Battlefronts 15mm JSII in Plastic

Panzergrenadier Ride. You ever take it off any sweet jumps?

Zvezda's KV-1 Obr.40

2017...'Bye Felicia!

Hello All and Happy 2018!

I've been working on a 15mm plastic Zvezda KV-1 Obr.40 tank has the option to build an earlier Obr.39 (simply a separate mantlet and barrel part). In fact, Zvevda has two different KV-1 boxes with exactly the same contents - they must be rolling in Rubels...

The KV is molded out of a soft plastic that is not the best for durability The basic shape of the model is well defined although there is some simplification of the finer details. Compared to resin, this kit is much easier to assemble and is straighter and more correct in scale. The lighter weight is an advantage to those of us who travel to game. The Battlefront resin/metal version of this kit weighs in at a hefty 1/4 pound! I for one cannot go back to resin unless there is no other available.

 The turret top and rear deck detail is excellent! I did beat up the fenders and storage boxes.

One assembly issue I had was the fitting of the main gun mantlet and rear MG combo part - it just doesn't fit well and leaves gaps and miss-alignments. I chose to fill with evergreen plastic and scratch-build.

I added some weld circles and plate cut marks to the turret as well as crew grab handles, vision slits and pistol ports. The rear deck had new exhaust pipes added as well as an engine hatch hook.

Main gun mantlet detailed with bolts, MG and sight holes, steel 76.2mm main gun barrel. I reworked the headlight and added a horn.

Tow hooks added to the front and rear as well as a tow cable. You can use the molded-in detail to carve out the hooks on the rear but there are none molded on the front .

Track detail is poor though the wheels are better detailed than their resin counterparts. All in all, this is the best early 15mm KV on the market!

First coat and shadows...

Stumpftarn Panzergrenadiers

Hey All!

Apologies for the iphone pics - lazy.
Started working on a platoon of Panzergrenadiers and their mounts. Using Battlefront's excellent plastic Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf D and Panzergrenadiers with Plastic Soldier Company head/helmet transplants. This is due to the ridiculously tall helmets on the BF figures...figure on the left is original - right with replacement.

Tried to sand down (middle) but the shape is all wrong...



Most of the BF plastic grenadiers suffer from this problem except the helmets with the camo covers on. Otherwise these are great figures - I am removing bases in order to mount in the halftracks.

This figure is my interpretation of Stumpfmuster '44 or Stumpftarn...

Stay tuned...

Cheers!

Troy

Sister StuG (StuH?)

Hey All!

Just a few pics of the latest work - while waiting on some PSC 251s to show up...

 I had already primed this Battlefront 15mm Plastic StuH last year but wanted to add a few missing details...the side rear lifting hook...

 ...and front side hooks...smoke dischargers...tow hook cable brackets...

 ...rear taillight...bolt detail...starting crank...

 ...and some weld and panel details...paint will make these pop...

Got some work done on the StuH...

 Weld lines turned out pretty cool...

Still have to get the chassis painted up and such...

All done - just need a final flatcoat. Changed the replacement barrel to dark grey/black in light of the info that replacement gun barrels came in a special heat resistant dark color - not red oxide - who knew?  

Some posed shots...

  Tail light detail...

  Weld detail...

Cheers!

Troy