Finnish Army BTR-50 APC, Trumpeter 1:35

Been building this kit for a while now on and off. Not at all a great kit as it suffers from fit issues and a lot of flash on the parts, one of trumpeters older molds with some upgraded parts to make the BTR range.

If you plan to build it A MUST is to replace the tracks because the are so badly molded they cant even be used.. I replaced them with Friulmodel-tracks and used burnishing fluid to get the correct effect on them. Painted with AKAN finnish modern armor set, dark green and light green. The black is tamiya Nato black. The AKAN paint works great and are a great match for the modern hard edge camouflages that the finnish armored vehicles have.

Weathered with pigments and washes from MIG ammo. The antenna is made out of stretched sprue and towing cables from Eureka.

Renault FT-17 (Cast Turret) Meng 1:35 Completed

My recent build of a Renault FT-17 (Cast turret), finnish version but they were painted the same way as the french (repainted later on in a beige-grey color). The MENG kit is superb with great fit and detail so the only thing I replaced ere the springs that are way to thin.
Diorama is inspired by some old photos I found during the 1930´s when they had a military parade for the public and children were able to get close to the tanks.

Paints used: AK French WW1 paint set for the threetone camouflage, AK true metal, weathered with lifecolor pigments and Abteilung oils. Diorama painted with vallejo and weathered with MIG dark wash and pigments mixed with X20A as wash.

Diorama: Figure from MB-Models and the base is from Miniart.

Renault FT-17 (Cast Turret) Meng 1:35

Been working on Mengs Renault FT-17 with the cast turret. Superb kit with full interior so I decided to have all the hatches open. Building it out of the box with only some small alterations like replacing the springs that are way too thin.

It will be a Finnish FT-17 tank in french colors, they kept the french camouflage so I painted it with AK french color set. For this build I also tried out AK "True metal" colors and I must say that they are great, easy to apply with brush and polishes easily. Will soon start the weathering process but will keep it at a minimum as the tank will stand on a cobblestone base, on a parade with a small child figure standing beside it. The cobblestone and sewage cower are from Miniart

Tamiya BT-7 m1935 1:35 (Finnish version)

Tamiyas BT-7 m1935 built as a finnish BT-7 (R-703). Conversions made on the kit is new rear and front fenders, new gunsight on the turret and a holder for a axe on the front of the tank.

Other parts used on the kit are tracks from friulmodel, etch set from alien models and a figure from alpine miniatures.

The tank built up and primed with zero paints white primer. 

First time using blacken-it on metal tacks. Cleaned the tracks well with vinegar before the rust process.  

The tracks in the blacken-it bath.

Tracks after the blacken-it has made its magic. The tracks are now ready for pigments. 

Life color finnish armour green.

AK chipping medium tested, works like a hairspray and can be used directly in the airbrush. 

Bison decals that I used for this build.

A converted alpine miniatures figure.