did a search and found some good ideas for creating the worn shiny effect. am currently building a tamiya KV-IIA for july club contest (anything by tamiya). also, since this was a cheap buy, am practicing airbrushing using an aztek airbrush and poly s paints for the first time. the build will be for a barbarossa small diorama which will be dueling with a german 3.7cm at gun diorama across the room.
i am thinking that the only continuously touched up (painted) part of the road wheel would be the outside. the rim is steel, not rubber, and i am thinging the axle shaft and the back part of the road wheel (the inner wheel) would either not be painted or allowed to wear to bare steel. except for the rim, that would not be shiny. also, it looks like the support (return) rollers are all steel. track will not be rested up except for maybe some small puddles on the inside as the tank will have been moving. 1it.s a black rubber band track so i will do a steel wash, shine up the wear spots and over wash with some dirt/mud. the lower hull will be muddied up from splashy mud, not thick cacked mud.
Sounds like you’ve got it. Long story short, anywhere the tracks contact the road wheels (and return rollers) will be un-painted from wear. Early KVs had a rubber isolation “donut” that separated an inner and outer part of the road wheel. Later KVs used a one-piece wheel to save on rubber. All KVs had a metal rim that came in direct contact with the tracks. I believe you’re right in not rusting up the contact areas also. This isn’t a great pic but it’s what I came up with in the same situation:
As can be seen, I still need to show some bare metal on the drive sprocket teeth.
my KV-1A has track that is too rusty for a tank that has been moving into a counterattack. granted, some of the redness is from the photo. i wonder if NO REDEYE in the camera works on other reds as well.
could always remove the crew member, run it off the road, gun tube over back deck and have a couple of german soldiers looking at it after it was abandoned, especially if one was carring an at mine or at rifle.
if i recall, all the multi-turreted T-35’s were lost due to supply and maneuverability issues. will eventually build one for my soviet barbarossa tanks display.
That is quite a nice KV-I, but here’s a tip to keep in mind…remember tow-ropes rarely got rusty. They were kept rust-free or that would defeat the structural integrity of them. Thus a more realistic weathering would be more of a grimy, dirty look. Hope this helps.[:)]
just a note: in Steve Zolaga’s book on Russian armor he states that they didn’t use steel wheels on the outter two wheels, but only the inner ones to reduce vibration. Guess they had some problems with the very early ones.
“That is quite a nice KV-I, but here’s a tip to keep in mind…remember tow-ropes rarely got rusty. They were kept rust-free or that would defeat the structural integrity of them. Thus a more realistic weathering would be more of a grimy, dirty look. Hope this helps.”
thanks. easy enough to fix. even if i turn this into an abandoned tank will tone down the cables. may even have one draped in front.
“just a note: in Steve Zolaga’s book on Russian armor he states that they didn’t use steel wheels on the outter two wheels, but only the inner ones to reduce vibration. Guess they had some problems with the very early ones.”
was reading about that when i did a forum search on steel road wheels yesterday. i think the steel and rubber mix was on T-34s and not on the earlier “heavies”. could be the KV’s couldn’t go fast enough to cause a problem. i wonder if the soviets had trouble with steel road wheels freezing to steel tracks.
nice pics. i like the shiny steel. that is what i am going for on the wheels. how did you do the headlight lens? my tamiya one is regular plastic. it looks like your kit was a trumpeter or dragon later kit.
On rubber vs. steel: The T34/43 had a mix or rubber-tired wheels and all steel, due to a vibration issue when using all steel wheels, with the rubber-rimmed wheels being initially used on the first and last stations. As rubber became available in the later years of the war, it was again used on all stations. The KVs were built with the all-steel wheel or the wheel with the rubber isolator, as the all-steel wheels were a later feature. Neither type had a rubber “tire” or rim that made contact with the track. Mixing of the two types occurred due to repairs with whatever was available at the time and place, as also happened with T34s.
good quality wire rope is really kinda rust resistent anyway due to all the nickel content in the steel (but it will). Normally they coat the actual wire part with grease. The small diameter stuff seems to rust easier than the big stuff you’d see on a tank. Also the shackels and clevises will be kept clean. But once they are used the paint will peel off them at the bends due to stretching. Normally they are never repainted again for saftey issues alone.
