Soviet JS-3 tank by King Derelict - Roden 1/72

[king derelict]

This kit was chosen as a first attempt at paint chipping to simulate a weathered vehicle. The Roden JS-3 kit has markings for the Egyptian army in 1956 so I thought by then the JS-3 would be well past the "One Careful Owner, Only Driven to Church Each Week" stage by then 

Unfortunately the JS-3 is not one of Rodens better kits; it also has the rubber band style tracks which I don't like.

Somehow I seem to have lost the photos of the early stages of the build and the contents of the box. Nothing terribly outstanding in the build so far although I swear some of the road wheels are oval rather than round. Hopefully paint and weathering will obscure that a bit. The tracks are very thin, they look underscale and they are buckled and refuse to straighten . They may look better once the hull is completed.

So; the main object of the exercise was the chipping. Once the upper hull and turret were complete they got the usual dose of black primer. I then added Vallejo dark steel in places where I wanted it to be seen and mid grey in other areas. Once that was dry I gave the model a coat of cheap hairspray and left it to dry again before adding the sand top coat.

My reading suggests that working over an area with a wet paint brush will cause the top coat of paint to lift away in pieces. That didn't seem to happen but moving to a stiff brush was more effective.

 

 

I also used a pin tip to scratch through for detailed areas. I seem to have achieved a worn look but I don't think I would catagorise it as chipping exactly although working small areas over with a pin tip first produced a better result.

 

 

Its starting to look suitably tatty but I would like to improve my technique. Online sources say that it can only be done with acrylics, can't be done with acrylics or must have a clear coat to seal the paints under the hair spray. I would welcome insights from the experts.

In the meantime I painted the nasty tracks. They lack detail and thickness. I hope to hide the track join with some artfully placed debris

 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice. its all welcome. 

 

Alan

 

[mtaylor]

Would a bit of heat from a hair dryer help settle the tracks and give them some sag at the top?   

[king derelict]

I tried using a hair dryer on the nasty tracks. Thanks @mtaylor I wouldn't have thought of that. I couldn't get much sag in the tracks but I think I got rid of a lot of the wobble and they generally look better now. I filled in the gap where the tracks meet with a couple of tiny bits of card and built up the thickness with PVA glue. it looks better with a bit of paint.

The running gear and lower part of the hull were sprayed with a dust colour. 

 

 

 

 

Some sand on the tracks and the matt coat will complete the build. This wasn't really a detailed build log but more an attempt toshow the results of a first shot at chipping.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Alan

[mtaylor]

Good looking tank, Alan.   I'm glad the heat helped on the tracks also.

[king derelict]

19 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Good looking tank, Alan.   I'm glad the heat helped on the tracks also.

Thank you Mark; the hair dryer was a great idea too

Alan

[king derelict]

The matte coat was sprayed onto the tank and some of the ceramic brick dust mixed with dilute white glue was worked over the tracks to simulate sand (and reduce the poor appearance of the tracks)

The chipping needs more practice but I'm happy with a first attempt

 

 

 

 

 

And to put recent AFV builds into perspective here is teh JS-3 with the Renault 35 and the Wz34

 

Help - Run!

 

Thanks for stopping by

 

Alan