1/35 T-18 construction

Katya Hodgson
More progress, spent about 15 minutes wrestling with it but in the end sort of got the photo etch grille on the back. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do.

Katya Hodgson
HAT ON TANK!! AND TAIL!

That's almost all the building done, just needs the tracks and the glorious soviet shovel.

Lenny V
Cool subject, those early soviet tanks always look a bit steampunk-like. Looks like a pretty clean build.

Rui S
Nice&fast work 👍.
@ Lenny, I agree with you.

Katya Hodgson
Bleeeeh individual link...

Bart Goesaert
looking good, hope that the location of the tracks will be ok with the sprue gates still there on the wheels...

Katya Hodgson
Gosh I hate independent link tracks, I hope I can get these off again for painting...

Bart Goesaert
With the smaller tracks, i tend to assemble them like this before painting: [img1]

Katya Hodgson
I glue them into a long strip, then wrap it around the running gear before the glue sets fully, leaving one end (and usually the drive wheel or idler wheel) unglued so I can get them off again afterwards.

Katya Hodgson
That's the other side on, it's a bit loose but I think it's ok.

Katya Hodgson
Been trying to paint it, but running into problems with paint and airbrush, so stripped that down to try and clean it.

Katya Hodgson
Good news, the 3B paint worked! So it's now all painted up and ready for weathering. ^~^

Katya Hodgson
And that's the weathering done! Tomorrow will just be the last steps of clear coats and some red star decals for the turret. ^-^

Katya Hodgson
Been thinking of having a go at airbrushing the red stars onto the turret, instead of using the decals. What do people think?

Rui S
I think it's a great idea, and shouldn't be very difficult😉

Katya Hodgson
Ok! I'll have a go at making a stencil, and hopefully get it finished today. ^-^

Lenny V
You are working hard, love the blending of the dark green and red/iron colour. Did you prime it before painting?

Katya Hodgson
I did prime it yes, used 4B0 primer best I could, although that paint was dying so didn't go the best, but it worked out ok.

Also, spraying the star worked! I got exactly the effect I was hoping for! ^~^

Jason Gardiner
Nice work, the stencilled star looks great as well.

Katya Hodgson
Just needs the matt varnish to protect the paint and it will be done. 🙂

Rui S
The star shape looks a bit diferente and bigger, but Well done.
Much better to stencil it, instead of aplying decals 👍

Katya Hodgson
I was trying to go for an older Red Star, the larger version you see closer to the civil war era, and I wanted it to look a bit more worn and hand painted.
[img1]

Lenny V
I think you did a great job on the star, it's a beautiful little tank.

Katya Hodgson
Thank you very much! ^~^

Rui S
Thank you for explaining the Diference, i think you got it 👍