Ukrainian makers started presenting stuff that only eastern european modellers had access to until the 'wall' came down, and now we see western modellers embraced their kits with glee.
I am always on the look out for unusual kits, like the new 'KittyHawk' 1/48 Kamov Ka-52 Hokum B "Alligator", which had been done by the mains but this version should have a whole lot more detail than previous versions that were available.
Lode certainly has set the ship building standard pretty high with his PE work, and especially his pom pom's. 👍 🙂
No doubt you will be producing something exquisite soon, and with your skills, we will all be enthralled with your talent...........as always. 😉 👍

Lode Schildermans
Kerry, a member in our small modellers club, who os fond of russian armoured vehicles, bought this Takom kit past week, and he had the box with him. It allowed me to see the real size of it and it puts your photos in a better perspective. I was already impressed with your AK-130 naval gun, but seeing the kit in real, it becomes even more impressive. very nicely done, mate.

@Slavo : just a small word : if there was a manufacturer bringing out a 1/35 8 barreled pom pom, do you really think I would stick with the 1/200 ones...?

Kerry COX
Lode. I am most happy that you saw your friends kit and that you could see just how big it really is. 👍 🙂
I almost feinted when my kit arrived with the courier, thinking that he had the wrong house, as I was expecting a box the size of the other 1/35 kits I had all ready built, all small.
I was just so excited to see that the size of the box it came in from BNA was really needed, with very little room left for packing material. !
I am looking forward to seeing other modellers tackle this kit, as there is so much scope for great detailing.
Thank you for your kind words and I do hope there will be a 1/35 kit of the pom poms, as that would be something special to see.

Bart Goesaert
that kit is on it's way... so I will brace myself... With regards to the Ka-52, you should thank me for buying the resin conversion kit, otherwise that kit would have taken longer to appear on the market 😉

These naval guns appearing on the market is a joy, only a matter of time when they will include the interior or the storage facility underneath...

Kerry COX
Bart, That would be a fantastic model to build if ever it was made, and I would certainly have my name on the list of customers. !

Scott Dutton
Ditto Bart, I went the conversion path as well. Happens all the time. I had given up but got t8red of waiting so relented. Maybe the conversion parts will be useful or is even better than the kit

Bart Goesaert
At least we have resin bangseats... And a thorough mix from original and other parts as in my Dinah can be useful...

Scott Dutton
And maybe cockpit, expensive options but at least we have a model now. Given the kit manufacturer and the conversion manufacturer, we may even be better off

Bart Goesaert
maybe you can be right... these are multiplying fast... 😉

Kerry COX
It's not nice to stop them multiplying. Having so much fun too. ! 😉

Bart Goesaert
eeeeuuuuhhhhmm.... 😉