Zvezda 1/35 BTR-80

[Deleted member 7181]

Hi all, my first time building a wheely thing.

I can't say it was my favourite thing to build so far, hence the total lack of any in-progress pictures. Too many fiddly parts requiring lots of clean up and my tweezer control is sadly lacking, but I got there. A few of the handrails broke when removing them from the sprue and a few flew off into space from my tweezers, so some are missing and I've tried to make one look battle damaged and dented





Close up of some of the "extra plastic" supplied in the kit. This bit wasn't bad as it didn't really touch the parts, but some items were so buried in this I had trouble working out what shape they should be.



And put together, with the wheels just blu tacked on for now







Today's job is to start painting it.

 

[Steve Jones]

She certainly looks a beaut of a vehicle. Sorry to hear about the issues with the build. Lets hope the painting goes more smoothly. Good luck

 

[JR]

Looks fine Andy.
That's the trouble with some old moulds, they get worn
I had an early StuG from Zevzda and it was much the same, but built up in the end.
I throw most plastic handles away, and make them up from some wire, any way a bit of weathering and an active vehicle most woulds have something missing.
Certainly can't see you having a problem with the paint !

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks chaps.

Yes John, I was hunting around the shed for some wire as I have loads of copper cable but it was either too thick to look right, or too thin to hold its shape. Must investigate that further.

So I started off with a coat of black Mr Surfacer then sprayed some areas with a light grey as an attempt at pre shading.





Not sure how successful that was as by the time the main colour was on it was hard to see. In real life it's more apparent than on the pictures, but I need to get away from a lifetimes habit of ensuring full coverage. I know the knack of pre shading is to let the colours underneath shine through a partly transparent top coat, but it goes against everything I'm used to!

Anyway





Then onto some green. the Mr Color field green I was planning to use looked a bit bright so toned it down by adding some of the sandy yellow main colour.





Then some black. This turned out a bit too soft and fuzzy at the edges for my liking, but wanted to try doing it completely freehand, so me and my little £30 airbrush did the best we could.





I'll give that some time to dry then have a good look around later today for touch ups etc before going further. Might try to build in some highlights and lowlights to roughen it up a little , as this build is as much about painting practice as anything else, but it's good to have the main colours down to get me started.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Looks great .

 

[Steve Jones]

Looking very good indeed. I would certainly do highlights on raised edges, grab handles etc as it really does bring the model to life. Great to see your work

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Ralph & Steve.

I've given it a coat of gloss to seal in the camo, painted the tyres and am trying a "muddy" wash on the underside and wheels.

This is the kind of look I'm aiming for:

 

[Allen Dewire]

Hi Andy,

It appears you are a natural with these wheely things Sir!!! Looks real good and your paint work is excellent. I guess when this is done, it's on to a ship model next huh.....

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Cheers Allen.

And maybe, got to try them all. Providing they are big enough for me to work with though! Some of the things I see being built around here are way beyond what my eyesight and motor skills could deal with. I've got nothing but admiration for those working at such tiny scale.

 

[Si Benson]

Hi Andy,
Nice work with the build and paintwork so far
Often looked at that particular kit myself...certainly one to consider

 

[JR]

Andy.
I can sympathise with the paint application, if you attempted to do a primer followed by a light top coat you'd be out the door. Seems all wrong to what you've learnt.I used to do a lot of refinishing of furniture, if the top coats was too thin it looked a mess.
I found exactly the same when it came to a model, i'd put too thick a top coat and all the dark shading would disappear.

Definitely starting to look good.

 

[Jakko]

I was hunting around the shed for some wire as I have loads of copper cable but it was either too thick to look right, or too thin to hold its shape. Must investigate that further.

You can get good copper wire from most transformers in electrical devices. A very good source is the narrow end of cathode ray tubes — if you know somebody who’s about to throw away an old, non-flatscreen TV or computer monitor, ask about getting the wire out. It may require some disassembly, but you’ll get probably hundreds of metres of the stuff for free, usually about half a millimetre or so in diameter.

I know the knack of pre shading is to let the colours underneath shine through a partly transparent top coat, but it goes against everything I'm used to!

You can also do it the other way around: spray a coat in a somewhat dark version of the base colour, making sure it covers well, and then spraying a lighter shade of it in the middle of panels, onto raised detail, upper surfaces, etc. The advantage here is that you don’t need to get away from a coat that covers well. (I’ve never tried pre-shading myself, largely because I don’t trust myself to spray lightly enough that the pre-shade will actually shine through )

The camo looks perfectly acceptable to me. It’s a bit softer than on the real thing, like you say, but if you apply a dirt wash over the whole of the model, a lot of that overspray disappears.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Si, apart from the fiddly grab handles the biggest part of the work is the suspension, I suppose I should take a picture of that. Each wheel had about 6 or 7 pieces which are all glued, so making sure all the tyres touch the floor took some jiggling. The front 4 wheels also steer and are linked together as a set. The tracking is slightly out on mine with the wheels all toeing in a little (a bit too much bend moulded into the part that joins them together). If I were braver I'd have tried warming it up and straightening it a little, but there's enough wiggle room in the hubs that I should be able to glue the wheels on to look straight.

John, yes indeed. We even have powerful lamps like this to double check for full coverage. I'm sure it's something I'll get used to though. Like everything else, I've still got lots to learn but I'm enjoying (almost) every minute of it. Once I learn how to scratch build the parts that go flying off into the unknown I'll be even happier!

Jakko, a friend of mine avidly collects old electrical goods and strips them out for the wires and other useful stuff. Just the other day he found some great thin red cables in an old VHS recorder that worked perfectly as high tension leads for an engine build in one of his modified Hot Wheels cars.

 

[stillp]

Looking good Andy. I know what you mean about trying to get full coverage - I have the same trouble.

Pete

 

[scottie3158]

Andy,
that is looking great I wish I was that good with an airbrush

 

[minitnkr]

Finish coming on strong. Florists wire is also handy once the cover is stripped off, very soft. Music wire is very hard & stiff, but workable for grabs & steps. A set of guitar strings gives you several thicknesses once you strip off the winding that gives you another few. PaulE

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks all.

Florists wire, there' s a good shout. I think my mum still has a stash of that in her loft from her flower arranging days.

 

[MikeC]

Andy,
Just caught up with your build, have the same trouble myself with tweezers, just cannot find a pair that will do what I want, but decide to fly things around the room at will - poor will ! (thought I would get that in before the usuals turn up). I find that sometimes just back of and then rest the hand with the tweezers in the other hand does the job.
As far as the paint goes, I cannot see a fault with it, but I must admit I tried the modulation style and it did not suit me, so I now do 'realism'. Copper wire, you can find rolls of it online at ebay etc. run off the length you want and before you start the origami on it, run it through a flame to soften it further, but watch the hot end - makes you dance and sing, so make sure you have some AC/DC etc on, then the boss will not think you're as mad as a hatter.
But keep the build coming - looks good from here.
Cheers, Mike.

 

[minitnkr]

I use 5 different ones & an apron attached to the bench regularly to keep things close. Motor winding wire from defunct hair dryers & vacuum cleaners are also a good source of fine copper wire. PaulE

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Mike, a good few tips there.

Paul, I think I saw your bench in the "show your workspace" thread and spent a while wondering what it was on the front. Once I'd worked it out it seemed like a cracking idea, although knowing me I'd forget and try to get up and walk off while still attached!