Tinkering with..... S&S Models 15mm Ural Radio Trucks

 

Slowly getting back into the detailing after the Xmas break, tinkering with the new 15mm S&S Models Ural truck Radio / Office body for the zvedza Ural truck.

 

Speaking with Shaun the body has been designed to be deliberately generic, there are multitudes of real world options it would keep him busy for at least a year.

Strictly zvedza truck is slightly late for the October War project, so am battling with my inner rivet counter  whether to use it or not ( will try the body on a QRF Zil at some point ...) , however it will fit in nicely for my Iran Iraq project. 

I've decided to build one "as it comes" from S&S !(the one with the lime green cast) and the other two I have modified the rear doors to depict versions with a rear wheel stowage.

I anticipate modelling a large radar array on one, and I expect a radio mast on the other. 

 

As you can see I've opened up the cabs on the zvedza trucks, moderate work and I may well regret this later when I have to glaze them! 

 

Anyway just a sort intro into the build..... 

15mm Sherman & Cromwell ARVs

Made some progress at home, have now a fully functioning airbrush station in the house, so no more extended periods with the spiders in the shed. This should enable more effective use of available time, so some of the backlogs should reduce, anyway.....

Today, two more S&S Model conversion sets, Sherman and Cromwell armoured recovery vehicles (ARV). These are extremely usefull add-ons for the PSC plastics. These have been built "vanilla" as supplied, no extra bells and whistles from me this time.

As always, full set of pictures up on my flickr.

T55 Bridgelayer - MT55 - Part 4 - Update - almost there!

Thanks to Shaun at S and S Models, this is progressing really fast.  We have some "first pull" masters of most of the components; and as you can see are re-engineering some to make the master "less of a kit".

The pictures posted here are not the final production components, they show the bridge in deployed mode, you will of course be able to model both stowed and deployed.

The donor vehicle is still the Khurasan T55 , but this also fits the Battlefront T54/55

The picture below shows the full length of the bridge and vehicle deploying, we anticipate having both a deployed and stowed bridge available.

This shows the front hydraulic arm with the foot pad on the deck, also the single deck plate addition to the Khurasan hull.

As you can see some of the masters are being refined and the hydraulic pistons here are plastic rods. We are hoping the main front arm will be one casting including the single piston.

Pic below shows the connection to the bridge section. The "H" section is not fixed to  the bridge so the vehicle and bridge can be separated.

I have also  revised the piston locating lugs based on new pictures being available.

And finally these last two pictures show the T55 after having deployed the bridge, as you can see the "H" frame just slides out and "voila" one laid bridge.

I am expecting to have production copies in a week or so, so I will make up this and a stowed variant.  I aim to have three or four for my AIW Syrians.

If you are interested in getting your hands on one or more of these, then contact Shaun at S&S Models. This is a little diversion for both him and Stewart, but hopefully and given enough interest, will be the start of a 15mm range, mind you only if they make their investment back!

As always comments and ideas welcome, KMT mine roller anyone?......

20mm Gamma Goat ( S&S Models)

Nice little resin kit from Shaun and Stewart At S&S Models. As usual I've added some extra details just to show it off a bit better

As always, full photoshot on my flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/troop-of-shewe/sets/

I've had my fun now, so needs new home, poa

neil@troop-of-shewe.co.uk

Tinkering with.... S&S 20mm SHILKAS

Again, had these floating around for a while, these are S and S Models ZSU 23-4 Shilkas. Great looking vehicle, and for their age a fair rendition ( I believe Shaun may revisit these moulds in the near future).

These are my guinea pigs really; I'm using these as my "mood" boards for my 15mm AIW, i.e I'm using them to practice some paint concepts. Currently, I think one will end up in Egyptian colours and I suspect the other two will be Syrian, one with a red camo over sand and the other the more familiar grey/green/sand "blotch" scheme.

As always, I have to play a bit, so have opened up a TC and Drivers hatch and modified the cast on stowage at the rear ( pet hate!!!!) fairly minimal really.

Ok, so whats with the funny colours? ( you may ask!) Well, as with all resin, it needs to be primed properly! As these are a "paint-along" they effectively the ginger-step-children of my painting desk and rarely get any undivided attention so they are subject to the whims more loftier "commission" pieces. Basically, I had a commission batch off for priming so these slipped in before full assembly. What you can see is the result of a plastic primer, black undercoat, white metal kit parts, green filler and green stuff! They will need another primer touch up and a final enamel coat for completeness but they will be fine in the end. 

(Words of Warning! I let my guard down recently and didn't plastic one of my paintalongs...... I thought it would be ok.....oh no....flippin nightmare, many hours wasted and all my own fault!)

And who's this little fellow? (you may ask!)... this will be the recipient of all the hard colour work, a 15mm QRF Shilka. I have done quite a bit of work on this and its brethren, opening up solid white metal is not for the faint hearted! but a unit of three of these will look awesome!

Modified 15mm QRF Shilka