A few 1/35 IFV's and AFV's

[LemonJello]

Enjoying the progress reports.  Some good looking builds.

[Old Wombat]

Looking great, Ramba! Very business-like!

[ChernayaAkula]

The Secutor looks really good on there. 

[Silverfox]

These are looking great, one of those things where it looks like it should have been that way all along!

[Gingie]

They are all looking great, but I think the Strv conversion looks the best!

[Ramba]

Thanks everyone! Hoping, hoping, hoping, I can get at least one finished this year.

[Ramba]

Not an AFV or IFV but a short-range air defense missile system. It is the Skif 1/35 Strela-10SV. Instead of starting another thread I will just post it in here. The kit isn't Trumpeter/Hobby Boss or Meng quality but builds up nicely with some effort. The main part of the upper hull is molded in one piece but the rear top of the upper hull is separate for different versions of the MT-LB. The lower hull comes in a few separate parts. My kit was warped and needed some help to to get everything aligned properly.

[Ramba]

I also started another Skif kit at the same time as the Strela. Again, not an AFV or IFV but will post it in here anyway. It is the Skif 2S1 self-propelled howitzer. I originally intended to modify this to do it as a BMP-30 but decided to keep it as the 2S1. Parts are similar to the Strela where the upper hull is one piece but the lower hull is made up of multiple parts. The 2S1 kit went together much better than the Strela kit. No warped parts and no clamps needed.

[Old Wombat]

Of course they're AFV's, mate! Not heavily armoured, sure, but then most IFV's & APC's aren't heavily armoured, either.

Personally, I'd be screwed trying to put those hulls together, I only have two of those clamps!

[Buzzbomb]

Having done the Skif MTLB Strela by going the whole way with etch set, new tracks, it does come up alright with a fair bit of work. This was way before the Trumpeter offering.

Started the 2S1, got a bit disillusioned and have moved the kit on to the next sucker caring owner at a swap and sell.

[Ramba]

Of course they're AFV's, mate! Not heavily armoured, sure, but then most IFV's & APC's aren't heavily armoured, either.

Personally, I'd be screwed trying to put those hulls together, I only have two of those clamps!

Those clamps are very handy. You should invest in a few more.

[Ramba]

Having done the Skif MTLB Strela by going the whole way with etch set, new tracks, it does come up alright with a fair bit of work. This was way before the Trumpeter offering.

Started the 2S1, got a bit disillusioned and have moved the kit on to the next sucker caring owner at a swap and sell.

These Skif kits are definitely old school. They do take some effort but I am used to kits like these as they are the ones I can mostly afford. Was I the next sucker? I mean the next caring owner?  My experience with the Strela and 2S1 was opposite of yours. The Strela fought me a lot because pretty much all the hull parts were warped badly. The 2S1 had no warped parts and went together a lot better.

[Ramba]

A few more photos of the 2S1.




There isn't much PE included for the 2S1 but I would prefer no PE at all. The PE was extremely difficult to remove. It was very thick. I only ended up using 5 out of the 9 parts included. I didn't use the rear turret straps.


The rubber tracks come in 4 parts. Looks like I need to staple them together.


I will be putting the gun in the stowed position.

[Old Wombat]

I've met some thick PE in the past. Not very pleasant to work with in some instances, although fine if there's no bending required, &, contrarily, you do have to be more careful not to bend it whilst removing it than you do thinner PE.

[Ramba]

I've met some thick PE in the past. Not very pleasant to work with in some instances, although fine if there's no bending required, &, contrarily, you do have to be more careful not to bend it whilst removing it than you do thinner PE.

I wasn't a big fan of PE or resin but both have become regular everyday necessities in models these days. They are now packed in the kit boxes. I still prefer all plastic but you just can't get away from PE and resin now.

[Ramba]

Got the PE on the 2S1. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I only used 5 PE pieces. Posed a figure next to the 2S1 for size comparison.

[Ramba]

Back to the Strela kit. I started on the turret/missile launchers. There are some huge raised ejector pin marks that need to be removed for the parts to fit correctly.




Part of the missile holder was short shot.


Got the turret/launcher parts together.

[Ramba]

Another short shot part. One of the road wheel spindles wasn't molded to the support arm. I had to drill into the support arm and fit a metal tube in place.



Test fitting the turret/missile launchers.

[Old Wombat]

Test fitting the turret/missile launchers.

Heh! Heh! I read that as "Test firing the turret/missile launchers."


Good save on the stub axle!

[Ramba]

Test fitting the turret/missile launchers.

Heh! Heh! I read that as "Test firing the turret/missile launchers."


Good save on the stub axle!

You could test fire the missiles. The kit does supply them.

[Ramba]

The Skif Strela kit only allows you to have the missile launchers in the raised position but I prefer to have mine in the stowed position. I modified mine to show the missile launchers stowed.

[Old Wombat]

 

[GTX_Admin]

The missiles might need a little work:

[Buzzbomb]

Good  mod to go to stowed. Changes the look quite a bit

[Frank3k]

It does look better with the launcher stowed. That Skif kit looks like it'll need a lot of extra surface details to look like the real article.