You can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, and it’s almost equally as difficult to turn a terrible kit into something passable, but I’m trying. I got this super cheap on Mercari because I like the look of the tank itself. What a nightmare this kit has been It was missing a part (the bags were sealed, so this was how it was packaged). Several parts were fragile and broke easily. The fit was terrible, resulting in my having to use stretched sprue and hot glue for the first time ever to close up gaps, and with all that, some things still would not line up properly. Nevertheless, like Elizabeth Warren, I persisted… and I will complete it.
All things considered, your build is coming along just fine. I built it when it was a new release, a couple of years after the Soviet Union dissolved and these kits started coming to the US. Back then, there were not many choices for WWII Red Army AFVs to choose from. I’m sure that you’ll make this one look good enough.
I’ll be happy with an acceptable representation of the kit. I know that Zvezda has vastly improved through the years. Had I not been aware of that, I may not have ever considered another kit from them based on this one. It is a challenge and some things will have to be left as is, even if they’re not quite right.
Looks great, and I feel your pain! I just built an Eastern Express BT-7A and a Master Box Panzer I Breda. While the end results are passable, the journeys were anything but painless.
I just finished the tracks last night (link and length) and like everything else, they were questionable at best. Still, I think it looks good enough for me! Now I just need to weather it a bit and lay down a coat of flat. I’m hesitant to do too much weathering because every time I touch it, something else breaks or falls off!!!
Thanks! I like the Arthur Machen quote - not too many people know about him. I never read any of his writings, but he is mentioned frequently in Rue Morgue magazine and I keep intending to check him out!
Very nice work! Surprising that Zvezda’s BT-5 would be such a bad fit kit. I built their Pzkpfw III ausf F and it was a pretty good build. But nonetheless you did a very good job. I will have to concur with Stikpusher about some steel weathering on the tracks. It looks like the tank body and wheels received weathering. Very nice, I like it.
I think this is an early Zvezda mold - it was very problematic. I don’t know all of the correct terms, but on the turret, each of those 6 rods that extend out to support that railing were so fragile that 4 out of 6 of them broke at some point. Parts had poor attachment points or none at all and would refuse to stay in place even with cyano. The one thing that surprised me was that the track pretty much aligned perfectly. The right side is a little wonky only because I had to fabricate a part and my measurements were off just slightly, so the front wheel on that side is maybe an eighth of an inch back when compared to the other side using the kit part.
I’ll take the steel drybrushing into consideration. Thanks!
She looks friggin’ awesome to me! Nice work on the colour modulation and the washes around all those bolt heads.
Funny now that I think about it I’m wondering if my BT-5 kit is Zvezda or Eastern Express. Or if they might be the same kit. I’ll have to look when I get home.
And I just love the Machen quote, I might get about one percent of the stuff built my brain comes up with!
As a writer I prefer Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and H.P. Lovecraft. But Machen did write some pretty chilling stuff. He’s my favorite Welsh horror writer. Though frankly he’s the only Welsh horror writer I know of! You might try one of his ‘best of’ collections, they’re pretty cheap and easy to get a taste of his work. His stuff about the ‘little people’ of Britain- aka fairies, elves, goblins, etc being the degenerate descendants of people pushed to live underground by the Celts and other earlier British peoples are pretty friggin’ terrifing.
Thanks!! I’d like to think I’m getting a little better with each build and with this one, I started with a layer of Model Master Russian Armor Green, and then highlighted zinc chromate over that, and then finally more zinc chromate with white added. I doubt that it’s 100% accurate, but for me, I was going more for an overall look based on the box art and some pics that I saw. I don’t worry about 100% authenticity because I’m not building for contests or to be judged - I build for a final result that I like. I’m just here to have fun!
I’ve read some Lovecraft but I have to take it in small doses. I’ve always been partial to Clive Barker and as a child of the 70’s/80’s, I was naturally turned on to Stephen King. Horror movies and books, comedies, models, and video games - those are my go to’s!
Dan the kit is indeed an early Zvezda mold & release. I built it back in the early 90’s when it was initially sold. Zvezda was trying to enter the market here and it was quite inexpensive at that time.
Gamera, I don’t believe that the Tamiya and Zvezda molds are the same, although they are engineered in a similar manner of parts breakdown. If the plates are clunky and seem thick compared to what you’re used to from Tamiya, it’s probably not their tooling.
Dan: Never read Barker and only read ‘The Tommyknockers’ from King and hated it. If you’d like to try some of the older stuff Robert E. Howard is probably is most approachable. There’s a nice collection of his horror stories out there. And a lot of his other stuff like Conan and Solomon Kane have horror elements to it.
SP: Krap! I forgot to check the kit box over the weekend. I know it’s not the newer Tamiya kit though. The more I think about it I think it is the Zvezda kit.
PS: FINALLY remembered to check the BT-5- it’s the Zvezda kit in an Italari box.
The Tommyknockers might have been one of his worst - he admitted to writing it while pretty much completely drunk and claims to barely remember doing so. If you ever reconsider, check out a classic like The Shining or even The Green Mile, which I think is possibly the best story King ever wrote.
Clive Barker has some great stuff - Weaveworld, Imajica, Galilee, The Great and Secret Show. It’s not even truly horror, much of it falls into the realms of fantasy and sci-fi.
something to look forward to after redong the bunker. the new Zvezda kits are nikce. i just finished a 1/72 (OTS) T-35 and ahave a BMPT-1 and T-90 in the queue plus just picked up the 1/35 TYPHOON K 6x6.
I think your BT-5 urned out quite nicely. a quick base will add to it.
Impressive work getting that Zvezda kit together it came out excellent.
In the early 2000’s I purchased the kit from Squadron as I always liked the BT-5 after using one in an old PC tank simulator game called Panzer Commander. Building it was a shock to a then fourteen year old me who had mainly built Tamiya kits prior. I had many of the same problems you did however mine did not come out near as nice.
i have an older Zvezda/Italeri T-26 in the shelf queen area. suspension was quite annoying to the point it will be a Winter War diorama with the left side buried in a snow drift to hide the damaged suspension.
Zvezda has gotten much better. not a plane guy but have their 1/72 and 1/48 PE-2 in the stash.
BW the Revel 1/72 SS-25 ICBM is a reboxed older Zvezda kit. not as good as their latest but better than the older stuff.
