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Russian tank BT-7 Mle 1935 [Tamiya 1/35]


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One of last year tamiya's armour news in 1/35.

Started this build just before the summer, and slowly progressing due to holidays.

The box:

bt-7_m10.jpg

Instruction sheet:

bt-70010.jpg

Historical & technical instruction sheet:

bt-70011.jpg

Camo options:

bt-70012.jpg

bt-70013.jpg

The sprues.

The hull:

bt-70014.jpg

Still:

bt-70015.jpg

Hull and turret:

bt-70016.jpg

Rolling gear (X2):

bt-70017.jpg

A nice bonus, two Russian guys talking about a map near the tank:

bt-70018.jpg

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I'll make it a simple buildt, as I've nearly no documentation about it.

Maybe two/three small things in scratch, I'll see.

Everything's quiet on the eastern front, but I'd like to signal the little tamiya "plus"

The exhaust prrotection is in PE, and must be bend.

There's everything in the box to get it done:

bt-70112.jpg

bt-70113.jpg

bt-70114.jpg

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Hull and turret are nearly finished.

Way to go still, with the running gear, and I'll need a little bit of putty for certain joint.

Scratch wise, I've just done the handles on the top of the hull.

Exhausts are not glued, I'll paint them latter aside the rest of the kit, as the running gear.

bt-70110.jpg

bt-70111.jpg

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Headlights.

- Alu foil on the bottom, cut to shape, and glued with CA

- A bit of clear sprue, painted yellow at one end, and glued to the bottom.

- Then, front glass glued. Beware of any "fogging" effect using CA

bt-70112.jpg

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Started to paint.

My choice, a coat of black primer, so I'll be able to play with different shade of green, and avoid a pre-shading.

Time to try the acrylic-polyurethan vallejo, I've two bottle in the stash.

To me, we have a winner there.

My build was far from being clean, with traces of glue and sanding here and there. I was thinking of correcting this after the primer coat. But...

There will only be very few correction needed, as the vallejo primer left a very smooth, satin finish nearly everywhere. There's only one or two points to correct, and I've been able to spot them only once the pics where uploaded to my laptop!

bt-70113.jpg

For the wheels, a black/grey blend.

bt-70210.jpg

This picture speak by herself (No?)

On the plus side, it's easy to apply (I didn't even diluted the primer), and very easy to clean, wih clear water.

A winner!

bt-70211.jpg

Sorry about the pics quaity, but night has fallen, and my workbench's lightning is not that good.

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Yes, so far I think so, but it's still my first time with this primer, and I'll wait for the next steps, paint and weathering, before giving my final point of view.<div>Cleaning the airbrush, I noticed that the paint was peeling up a bit, so I think you really have to work on a clean surface (As with every other paint in fact) then wait for the primer to be really dry in depth, before going on to th next step.</div>

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Just sarted the figs.

Parts cut off the sprues, big sanding session (More than one hour for those two guys), gluing the parts together, a bit of putty, and a small coat of surfacer 500 on certain places.

tankru10.jpg

I keep the heads appart for the moment. Just a bit of sanding here.

They doesn't look like they're happy, Sergueï and Leonid...

tankru11.jpg

Tomorrow, sanding, and a coat of vallejo primer.

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After sanding the surfacer, a coat of vallejo grey primer.

tankru12.jpg

tankru13.jpg

Then the serious things.

As I'm a beginner for painting figs, I've searched and found inspiration here and there. I'll try to explain what I'm doingas best as possible. Sorry for the bad quality pics, I'll correct it for the next round.

So, after the grey primer, I airbrush a base coat of mixed white/desert yellow, to get nearer to flesh colour than the grey.

tankru14.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Continuing the faces.

I did a try at highlighting, followed by painting the eyes.

Looks like they're both coming out of a mangas!!!

Seeing this picture, I can measure my progress margin!!!

But... I'm not completely disappointed, as they look convincing, still, when not seen from close-up, or with magnifier.

There's light at the end of the tunnel!

I'm sorry, a this topic cease to be a step by step, as I'm not too confident with different techniques to paint figs, and so practice trials and errors (Many of them).

Comments and suggestion welcome.

tankru20.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

One and only picture, just to show you what I was after those last days.

You'll have understand it, the progress margin is ENORMOUS!

I've had my share of accidents, among them a varnish session turning the figs into white creatures, and other things like that.

I'll try to finish them quickly now, only some small alterations and that will be enough, time to do something else.

Sorry for the lack of step by step pics, but with all those coming back and forth, they would have been useless.

but the compensation for this mediocre result, there are numerous profits.

They were my first figs, it's a big step forward, and I've learned a lot.

I'll try some more in the future, certainly from tamiya for a start, then some finer plastic or resin brand. And maybe latter conversions, or creations?

We'll see.

Enter the clowns!

tankru21.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Concernning the tank itself, I was blocked in my track (!) when it was time to paint the wheels.

Then a friend told me about the quickwheels sets, and I ordered one.

It's a kind of very useful tool made for lazy modellers.

First, I painted the wheels black, or german grey. When completely dry, I put the lot in the set (It's self adhesive).

bt-70212.jpg

Then, in my Russian green lifecolor set, I randomly choose one jar, and airbrushed two successive pass.

bt-70213.jpg

The result. Neat, isn't it?

bt-70214.jpg

To me, it was a good choice. The sets are quite cheap, and were delivered very quickly. I have the BT-42 in my stash, along with another BT-5, and I plan to get another BT-7 to use a set from A2Z.

Then, here's the plan.

There will be the tank on a dirt track, and aside Sergueï and Leonid, discussing about wich way to go.

Any idea is welcome.

bt-70215.jpg

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Turret is masked for the markings, a simple white cross on the sides and above.

No need for a sharp delimitation.

bt-70216.jpg

Off the masks.

bt-70217.jpg

A quick overall look.

One of the tracks is nearly ready, still the other to build.

Not too difficult to do, if you work before the paint, and with thin tamiya glue.

bt-70218.jpg

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