SS-23; It's done

FINALLY! The thing is finished YAY!

It's been a long journey but I'm calling it done. Hopefully you will be able to read all about the battle of wills between the two of us in a forthcoming edition of Model Military Int'l but for now I'm happy it's off the bench.

SS-23; Weathering started

Well once again this thing is fighting me and probably will to the bitter end, this time its the weathering. I'm trying to use washes and effects but these have all left tide-marks so I'm going 'old school' with the use of pastel chalks and spraying the dust on with Tamiya XF-57 Buff then using a mix of Tamiya Earth and Black, Pigment powders will be used to build up the dirt deposits but for now this is where I am;

SS-23; New windows again!

After a couple of days away from it and having lost the urge to drop-kick the model into the rubbish bin I've made new windows. I used a vernier gauge to get an exact measurement for the windows and because the clear styrene is fairly thin I knew it would be tricky to fix them in. Doing one window at a time I used a blob of Blu-Tack on the end of a wooden rod to get the piece into place then used liquid polystyrene cement to tack the window to the frame (yes I know poly cement does'nt work with resin).  I thinned down some PVA wood working glue with water then brushed it around the window to hold it in place, finally cleaning the Blu-Tack residue off with IPA.
I did this instead of using cyano glue as it would 'fog' the styrene and I did'nt really want to coat the clear styrene in Johnsons Kleer, also it looks a lot neater than cyano due to the fairly slow drying time of PVA glue.

All that's left to do is paint the rubber window seals then I can continue with the weathering.

SS-23; Finally! The windows are done

Sorted! Looking MUCH better;

So now I'm happy with them I'll mask off the windows, get some more primer onto the model and MAYBE even get it painted green :o)
I might finish the damned thing this year...

SS-23; The windows are out again

Ok this may look a little drastic but I have a cunning plan. Honestly the windows have been a 'mare' and the damned thing is dangerously close to being launched out of the house BUT I've an idea how to make them look pretty once again, unless I just board them up like the real one in a Russian military museum......
Anyway;

By the way those are the SIXTH set of window frames I've had to make mainly due to operator error.

SS-23; Back to the day job

I've hit a major problem. You may remember I replaced the front windows as the kit ones were crap however it's only at the undercoat stage have I noticed that underneath the left window the beading is missing (it must have been during the window fitting).
Anyway I'm having to think of how to replace it. I've tried fuse wire (it did'nt work) and a thin roll of Milliput but the stuff just did not want to stick SO I'm left with the only choice of having to remove what's left of the beading around the window and try again with fuse wire bent to shape all the way around instead of a section (I've already removed a section on the side).
The more I look the more I see just how crap it looks around all the windows and to be honest I'm rapidly losing interest in the whole project. More later...

Edit; I *may* have found a solution (no not a hammer although it's VERY close), it involves cutting new window frames from sheet styrene, fixing clear styrene behind them then dropping the assembly into the space so yep, you guessed it the windows may be coming out AGAIN!
It's my own fault really as I should have made a better job very early on before I glued the cab onto the hull but still this build is getting on my tits, especially as I've spent near enough 9 hours staring at the damned thing thinking of a solution.

SS-23- New windows going in

I DID IT! YAY! The new ones look a hell of a lot better than the original so I may extend my plan to the side windows. Now I just need to get all that resin dust and crap out of the cab...ooops! I'd better not use the Dyson as that would suck the interior out through the windows :o)

SS-23-The windows are coming out.

The windows in this kit have been bugging me ever since I glued them in as the clear styrene that Miniman supplied is thinner than paper, honestly it would have been better to use cellophane instead. It's been going around in my head about what to do and today I made the decision to make new ones from thicker Evergreen clear styrene. Also I put a frame around them using 1mm wide styrene strip to help with the location, the frames will be painted black before installation too.
I suppose I should have done it earlier in the build as I'm now in danger of pinging bits off to feed The Carpet Monster (tm) however the build has been a pain in the arse all the way so why stop now? :o)
Anyway an example of the front windscreens;

This is what they look like before the window fitters were called in. I did coat them in Johnsons Kleer but they still look crap. I'll see how the front windows work out first before doing the side windows.
Nothing ventured eh?

SS-23....well that was'nt supposed to happen!

Sh*t! I was removing the tissue paper from inside the cab this morning when I found the steering wheel and seat had come loose, stupid superglue. Talk about one step forward and two steps back...the steering wheel is'nt a problem but the seat will be fun to fix back into place and the only time in my life when I could do with a gynaecologist :o)

Oh well....

SS-23 etchy bits....ZzzzzzZZZZZzzzz

This bit is slow going as not only do I have to attach each tread plate separately it's essential that every part is aligned, also every horizontal plate has to be cut down by 1.5mm as they are too long.
It's taken a fair few hours to get to this point and I still have the lower part of this door to do then it all starts again for the right-hand side...ho hum.

After all the excitement of finishing the T-90....

It's back to the SS-23...yippee.....

At the moment I'm adding all the etch bits but it's around 3am (UK time) and my eyes are starting to hurt so I think that's enough for now.
The Hold n Fold has been invaluable for this job as it would have been very difficult to get accurate bends in the etch metal otherwise.

Once all the etch has been fitted the model should be ready for painting so YAY! :o)

SS-23-Soldering etchy bits

There is a narrow strip that runs along the lower hull sides and it's made up of sections so figuring out that cyano glue would never hold it together I decided to solder the sections instead. Thankfully this has worked so YAY for me :o)

The sections each have a right-angle so this was done using a Hold-and-Fold etchy bendy tool that is absolutely invaluable. Each part was cleaned up where they are to be soldered using a medium grade Wet and Dry paper and using Blu-Tack they were fixed into place on a piece of ceramic tile. A SMALL amount of flux was brushed onto each side of the join then using a 25w soldering iron the solder was run into the joint (again only a small amount) and when cool it was cleaned up to remove excess flux.
Superglue has it's benefits when attaching etch but soldering is really that easy to do and of course makes for stronger joints especially for a job like this.
By the way the stuff I'm using is lead-free solder AND flux that I got from a local DIY shop although I believe that a company called Carrs make products more suited for modelling.

SS-23....it lives!

I glued the suspension on today and fitted the wheels to see if I have a wonky model and I'm happy to report that only one of the wheels is a bit too high, that's why I did'nt glue the wishbones. There's still a fair bit to do but it finally feels like I'm on the home straight;

The wheels are still loose on the hubs and that's why they look out of line but I just needed to take this picture as a bit of a milestone, the 6" ruler gives a sense of scale and yes my bench is always a mess.
Chuffed as we Brits might say :o)

SS-23 suspension ready to fit

I've now got to the stage where I can fit the suspension units and HOPEFULLY the model will be straight and level on it's wheels. The next job will be to make steering linkages, air tanks and pipework for the braking system as these are missing from the kit. Here's a couple of pics of progress so far;

As you can see the yellow bits are the kit items, the white bits are ones I have had to make as they were missing from the kit. The wishbones remain workable to a point and will help getting the model level when I put it on it's wheels, after which they will be glued.
The pieces I made that hold the front wheel hubs on are not very pretty but they were tricky to make, besides which they will be hidden by the wheels.
Once the suspension is on the build will be more or less finished, the next fun job however will be to attach the ton of etch that comes with the kit.

SS-23 ongoing

Well it looks like Miniman are not going to send the missing suspension parts (it's been nearly a month) so I've had to make my own as time is moving on;

Starting of with styrene sheet a 10mm x 20mm piece was cut out then cuts were made part way through either side and gently bent to make the shape. To get the width of material for the top and bottom three strips of 0.060 (1.25mm) styrene were glued together like a laminate and when fully cured the anchor points for the top and bottom were made.
These are still drying so when they are ready I will cut a hole in the middle for the axle to go through.
They are not the best but they are needed to fix the axle to the suspension assembly and will be mostly hidden by the wheels anyway. The next thing to make are eight suspension struts, add the missing steering linkages, air tanks for the brake system and associated cabling. This ain't going to be finished this side of xmas for definite.

SS-23...a bit of a milestone

After virtually completing the upper hull (apart from fitting the new missile bay doors) I decided to turn my attention to the suspension and for me it feels like a turning point (excuse the pun) as after this point the biggest job will be adding the etch detail (and there is a LOT of it).
The BIG problem at present is that there are some vital parts missing such as the suspension struts and the bits that fix the front wheels to the suspension for the steering. The struts I could scratch from styrene tube but the steering bits will be VERY tricky so I've contacted Miniman Factory with a grovelling email to see if they can help considering I purchased the kit in November 2013. Fingers crossed!

The units are not fixed in place at the moment and the suspension remains workable to make sure I get all eight wheels on the flat, after which they will be firmly glued. I just hope Miniman Factory come through otherwise I'm screwed.
Edit; Miniman Factory are sending the parts YAY! Miniman have a GREAT customer service as they sent me a new missile bay earlier this year due to the distortion and holes in the original piece

SS-23 progress...sort of

OK so 'game on' I said in the prior post with the aim of getting this sucker off the bench but it seems to be for every step forward there's a couple back. In this case I test-fitted the missile bay doors and due to my stupidness in removing too much material at the bottom of each part they now have huge gaps....Sooooooo after a brief walk around the house before I drop-kicked the damn model I've decided to replace the doors entirely with 30 thou (around 0.7mm) styrene sheet. The upside to this is the doors will be more of a scale thickness although I'm going to have to fix them in the open position when the model gets finished;

Also the more I look with this kit the more I find wrong when comparing it to the walkaround pictures I have although as you may understand I'm keeping a lot back for the future article. Sorry about that :o)
I think once I've got the main hull sorted it will feel like I'm getting somewhere, especially when I can start fitting the suspension and wheels. At the moment it's slow going and becoming frustrating but there ya go, resin kits for you.

SS-23...game on!

After a bit of respite from the damned thing I decided to tackle the poor fit between the cab and rear hull tonight. No amount of filling or filing would have resulted in a good fit due to the steps between the two parts so in the end I had to use styrene sheet to build up the right side of the cab. I also had to scratch a new grill as the original had to be removed to be able to fit the styrene.

Even after doing this the cyano glue made the styrene rather brittle and I ended up with a bit missing (yes it was stuck to my bloody finger). After sanding it to shape (more or less) the next step will be to use 500 grade Mr Surfacer to TRY and blend it all in.
Gawd who's idea was it to start this bloody model? Oh yeah it was me......D'OH! :o)

Edit; I did'nt use Mr Surfacer after all, I just used some Milliput instead

SS-23 teaser pic number 3 (I think)

I bet you thought I'd forgotten all about this one did'nt you?

After a LOT of fettling and sanding the basic hull is all together so it's onto the wheels and suspension when I've finished filling some HUGE gaps. I don't know whether it's my fault or the fact it's just one-of-those-things with resin kits but anyway I've got this far :o)

Of course by the time I've built this model Trumpeter would have released theirs....in fact there will probably LOADS built before I'm done with this. I can't wait to get an injection-moulded kit on the bench next lol

SS-23 Teaser

I have'nt been able to do much for a while but I was able to get at the bench tonight so here's a shot of the SS-23 missile finished, I just have to build the rest of the vehicle now. Obviously I can't post too much as this is destined to go in Model Miltary International in the near future but I will show some stuff on the way;

So far so good but there are some areas that need improving. I would just like to say thank you to Trumpeter who announced a 1/35 injection moulded kit of the SS-23 a couple of days after I started this one...you bastards! :o)