1qaz

I am scratch building a Russian SMK tank in 1/16. The SMK used a lot of KV parts for the lower hull, road wheels and suspension. My question is this, did the KV series tanks use steel road wheels or did they have a rubber tire on them?

Airbrushler

Steel you can find most of what your need in here Prime Portal

1qaz

Thank you for the good info! Looking at some photo's it looks like the edge of the road wheels is black which led me to believe that there might be rubber around the road wheels. Still lots of work to do, Thanks again!
Larry

Crius

Now that looks very cool. I'll be watching this one.

1qaz

Thank you Crius,
I kinda cheated on this build. After building a Char 2C completely from scratch using G-10 sheet & 3D printing the cost of the Char was WAY to much! On this build I opted to buy 2 Heng Long KV-1's and cut them in half for the lower hull parts. I used the HL gearboxes along with all the wheels and tread links which seems to have worked out real well. I have driven the lower stretched hull around and it runs real good.
Larry

1qaz

The turret was also used on the SMK, I had to section and chop it a bit but it seems to be turning out very close to my small 1/35 scale SMK model which I am using for reference.

1qaz

Here is a picture of the turret so far, also the lower turret beginnings. I had to make a mold for the lower small turret and then laid-up some fiberglass to get the part.

Airbrushler

going to be a Monster very cool Nice work

tankme

Yes...nice work. Love seeing tanks that are different from the current offerings.

1qaz

Made a bit more progress on the turrets today, still have to build up the gun for the lower turret then it's time to do some CAD parts to be printed.

RC_BobM

That is a very cool project! I love the Russian land battleship tanks. The printed parts look like very nice quality - did you print them yourself or have a service like Shapeways make them? Very interesting project.
Bob

1qaz

Thank you for the kind words, I hate to disappoint you but so far I have not had any parts printed for this model. All the detail stuff are parts I cut off of the Heng Long donor tanks which has saved a ton of Shape Ways expense! I do have a couple of parts that I have designed for the SMK that needed to done from scratch so those files will get sent to Shape Ways when I am ready. The Char 2C that I did used a ton of Shape Ways printing and ended up costing a fortune to build, but live & learn.

1qaz

Front turret is coming along nicely, still a few small parts to add. I had to take a photo next to a Sherman to show what a large tank this thing was. Also started to airbrush a bit of green, I am trying the Mission models paint this time.

Imex-Erik

This is awesome, I can't wait to see the end result!

vollenc

Awesome! Thanks for posting the Char 2C again. What a beauty. I like that you included the Sherman with the SMK. It's always instructive to have scale, especially with unique vehicles.

Pnzjgr

Wow you do amazing work! Can't wait to see it moving and guns firing!

1qaz

Getting a bit more done today, gun on the turret mount and the giant DShK 12.7 mm heavy machine gun that was used in the aft part of the main turret. Also got the small single head light finished up. Shape Ways said that my parts are on the way so pretty soon I can finish up the engine deck.

1qaz

Finally got the model up & running, I'll work on a video tomarrow of the SMK driving around. The photo of the parts pile is all thats left of the donor tanks, still a lot of good parts if I need them.

1qaz

I hope everyone is doing OK with this "lock down" here in the U.S. I did get my 3D printed parts in the mail today so I can finally finish up this thing!