Saddam’s Brolly

[Road of Bones]

Ok then gents, time to start my first “proper“ thread on the SM forum

I’m going to cheat a bit, as this was a build I blogged on a quieter forum, and I thought I would re-blog it again, as it was full of interesting challenges and new techniques that some folk might enjoy seeing.

For some reason, this picture really caught my attention:

While flicking through a certain online auction site, I scored the Skif MT LB6 kit for a couple of quid, and a set of Meng Russian AA guns:

Now, it should be said that Skif kits are not renowned for being the most detailed things, and this example also included some of the nastiest vinyl tracks this side of an Italeri panzer. It did come with a small fret of copper PE, and a resin gun turret (which was obviously not going to get used). Additionally, the styrene was a partIcularly virulent shade of green:

Those tracks!

So, if you’re ok with me blogging an old build, I’ll show you how I did it

 

[scottie3158]

Al,
Chair pulled up blog away.

 

[Road of Bones]

Hi Scottie, good to see you again sir (your builds are better than ever, I see!).

Righto then- I’ll skip some of the more obvious build stages, and get to some of the juicier scratchduggery stuff...

The Skif kit actually goes together pretty well, and the thickness of the hull parts meant that it was pretty sturdy, once that soviet styrene took the Tammy Extra Thin and welded itself permanently together. I spent some time trying to replicate weld beads with glue-softened rod, and drilled-out the side vision ports to accommodate the PE vision slots:

I then decided to replace the section of armour around the vision slot by using card:

I also started to build housings for all the periscopes, as the kit detail was very poor. Here you can also see where I replaced the central hatch hinge mounts:

The forward vision ports are represented by PE, which is a first in my experience! I used some leftover PE handles to make into hinge brackets for all the hatches, and used some punched plasticard to make rivets, bolt heads and hinge shaft ends.

More soon!

 

[scottie3158]

Al,
Looking good.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Nice to have you around again Alistair. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Count me in Sir, hows the Alfa

Bob

 

[Jakko]

You’re quite brave taking on a Skif kit I bought their T-64 and BMP-3 kits so long ago I paid for them in guilders rather than euros, and still haven’t found the will to start them (I’ll just buy more modern kits now, though, if I ever want to build kits of these vehicles). The additions you’re making certainly lift it up to more modern standards

 

[Road of Bones]

Count me in Sir, hows the Alfa

Wotcha Bob! Sadly, I have to confess to trading the GT in for an A5 back in April- I just couldn’t face the work that needed doing to it. The cambelt was due, it had a mystery oil leak, and the tin worm had got to the sills. It was time for something newer and German, frankly!

 

[JR]

Hi Alistair, looks good , like a bit of Russian .
Will sit with Paul.

 

[Road of Bones]

Hi Alistair, looks good , like a bit of Russian .
Will sit with Paul.

Mr Race! There’s a comfy chair up front just for you sir

 

[JR]

Mr Race! There’s a comfy chair up front just for you sir

Think I should edit that ! just done !

 

[MikeC]

Hello Alistair,
Never mind it being an old build, like any good book it is always worth reading again.
Will sit behind the reprobates and watch with interest.
MikeC.

 

[SimonT]

Al,

Interesting mod to the MT-LB - looks good with the AA mounted up top

I started one of those Skif MT's back in 2014, the basic APC type - not a great kit. Dodgy wheels, engine inlet louvre panel in wrong place, rubbish tracks spring to mind. I cast some new wheels, got some Friuls and scratched an engine but then shelved it

 

[Gern]

Mr Race! There’s a comfy chair up front just for you sir

I'm watching too - even if I have to crane my neck round John as he seems to have got the best seat!

PS I know how well the dried frog pills worked for the bursar, so you should fit in here quite comfortably as long as you stay on them!

 

[Mickc1440]

I'll join the throng as this looks like an interesting conversion.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
Your doing a great job on a kit that may well have been better left in the box. The pericopes, hatch hinges, welds etc are bringing this up to standard that's for sure.
Jim

 

[Steve Jones]

Seats have run out so I will stand and watch from the back. A terrific subject to kick off with. Nice work so far.

 

[Road of Bones]

Good to see so many of you taking the time to look in - some familiar faces, too! (Steve, Si, Jimbo, John R, Scottie, Mr T- I hadn’t quite realised how much I missed you all until now!)

I had one of the placement students raid the spare conference room for some more chairs, and I filched a small heater from the Engineers’ workshop, so it should warm up a bit soon. I hope someone fetches some biscuits though, my tin appears bereft...

Onwards with the build revisit then! I carried on adding more missing details to the Skif canvas, mainly grab handles, hatch-locking handles, bolt heads and rivets, as well as the co-driver’s MG turret (which I found on the sprue, though it wasn’t called out in the instructions). Most of the additions were made with punched card, purée tube and brass wire:




To address those appalling tracks, I invested in a set of Fruils (for the Gvodzika SPG), and disciplined myself to put together a short run at each bench session. They came with metal Sprockets, so I used them too. Unlike Mr T, I kept the kit wheels, as they didn’t seem all that bad:


Got to love a cheeky dry-fit!

More later, thanks for looking.

Alistair☠️

 

[Road of Bones]

Moving on...

There are a couple of fuel filler caps (I think that’s what they are, anyway) on the port flank of the MT-LB, which have 3-legged frames over them, according to my ref pics. I bent some brass wire around the handle of a needle file, and soldered them thus:

here they are in situ:

Next up there are a couple of exhaust vent cover flaps just to the rear of the engine louvres which are absent in the Skif kit. Once again, I leaned on my ref pics, and leftover purée tube & spare PE hinges to knock up a facsimile:

I was never quite sure how accurate these were, but then I took the view that they were a field mod knocked up in a Baghdad machine shop made of old washing machines or somesuch...
More to follow later...
Alistair☠️

 

[scottie3158]

Al,
Great additions