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....

Figure painting practice

I picked up these 200mm heads from Mitches Military Models at the Crewe model show (22nd Feb) for a fiver as I thought they would be ideal for practising face painting without buggering up an expensive figure;

I also picked up this;

When I get a bit of time I shall have a play with them as they seem to look better than the Andrea Flesh set (the figure on the front of the Andrea packet seems a funny colour LOL).
The heads are quite nicely moulded and for £5 I can class them as a bargain. I do have a 120mm British Para by Mitches Military Models but the head was'nt brilliant so I got in touch and got 4 replacements for £5 which were much better and will make my figure look a bit different. MMM do some nice stuff and can be found here;
Mitches Military Models
The clamp the heads are in was also purchased at the show from Sphere Products. I actually bought it for a long term project which is a Poste Militaire 90mm mounted French Hussar as the kit is white metal and the horse alone will need a sturdy holder as it is quite heavy. The clamp itself is rather good and goes together easily enough, I just needed to file the location holes for the nuts as they are VERY tight. I bought the taller clamp as it includes the shorter one so I can interchange them to suit. Sphere Products can be found here;
Sphere Products
By the way I got the paint from Steve K Miniatures and he's a great guy to deal with;
Steve K Miniatures
Anyway back to the SS-23 :o)

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)

Meng T-90. Finished!

Well it's been a long time getting here but I'm calling it done. Hope you like it!