Soviet Equipment

Work continues on the T54 tanks, nearly all Roco, but a few SDV, these are Roco in the photo.

I have been taking them apart, mostly, trimming off the flash, repairing problems and putting them together.  Not all of them have the little wheels and I am not replacing any that are missing.

Many of mine had two right side tracks!  That created a lot of problems later.

This is a conversion that I made using parts of three vehicles.

It is a chemical weapon decontamination vehicle.
 

Painting Stuff and Tips

For the last month or more I have been working on upgrading my Cold War Soviet / Warsaw Pact army.

These are all HO scale vehicles from a variety of companies.

There was a time when the Soviet Union was building an anti-aircraft gun system to replace or supplement the ZSU-23/4.

Similar to the West German Gepard system this was supposed to be a twin 30mm cannon with radar guidance. 

Usually I paint vehicles upside down first, with turrets off if they are easily removable.  Then I can flip them over when dry and paint the upper side.

I decant my spray paints into little jars using a funnel.  I label the paint with blue tape, and I always include the name of paint, the brand and the stock number.

It often does not last very long in these jars, sometimes a few days or few weeks.  I try and use it up quickly.  It is perfect for touch up where the spray paint missed or did not cover well.
 

Hulls and Droopy Barrel

The Roco T54 tank often has problems with the upper and lower hulls staying together.

So I have had to use both medium and very large clamps to hold them together while they let the glue dry.

Here is a medium and small clamp.  Sometimes that is enough.

The main guns on the T54 suffer from droopy barrel.  The turret cheeks are very thin and often get bent out of shape.

So I glue a very thin plastic patch to make the space a little smaller and it seems to work.

By taking up some of that space the gun is usually no longer droopy.
 

SDV Tank Retriever Continues

The SDV tank retriever is coming along.

The machine gun port looking hole is actually for a big cable attached to a drum for towing vehicles out of the mud.  Pretty clever.

I decided to glue the crane into a semi-erect position, and here it is.  So not too high that I can't drive it down the road, and not so low that it looks like it is not doing anything.  A better model builder than I could likely make the crane work.

Top view.  There are a bunch more accessories left to go so it won't look so plain when it is done.

Side skirts and other bits ready for installation.

It's a shame to hide such nice looking wheels.

Test fit, file, test fit, trim, test fit, sand, test fit, close enough.

The construction so far.

Well on the way to completion.
 

SDV and Batman?

I am often working on more than one project at a time.  Sometimes a project gets delayed due a lack of materials, don't have the right glue or the color of paint I want.  Or sometimes I need more research, or maybe I am just waiting for the glue to dry.  Here while working on my SDV model, I am also working on a Batman related project.  I gathered a few hats and figures to use for the Mad Hatter and perhaps Clock King.  Two Batman 66 villains.  You can see a test fit for one of the hats in the photo.  I am also collecting hats for use on Mad Hatter Henchmen or perhaps for display in his lair.

These are the instructions in the SDV kit.  They are adequate, better than some of the SDV instructions.

The models themselves are not too difficult but the do require a lot of study of the instructions to insure correct parts placement.  I always test fit pieces to insure they go the right way.  You can see progress has been made on the hull and suspension.  I was waiting for all the little wheels to dry before continuing work on the project.

Here is the exploded view of the crane arm.  I remove the parts from the sprue, trim the flash and them place them on my workspace in the same relative position as they are in the instructions.

I find it very helpful to visualize where the parts all go.  Sometimes I do this on a piece of paper and even label the paper with each part number.  Then parts get test fitted and then slowly glued together.  After I glue two parts together and they are good enough to handle, I test fit the next pieces before it is too late to make any changes!
 

SDV Kit

SDV makes a lot of Cold War era Warsaw Pact kits.

The parts are not marked with their construction number the order of construction and each part number is referenced on a sheet of paper.  So I usually cut most of the parts off the sprue, then trim the flash and finally organize the little piles in order of construction.

Here I am working on the suspension.  They go together pretty well and are sturdy when the glue is dry.  The tracks are one piece and slip over the suspension parts which is a good technique for lining up the road wheels and making them good and strong, yet preserving detail.

This is the crane part.

Here is the casement and the lifting gear bits.  This is a tank based armored recovery vehicle.
 

T54 Tank Roco

Roco T54 tank from above.

Here it is with the SDV T55 with bulldozer blade.

In the old days of the Soviet Union there were three tanks in a tank platoon.

Three platoons and an HQ tank gave you 10 tanks in a company.

Three companies and one more HQ tank and you have a battalion of 31 tanks.
 

T72 and TOS

T-72 and TOS.

T-72 is from Petner Panzers and the TOS is from SDV.

They are nicely sized and look good together.

The TOS was used in the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and in their invasions of Chechnya and Ukraine.

Two models from my collection in HO scale.
 

Cold War Cargo Truck

Ford truck, die cast.

This is a die cast truck I got from a pen pal in Czechoslovakia in the Cold War.

It was a civilian truck and I repainted it in military colors.

I think it turned out okay.

It serves as a heavy cargo truck in my Soviet Cold War forces.

Not much detail on the bottom, I did drill out the rivets to repaint the interior.

Shown with an old Esci Warsaw Pact figure.

With the airfield tractor.