One of the most interesting projects that I have in mind is building Bronco’s 1/35th scale Su-152, or otherwise known as KV-14. This is one of the best, if not THE best kit in 1/35th scale regarding Russian subjects of WWII. However, I still haven’t got my hands on the model, and decided to make a try-out with a substitute of that one. Trumpeter and Eastern Express offer such, and having in mind EE are not very popular, decided to try Trumpi’s option. I’ve read that it has some issues, like wrong angles of the edges on the superstructure, and wrong track width. But, since I passed by the kit box in one of the local hobby shops, I decided to give it a try.
Actually, the model itself is not bad.
Maybe it has wrong track width, but if you are not rivet-counter, /and I am not one/ there is nothing to complain about it. Its slightly cheaper compared to Bronco’s, and less detailed of course, but it looks like Su-152 and follows the line of their great KV-1 series, which is enough in my book.
Assembly is easy, typical Trumpeter kit. 550+ parts, which is nice, and half of those are from the tracks. They are different compared to the KV series. They have plastic parts which feature several track links in one, sagged or straight, depending on the position of the part, and only some separate track links for the sprockets and front wheels. Zveroboy /Su-152/ is a different story. It has all the hassle /for some its funtime, I know!/ of separate track links, and sags, curves around sprockets and so on, are depending only on one’s personal modeling skill set.
I got lucky with that and made them look decent. However, it is highly recommended, and not only by me, to get yourself Friul set, if you already chose Trumpeter over Bronco.
PE parts featured in that kit are not so many, but they are cool looking, and together with the metal gun barrel which is great, it makes it a well worth set to buy.
Enough with that, onto my particular project:
I love German stuff from WWII. And since I prefer all of my models to be German or US WWII subjects, from time to time I feel the urge to build something different. The good news for me is that there is an option for captured vehicles, one of my favorite subject during summer 2014.
So there is an option, chipped white wash over green with Nazi crosses. And so I went that road.
In order to finish it all, I ended the project with markings. Not an usual thing to do, I know. But, in my case, with my stencils, and not equally applied black paint /airbrushing on low PSI/ it went perfectly.
That risk that I took might’ve ruined all of my weathering, if the painted crosses appear to be odd. I might’ve be so deep in trouble but in the end it worth it!
I don’t recommend to try this if you don’t have the nerve to start all the weathering of the vehicle once again, but if you do /where did I find it!?!?/ give it a try!
It looks just like Germans overtook it from Russians, and painted their worn vehicle, just to shoot their tanks out.