Trumpeter KV-1 1942 Simplified Turret (2006)

[Bill Plunk]

Build Log for OOB 1/35 project using Trumpeter kit # 358.

[Bill Plunk]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that, yes, I really do live in a desert. Hurricane John hit the Pacific coast of Mexico and its remnants came through starting late Friday night and continuing through today. We've had 9" of rainfall officially since the end of June, that's more than our standard annual rainfall in a "normal" year...so things are pretty green around here. Since the weather wouldn't cooperate yesterday and again today preventing me from doing any paintwork on the Elefant, I figured I could sneak by with starting another project to insure the Labor Day weekend wasn't a total loss in terms of bench time. So I cracked open the Trumpeter KV-1 Simplified Turret 1942 kit and decided to go after it as an OOB build (I have 5 others of the series in the stash, so if it turns out it needs AM help, I'll know where . Worked on the lower hull and running gear today. Trumpeter designed the suspension in a pretty ingenious way, allowing the separate arms to be positioned in different settings for diorama purposes. Not a fully working suspension, it uses a hex shaped hole/nut on the hull/arm to allow for locking positioning but only in certain positions. It's a compromise, but a neat one IMHO. I won't make use of it this time around but future possibility exists. I was impressed with the quality of the moldings of the weld seams on the hull plates and also with the casting texture on the suspension arms. Of course, there was a large mold seam on each that required some delicate removal but nothing too tricky.

Here's the progress after a good solid day at the bench.

[Bill Plunk]

Made a little bit more progress over the course of the last couple of days, just working on it an hour or so at a time in front of the TV. One of the advantages of doing this as an OOB project is I don't need the full array of the workbench right at my fingertips. Just glue, knife, sprue cutters, tweezers, and a sanding stick and that's it.

Trumpeter did a good job on the details of the wheels as well as the rest of the suspension. The idlers (not pictured) even have cast texture molded into them!

[Bill Plunk]

Encountered my first "classic" Trumpeter moment with this build...the fender mounting brackets. They are about 1 mm too short to match up to the hull directly, so had to get a little creative with the putty to fill the gap. Other than that, it's been a pretty straightforward build. Had a lot of fun getting it to this stage, now it's ready for a date with the AB this weekend.

[Bill Plunk]

Since I had the AB out today to work on the Elefant, figures I might as well get some work in on the KV as well.

I'm trying more of a layered approach to painting this one, started with a primer coat of Flat Black, then a basecoat of Deep Yellow.



After that came a coat of Drab Green:



Followed by gradually lightened coats mixing in Russian Armor Green with the Drab Green and Field Drab.





More work tomorrow on the Elefant so this one will get a chance to sit for a bit. I'm also slowly working on the link-length tracks, there's a ton of sink marks on them and it's slow going.

[Bill Plunk]

More progress today and a bit earlier in the week. Drybrushed in some MM enamel "Deep Yellow" to further lighten some of the desired areas. Also began the weathering on the undercarriage and suspension using Steel and Burnt Umber. I'll install the tracks tonight, give it coat of Future tomorrow and then it's on to the markings and final weathering stages!

While talking to a photographer buddy of mine he mentioned that "natural light" is the best all-around lighting for either film or digital photography and the struggle to achieve that indoors...which got me to thinking about aquarium/terrarium lighting since they produce flourescent lights that mimic the wavelength/properties of natural sunlight, I decided to give one a whirl in connection with the regular lighting setup I use. I like the results but will have to tinker with it a bit more.

[Bill Plunk]

Divided my time today between the Elefant and the KV, the KV got its tracks and exhausts added and is now all Futured and ready for decals. The link-and-length arrangements were a little difficult, Trumpeter molded these to be a very tight friction fit, that actually made it harder IMHO to fit them in my chosen method, the top run in particular was tough to link up but eventually worked out. The diagram in the instructions is not entirely accurate with how/where the indys vs. the length runs ought to be used and that caused quite a bit of frustration up front on the first attempt but once I got it figured out, the 2nd one went on fairly smoothly.

For these, since they were the link-length variety, I brush painted Testor's MM Metalizer Gunmetal into all the nooks and crannies and let that set up. Followed with drybrushed MM Steel in the desired places, then applied a very thin (90% thinner, 10% paint max) wash with a 0 Round brush IIRC of MM Rust to blend it all in together. Have to do it in single passes or the thinner will lift up the Metalizer if not careful. Then touch drybrushed in a little MM Burnt Umber where I wanted a deeper look and voila!

[Bill Plunk]

The marathon between the KV and the Elefant is drawing to a close and it's neck-and-neck! The KV still needs a bit more work than the Elefant but not all that much. Since only one set of markings were supplied in the kit, I did my own little tweaking by not using the cartoon shooting Hitler and just went with the placards. I need to add the spare tracks and tow cables and weather up the tracks and running gear with Mig powders and that will be the end of the road.

[Bill Plunk]

The tag-team adventure between this build and the Elefant came to a close today as well. It met it's end a little different than the Elefant. I had drybrushed some lightened green on the high points and let that set overnight and this morning it was all ready to go for it's final touches.

Started by applying a mix of Mig Russian Earth and African Earth pigments in regular water and applying liberally over the tracks, wheels, lower hull, suspension, etc. Once that tried, it was also attacked with the stiff bristle brush treatment but not as aggressively as with the Elefant. I wanted the pigments to settle more into the cracks and crevices and came along after the stiff brush with moistened Q-tips and lightly removed the heavier buildups so that only the deep corners would have the heaviest collection.

Final touch was to install the missing detail parts in the form of the tow cables, the spare track links, and the front headlight and rear tailight lenses. Voila! A simplified KV-1 rolls off the workbench. It was a great kit to build even straight OOB and for $18 I definitely got my money's worth out of this one.

Walkaround shots:



















Detail shots of some of the features: