KV 85

Frank Krause
Also this will be an interesting project. I'll stay tuned!

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench
Seems like the russian virus has infected another one ! 🙂
I hope it dont catches me😉
Iam tuned !!

Holger Kranich
James, please provide us with pix, so we can see how you work with the chipping fluid!
@Markus, you hope it´ll become GREEN, ha?😢

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench
@Holger
Perhaps James trys to do a Whitewash with the chipping fluid.
That would be great (time to learn something new)! 🙂

james johnson
@ Markus, no white wash! I have something far more interesting in mind!

james johnson
Okay, I butchered the air intake screens and my lifting rings are bent. It's not a perfect world and this is not a perfect build, but I'm learning a whole bunch of stuff on this kit from you guys!
I'll fix the lifting rings..but, when I paint the tank, I may lift them to the perpendicular position so they do not become obscured by the coats of acrylics. I've seen this happen to too much nice PE.
I don't think the air intake screen mistakes will look that bad once the KV is painted..

james johnson
The little "stops" at the ends of the Evergreen spars are temporary. They are there to prevent the spar from slipping into the hull during assembly. Who knows, this may be for nothing but the spars will slip out easily if I choose not to employ them.

james johnson
I'm sitting here looking at the butchered intake screen sub assembly and have some satisfaction in : They may be ugly but they're solid!

Frank Krause
He James! Nice progress! I was wondering about the Evergreen spars, but reading the captions helps sometimes.😉
I'm still a bit too far away from etching parts. I tried some Eduard etch-parts on a Bergepanther and was satisfied, I tried some provided in a Dragon kit (ok, it was an elder StuG) and was disappointed that I left them off. May be I should them a new try during Scalemates week on Wangerooge. There I have some experts around, who can save me...
I'm curious, what you planned for the chipping, since you don't plan a whitewash...

james johnson
..Ah, the chipping;
I?ve been meaning to do this for a least the last three builds but for one reason or another it just wasn?t practical.
After priming the tank in some sort of light color, I?m going to shoot the thing in at least 3 different rust colors. I?m thinking some sort of alternating bands. This should look pretty neat. Don?t know how thick each band will be. Maybe about 10mm each.
Then the enamel gloss coat. Then the chipping fluid. Then the AK Interactive 4BO modulation.
The real question is how AK Interactive paints are going to respond to the subsequent hydration and chipping. I suppose I should perform a test.
The reason for my anxiety is that Vallejo paints are no good for chipping; BUT, AK Interactive acrylics SMELL suspiciously like Tamiya acrylics (which are great for chipping) so I feel that they will work.
If not, I have two back up plans: 1. I have a Life Color 4 BO Modulation Set; if this is no good then>> 2. I can order the appropriate Tamiya paints. This is a last resort as it will take at least a week for me to actually have them in my hands and I want to keep this build moving along.
The end result of all of this silliness should/hopefully be random colored chips. Allot of work for a small payoff but I like playing around like this. After all, the whole idea is to have fun.
About the Evergreen sprues; after looking more carefully at the instructions, I don?t think they?ll work.
But I?m a glutton for punishment and have a plan that involves soldering!!
I was thinking about my butchered intake screens today at work today ( I?m a chef) and chuckled as I thought of a kitchen saying and how it will apply to me painting over my mistakes: ?Two ounces of sauce can hide a million sins!?
Take care, Keep up the good work???..

Frank Krause
Sounds interesting, James. You'll surely try this out on a testbed or the underside of the tank. If I try something new, I do testing with parts of the spareparts box, or if I need more space I use the inside (if no interior) of the tank I'm working on. Whatever the result of the test would be, it's covered up later by the hull. Would be glad to see photos of the different steps you're taking. Wish you all the best that it works out as expected!😎

Kim Branders
Looking good mate, Grtz Kim

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench
Looking forward to the result.! Fingers crossed 🙂

james johnson
..In the chipping test with the Hetzer fenders from a previous build, the AK Interactive Heavy Chipping fluid was used as directed. I spray a base coat of paint over it as soon as the chipping fluid was dry, about 2 hours. Not good.
Not wanting to waste anymore paint (there were several tests, all with pretty much the same results), I decided to push onward. This time, for the actual build, I chose to let the chipping fluid dry overnight.

james johnson
So, it looks like the chipping will work if you let the chipping fluid dry overnight. The AK Interactive modulation paints chip better than Vallejo but not as well as Tamiya. However, the product is viable. Once I hit those chips with washes, pigments, oils and such they should look great!!
Right now, as seen in the pics, the KV-85 is still very far from being detailed completely

George Bacon
Looking good! Anxious to see how it comes ouut!

james johnson
..Thanks George, I was looking at your build of the JSU 122 and am getting some valuable stuff from the way you modified the fuel tanks. The ones that go on my KV 85 have been giving me fits trying to figure out how to make them look good.
I really like those ?Grandt Line? bolts.
This will extend the time of the build a day or two!

Acki
I´m lovin it: "The Bench is cleaned and soon to be trashed, it never ends."
Great work on this kit, James. Looking over your shoulder.

Frank Krause
Wow, nice job, James! The chipping looks great already!

james johnson
Getting close..........about a day away, more or less. Take a week off to do some light work on a new diorama in progress. Then a Tiger 1 for an old friend I haven't seen or heard from in years.

Kim Branders
Nice result James, grtz Kim