HobbyBoss 1/35 ZSD-90 IFV

Hello Dear readers.... 

I have another finished kit to share with you. and no, this is not the T-80 I have been building. Yes the T-80 is finished but I haven't got around to taking photo of it yet. 

Anyway, this is a kit that I bought on impulse. I was at Hannants one day grabbing some paint and Tamiya cement and my eyes fell on this little IFV with a retail price of £25 so I bought it on impulse. Little do I realize that this will be Part of my IFV fleet after I am satisfied with my MBTs and SPGs fleets. 

The box contents consist of 10 sprues, lower hull, upper hull, single chain links, copper wire, PE parts and a decal sheet. The parts are very fine and clean sprayed -. beautiful details and absolutely clean, the kind of quality one can expect from 2010+ HobbyBoss kits. To my surprise, the single tracks in this kit is workable. You just basically click it on but it's not that well made so it falls apart so frequently BUT it made putting on the tracks a wee bit easier. All I had to do was glue them once I have successfully installed them. 

A little bit information about this vehicle, I don't know why HobbyBoss name this kit ZSD-90. This is the IFV version of the ZSD-89 ( type 89 ) APC armed with a unmanned turret with a 25mm and a co-ax 12.7mm machine gun. This IFV version of the ZSD-89 is actually known as the YW-307 IFV in the PLA arsenal. ZSD90, known also as Type90, is an entirely different machine. However, some sources say the exact opposite of what I have just typed. At this point, I really don't care what is what any more. Researching about PLA machine is just too hard.

The entire kit was painted with Mr.Hobby Aqueous as it was the most closest and best colours for the PLA vehicles. I painted the ZTD-05 with the same paints and in turn, the ZTZ-99 and I was happy so I just used Mr. Hobby Aqueous.

The paint scheme is obviously the digital camo from the 60th Anniversary Parade. The instruction do not show any example of the digi cam and I haven't seen videos of picture of the machine taking part in the parade or with this scheme but I wanted to paint it in the digi cam regardless. The  vehicle number is my girlfriend's birthday, July 13.. well, my ex-girlfriend now as of since yesterday (Nov 11). Had I knew that this would happen, I would have put on a different number. Oh well, I guess we just can't foresee things. ''' sigh ''' :( :(. ( I'm ok.. well, trying to be ok.)

Much like the ZTZ-99, I used pre-cut masks. I just recycled the masks I used for the ZTZ-99 so as to save valuable masks.

I was going to build it absolutely weather free but I didn't like how it looks. While pin-washing it, an idea struck me - '' what if I weather it entirely with oil? '' and that's just what I did. I am quite weak in applying dusts so I killed 2 birds with one stone with this. I thinned down Naples yellow just a little bit and started making streakings with that colour. In that state, Naples yellow lose its yellowish colour and become more of a grey colour. Once dried, I thin it down to completely milky consistency, pour it in my Airbrush and apply a layer with low pressure. I then wet ( just slightly ) a brush with white spirit and started blending the first layer. It takes me 4 layers to achieve this looks

It's time for the photos - 
(Just click on the smaller ones and they will pop out )

 The running gears -

Some close ups of the sights ( here you can see how Vallejo Matt Varnish F**ked up my finish... damn you Vallejo) -

And as usual, my show case photos from various angles -

This is not one of my best works but my experiment with the oil only weathering was a bit of a success IMO. I'm actually very satisfied with this except for one thing - the F**King vallejo matt varnish f**ked up the finish by leaving those bloody white frosted blobs ( you will see some of them in some of the close up photos). I try and I try but from time to time, those white frosts happen. "££$£DRHEB TY$%^$%T$£%$%"$£%%&%^~@{%$}$£&$%^ 

Ahem.. forgive me, lost my temper there. Anyway, does anybody know how I can avoid that? Cos it's really annoying the F out of me. I don't have that problem with the Vallejo Gloss or Satin varnish but only with Matt Varnish. Can anyone, someone, help me with this? :( 

I couldn't keep building if not for my supporting friends and comrades. Thank you guys for always supporting me. Thank you dear readers for your patronage as well.

Until Next time.

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''Its your model so your choice'' - is it getting overplayed?

So, as you all are aware, I am building my T-80 and after my latest update as I was stumped on how to weather it so I asked at the end of my update '' any idea how I should weather it guys? ''. 

As or now, I have shared the T-80 WIP across 4 forums and surprisingly, there was only one suggestion/discussion/advice regarding my question. 

Much as I am more than grateful to that forum user ( for privacy purpose, I will not be disclosing his username), he ended the back and forth discussion of how to put on the weathering with ''Its your model so your choice'' and reading that makes me think this -
'' That sentence is so played-out, overplayed to the same extent as there have been many movies and TV series about Romeo and Juliet ''. (ok that example may not be the perfect one but it was at the top of my head :P )

I have been seeing this sentence used by the people giving advice and getting advice over the forums and many facebook pages and it has been bugging me for quite some time.

Feedback is a very crucial thing to improve as you may all know. All these pages and forums exist so that we can share our work and give/receive feedback on top of making friends and chilling out. So, why in heaven's sake is this sentence so overused? Why do most people respond that if they any kind of comment? Why do people say that at the end of their input/suggestion should they are given? 

Fair enough there are dicks out there; I myself have faced quite a bit of dicks and their sarcastic words that normally come from Aholes. Cases like this, one can say '' it's my model so F**k off ''. It is justified. ( After talking with my good friends I choose not to show what was said to me.)

But what about this kind of situation?

I really enjoy getting feedback like this. I replied with my most sincerest gratitude and thanks.

But you know what? I have seen people respond with the same ''' its my model, my choice '' or a much more widely used ''I build models for my enjoyment'' to a properly written and positive constructive critique/feedback. I have faced such response myself, being told off like that after giving a constructive comment ( sadly, I forgot where though but I distinctly remember more than twice response). What I don't understand is why do people respond in such way.

Why do people who give suggestion or advice use that ?
Why do people answering question use that?
Why do people respond to critiques with that phrase?

''It's my model so my choice '' - is it getting really used too much to the point it's starting to annoy you? What do you guys think ? 

Just some food for thoughts...

P.S - my apologies if I offended anybody. Just sharing my thoughs.

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W.I.P - Trumpeter 1/35 T-80BVD; Part 5

Alright ... last update on this baby gal -

Now that I have finished painting, it was time for the pin wash. Doing pin wash on this wasn't exactly a quick job. So many surface details.
Per the suggestion of a talented modeller who goes by the name of Coen, I used Burnt Umber for the pin wash colour.









Being tired of making too many kits with clumps of mud; dry or wet, I decided to weather this gal in a setting where it is stained with muddy water rather then mud itself.

First, I applied AK's Earth effect via airbrush -






The very stained front portion of the tank was brush painted with the same effect. Mud splatters have been added by speckling a brush loaded with the effect wash with a skewer stick and by blowing air onto the brush.

After that, I thinned the MIG pigments '' Dry mud '' with tamiya thinner, draw some streakings and wipe them off with my fingers so that only some fade effect is left. This is to show the dried streakings of muddy water on the side.









I'm pretty sure I might have to spray some more AK's earth effect on top of the streakings which I will do so later.
As this point, I have already painted the vision ports, and the machine gun along with a very light black smoke effect underneath the exhaust.

So this is it. This wip has now come to a close. I will take the showcase photos later on and put up a finished product gallery very soon.

Thanks for the supports through out the build.

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A peek inside the box - Takom 1/35 KV-5

I am an avid fan of World of Tanks and when the premium tier 8 KV-5 was available in the shop, I jumped on the chance and bought it immediately. I have never regretted buying this premium and I really love it. It's just a nice to play bruiser.

I have always wanted to see the KV-5 in a kit form and Takom came to the rescue.When this kit was announced, I couldn't hold back my excited and almost jumped on the pre-order train to get it but I held back because of the price and only managed to get it last week quite cheaply.

I tried looking for review for this particular kit but only managed to find 2 Russian reviews and non in english. I know people would be curious so I decided to do a inbox peek for this particular one.

As you all know, I'm one of the guys who don't give a damn about how a side skirt of a tank is 2mm too short or too long or blah blah. So, I will just keep this as a look of what is inside the box and some very obvious pros and cons of the kit.
This is my first time buying a Takom kit and I have to admit, I am pretty much impressed.

Firstly , we have a very high quality box with a menacing sight of the KV-5 on it -



The first time on top you will see is the nicely sealed back of Manual, Decals, P.E, Clear parts and Poly cups.


A lot of people are unfamiliar with Takom so I took some photo of the Manual -
Obviously, we start with the cover -


And on the very first page, we have some beginner ( and even kids) friendly level of caution and warnings and FYIs for modelling -


After that, we have a page of part break down -


And this is how the inside pages look -


The instruction is very well made and clear and easy to follow. Definitely not a Dragon level confusion.

Here are the sprues of the entire kit -
Sprue A -

Sprue A contains mostly the road wheels and the return rollers and there are 2 sprues of them.

Sprue B -

Sprue B is entirely for the tracks and there are a total of 3 sprues of them.

Sprue C-

Sprue C has the parts for sprockets, idler, the mantlet and the driver and radio operator cupola famously known by WoT players as R2-D2.

Sprue D- 

The two fenders, the bottom plate of the hull along with some other large parts are included in this sprue.

This is where the sprue ends. Next is the hull -

You can appreciate the great size of the hull shown alongside a 6 inch ruler for scale.

The turret -

I didn't capture the great height of the turret in this photo but it is a TALL turret.

And finally, we have the little sprue for the nuclear war figure that comes with the kit -


I also took a picture of a bit more close up of the metal barrel, PE and stuffs -


Since I will surely be building this kit, I opened up the bags and took some close up pics of the parts quality -


  

  

  

  

  

  


The Pros of the kit: first styrene kit of this tank in this scale, crisply moulded details, clear parts for lights, a rather unique vehicle, a METAL barrel and relatively low parts count, VERY simple build

The Cons of the kit: a high price of £50.99 ( or more) for a VERY simple build, Lack of clear parts for the sights, Photo Etch included only for the engine grille, Hatches are moulded shut, complete lack of casting texture on the mantlet and possibly casted parts, no tow cables.

If you are into unusual vehicles and a modeller who like to build non main-stream topics and subjects ( like me ) then this is one of the kit that you surely must have. Any fan of Russian machine will love this kit. Any fan of the tier 8 Premium tank of World of Tanks will love this.

This will definitely be a great addition to any shelves and I think I will be doing a full detailed wips very shortely.

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