And we're ready for paints! And a diorama? (Patreon)

My friends! Things have taken a complicated turn again, just as one would expect with this tank, but I'm proud to announce that it's finally ready for painting, but there's more - you can already glimpse the basic concept of the diorama! 

Stowage on this model was rather complex. I have some beautiful resin fuel drums from Panzer Art, but they have a casting block at the bottom, meaning they can be only used vertically. So I had to use the ancient Tamiya set and do a lot of filling to get the drum just right. 

I didn't want to clutter the tank with too much stowage, mainly because it's a small tank and there's not a lot of space around it. I know the empty rails at the back of the turret beckoned for some wooden crate, but I didn't want to hide the machined casting sprue that was roughly cut off in the factory. I was surprised to find a set of resin Soviet jerry cans from Panzer Art in my stash, and it was the first time I saw how the actually looked like! I always thought they were similar to US canisters. 

But let's now talk about figures! The sitting tanker in the hatch is from Alpine, and he's wearing the blue tanker uniform. I always wanted to paint this one! I just had to make a small blanket for him so he'd sit snugly on the open hatch. The MG team is from Evolution, and this set caught my eye because of their dynamic poses. The set is originally intended for a KV-1, but I tried to implement them to this tank.. somewhat reasonably, I hope! Here I'd like to mention how much time it takes to make one figure ready for painting - carefully removing all the tiny casting seam lines without destroying the folds and details, and filling + sculpting the gaps between parts with Green Stuff. Comparably the Alpine figure just requires its head glued in place, and that's it. No cleanup! But then again, Alpine figures are much simpler with their poses and shapes, and that leads to easier casting. All in all, the figures took me an entire afternoon of preparation. 

The angle in photo 1 is also gonna be the primary focal angle in the diorama. My idea is to have a sloppy, muddy road in the foreground and a slightly raised grassy area in the back, with the tank on a very slight incline. I'm thinking about a birch tree in the corner behind it... without leaves, to make it into an autumn setting. Heaps of fun! 

And now I'm going to finish the construction video so it'll be ready as an early release on the next Friday :)