Dragon JSU-122S/152 (Kit 6047) Build

Filled the sponsons with plastic sheet. 

Raised the lower hull for accuracy and track clearance. 

Used plastic strip and sheet to raise the hull. 

Opening the air intakes for photo-etched screens. I didn't notice the exquisite detail until I started grinding it off. 

I was able to make it harder to open the air intakes by doing the sponson first. Should have opened the holes first. Anyway, the screens for the Tamiya kit are the same width, but about a millimeter shorter in length. Looks like I can make it work. 

Internal baffles made with plastic sheet. 

Intake baffles done. 

Axles and wire handrails on. 

Test fitting the gun and mantlet. 

Deepened the panel lines on the back plate, added a handle on and a rain guard over the large access door, and used a brass rod for the hinge bar. 

Attached the main sprockets. They can spin freely to aid in track placement later.  

Attaching the lower and upper hulls. 

The seams are sealed, sanded, and textured (with super glue and cornstarch slurry dabbed on with a bamboo skewer). I use silver paint to help me see any gaps.  

Starting the detail work. 

Headlight and horn using Voyager photo-etch for Tamiya 

The horn required some slicing and splicing to use the photo-etch. The "bell" is drilled out. 

Top hatches required some work to be flat bottomed, not round. 

Slowly adding bits and pieces from the Voyager photo-etch. Remember, that photo-etch is for the Tamiya JSU-152. 

The grills and wire bits. 

 

Glued the brackets onto the fuel tanks and let them dry over-night. Notice how the straps end before they reach the brackets. 

I cut strips from sheet styrene to extend the holding straps to the brackets. Super glue, with a little corn starch, filled the gap. Then all was sanded smooth. 

Using super glue allowed the process to go quickly. Extended both the front and back straps down to the brackets. 

Applied silver paint (enamel) to help me see seams or gaps. 

Added "Grandt Line" bolts (which are used to tighten the straps on the real machine). 

Attached the tanks to the hull. 

Spare tracks "welded" on the front with Super-glue and cornstarch slurry. 

Primed with Tamiya white liquid surface primer. 

 

 

 

 

Base coat of Model Master Acryl Medium Green 

Wetted the front area and applied table salt at random to scrape off later. Painted front with Model Master Acryl Flat White 

Scraped off the salt and misted the green areas with Model Master Acryl Russian Armor Green to darken and cover any white over spray.  

Applied decals over a gloss coat. The word is "VICTORY!" 

Artist oil paint and mineral spirit wash. 

Ugly. Hope this works... 

Pin wash in some places, general wash in others. Needs to be "cleaned-up" after it drys. I will wipe the excess off with mineral spirits. I hope.... 

The wash cleaned-up. I used a foam pad and Tamiya cotton swabs with mineral spirits to wipe away the excess wash. 

Completed the first dry brushing to bring out the highlights. 

More dry brushing.... 

Finished the stowage and detail painting 

Spare tracks painted 

More stowage 

After applying green filter, brown pastel filter, and mud layer (real mud!) 

Ready for tracks! 

 

The tracks seem pretty nice, but it took about six hours to clean them up! 

The tracks are fitted and glued together. 

After a couple of hours of glue drying, I paint and weather the tracks 

Made them a dusty rust color, with highlights of rubbed metal (dry brushing) 

Even though the tracks are glued and dry, a little heat from a hair dryer softens the bond. Very carefully, the tracks can be threaded onto the vehicle. 

The sprockets have to be constructed so they can spin freely, or this method would be very difficult. The rest of the wheels have been glued in place, but if they could turn, it wouldn't hurt. 

Using little blasts of heat and cotton swabs allows me to mold the tracks in place as I want them.  

In a few minutes, the glue bond tightens, and you're done! I started with 89 links per side, but after wrapping around, and sagging the track, the connection point was at 83 links. I always try to connect on the bottom. 

I don't think you could use this method if the lower hull wasn't modified (raised), like I did at the beginning of this project. There would be too little clearance to thread things through! 

Next steps are touch-up paint and mud on the tracks and sprockets. Almost done! 

Finished!