Academy 1/35 K1A1 MBT

[JohnP]

I'm off of school for a week of winter break and eeny-meeny-miny-mo'd this one from the stash



I've assembled it and I've started pre-shading.
I'll try to have some pictures up tomorrow.

[Schoof]

i`m gonna have my eye on this one ....... had the kit in my hand a coulpe of times but never took it with my ....... dont know why.....

[JohnP]

Here's what I've got so far..






I've just noticed that the figures look like some beat-boxing or rapper duo.

[Coen]

You're right John, they look like a pair of buskers that I see downtown every summer... Aside from the tanker uniforms. Haha.
The K1A1 looks very heavily influenced by both the M1A1 and the Leo2. There are a lot of features in common there.
This is going to be a really cool looking piece. Can't wait for the paint!

[HWGuderian23]

Looking great so far John . The stowage box on the turret looks nicely detailed ... very nice work mate

[JohnP]

I've finished pre-shading her. Here are some things I've been doing while waiting for the compressor to cool down.

I've prepared some stowage in addition to Tamiya's US Modern Equipment set which is yet to be delivered.



I first tried the roll stowage with Milliput but ended up having a tantrum, so I tried something else.
I cut up a long strip of paper towel and soaked it in watery glue. I'm thinking about trying some dried wet wipes next, as it is more 'clothy'.
I formed the tie-down areas with wire as the glue dried, which will be replaced with paper strips.

The rest of the stowage was from a pretty awesome Trumpeter kit:



This kit even came with some printouts of Coca-Cola and water bottle boxes that you fold up!
The stowage seems to be made of some Styrene/Vinyl material, much like Dragon's DS.

I also made a little signal flag from tissue soaked in watery glue and rolled the end of the flag onto a piece of stretched sprue.



That's enough blabbering ... next up is the camo!

[JohnP]

i`m gonna have my eye on this one ....... had the kit in my hand a coulpe of times but never took it with my ....... dont know why.....

It is a really nice kit! There are some fitting issues with the turret basket, though. I have a bad rep when it comes to delicate parts so I dared not try to fix it. I've already knocked off a rear-view mirror while pre-shading and praised God when I found it on the floor. Overall, a really good kit! No fitting issues I've run into besides the basket and the crew is nice but needs clean-up.

[JohnP]

You're right John, they look like a pair of buskers that I see downtown every summer... Aside from the tanker uniforms. Haha.
The K1A1 looks very heavily influenced by both the M1A1 and the Leo2. There are a lot of features in common there.
This is going to be a really cool looking piece. Can't wait for the paint!

You see, Coen, when a Leo and an Abrams love each other very much, there comes a stork that brings a baby and thats how a K1 is born!
A part of me isn't going to enjoy taking on the camo... but here goes...

[Schoof]

i`m gonna have my eye on this one ....... had the kit in my hand a coulpe of times but never took it with my ....... dont know why.....

It is a really nice kit! There are some fitting issues with the turret basket, though. I have a bad rep when it comes to delicate parts so I dared not try to fix it. I've already knocked off a rear-view mirror while pre-shading and praised God when I found it on the floor. Overall, a really good kit! No fitting issues I've run into besides the basket and the crew is nice but needs clean-up.

Ohw man now i just have to take it home next time

[Coen]

You see, Coen, when a Leo and an Abrams love each other very much, there comes a stork that brings a baby and thats how a K1 is born!
A part of me isn't going to enjoy taking on the camo... but here goes...

nice haha...!!

[JohnP]

*Update*

I've made a little (and crude) Taegeukgi (The S.Korean Flag) to mount on an antenna.
I'm going to paint the Taegeuk (The blue/red yin-yang like symbol) later.



A little progress made on the basecoat.
The black preshading really brought out the detail in the rear fans.





There was an antenna mount missing so I used a stub from the sprue.



Well.. That's it. Ta-ta for now

[Gav0909]

Ah cool. I am looking to get this kit in the future along with the Academy K9 (I have a thing these days for modern MBTs and SPGs it would seem...)

Nice to see a build of the K1A1. Good luck with the camo!

[JohnP]

Hello Gents.. been busy



I've finished the brown sections of the camo. Now it's time for black, tan, and going back to fix the overspray











I freehanded the camo... I tried a 50/50 mix of Tamiya and thinner but found that adding a few more drops and using a steady hand helps getting a cleaner finish. Really hate my compressor, though. It's tankless and becomes very hot (got burned once) in 25-30 minutes. Takes almost an hour for it to cool down. Oh well, be happy with what you have... even if it's hard
I really need to get some white light... my current bulbs makes everything look yellow-ier

Stay Tuned!

John

[Paul]

Nice freehand Camo work John

[Schoof]

Wow you free-handed that ???

[JohnP]

Does a bear crap in the woods, son?
Sorry, I couldn't resist saying that
Yeah, I practiced spraying lines on some paper and got the right paint/thinner ratio and had grew new-found patience.
I have had some real practice before. My first pattern-camo tank was Academy's Panzer IV and oh boy, did I learn a lot.
A lot of nasty over-spray. I later refined my painting when I built a Leopard 2.

[Coen]

That's excellent work on that camo.. Freehand too.
Nicely done buddy!!!

[longlance67]

John,

very nice work mate, your camo work is very nicely done mate, cant wait to see what you do next with it


great work


Shane

[JohnP]

Heheh to be honest, I'm too lazy to make masks. I have Tamiya tape and sticky tack, I'm just too impatient haha

[JohnP]

*UPDATE*

Finished the camo... spent a lot of time fixing the overspray. My hands were real jittery for some reason.

















Don't know about my figure painting... never was really good haha





Still a lot to do... School got cancelled for tomorrow - Huge cold front moving in from Canada More modelling time! Yay!

Not sure what I'll build next... Can regular users post polls?

[JohnP]

I'm baaaack

And I've finished her! I decided not to weather her just yet.
Sorry for the bad photography

[youtube]0EyXwF9ZJ5I[/youtube]

[longlance67]

well done mate


top notch work mate

bravo !


Shane

[JohnP]

Thanks Shane! Your Pz1 is coming along nicely as well

[longlance67]

thanks John

[JohnP]

For Gary

[garywintin]

beautifully done sir... beautifully done...