SMK prototype 1/35 kit bash

Leighbo

Active Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
1,033
Hi Guys

Here's my second entry for the BSC, am attempting to make the Russian SMK heavy tank. This is available in 1/35 but only as a resin kit at great expense so I thought I would try and put one together from other kits. During the winter war against Finland the SMK, KV-1 and T-100 prototypes were put into action to see which was the most successful solution, which the KV won after the SMK was disabled by a mine.
The SMK was basically an extended KV-1 with an extra turret so I am using 2 x Trumpeter KV-1's which will be sliced up and stuck together and the extra turret is the same as was used on the BA-10 armoured car, so Zvezda's offering will go into the mix as a donor vehicle too!
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I got started today, I admit I was concerned at potentially ruining 2 perfectly good kits by cutting them up incorrectly. When I first considered this project I assumed the road wheels were all equidistant so I would cut a third of a KV-1 and stick it to the back of the other KV-1 extending it and adding 2 wheels, but when I came to measure it up, the wheels are actually all at different distances. doh! I did manage to work it out though and used the return roller wheels as a guide as they are at the same distance apart.

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The side panels are glued to an internal tub which again I cut but at different distances to the sides to add strength
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Although basically the same layout as a KV-1 there are more differences than just sticking the 2 together, the front vertical hull panel layout is reversed so I had to swap the machine gun and light around, also the front hull horizontal panel is completely different so I will have to scratch this. The rear half of the hull is extended upwards so I had to add some extensions from plastic card and the rear hull section is mostly different from the KV so more scratch building to come.

The KV turret moves to the centre of the tank and is higher than the hull which will need to be made and the BA-10 turret is added at the front.

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Had to leave it for now as I have filled the gaps, hopefully have some more progress soon.

Thanks for looking
 
It is a lot of parts but half of them won't be used, at least not on this project anyway!
 
I would have loved to use Friul tracks but that would have meant buying two sets on top of the price of the 3 kits, so I will try and use the kit plastic sets
 
Leighbo said:
I would have loved to use Friul tracks but that would have meant buying two sets on top of the price of the 3 kits, so I will try and use the kit plastic sets
The Plastic sets :eek:
that a lot of work. respect. ;)
 
Thanks for the comments guys, I got a little bit more done over the weekend

I added some structure to the turret base with plastic card
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and then wrapped some thinner plastic card around to create the final shape
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I'm really pleased that it actually came out looking like the real thing!
After that I started adding some of the top hull detail including the grille, rear hatch, bolt details and weld seams around the turret mount
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Still some more work to do on the welds and some more detailing but it's getting there
Hopefully I'll be adding some wheels and the tracks soon and I'll see if the tracks will fit together!

Thanks for looking
 
Hi guys, got some more done so far this week

I spent a lot of time fettling around with the seams between the new and kit parts to make them as smooth a jojn as possible and then added a few details on the top hull such as the exhaust pipes. The only contemporary photos I could find of the SMK were taken from the ground so don't show the top of the tank in detail, there are quite a few plans around but they differ in details I had to use a bit of artistic licence but I think it looks 'right', to my eyes anyway!
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I also started adding the roadwheels
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Then I started on getting the tracks to fit correctly, which actually wasn't to difficult, only one cut on each side
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What was more tricky was getting the fenders to fit as I had to cut them up and add sections in to match the reference photos
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There's still a bit of fettling to do but I'm happy with the way it's going and am relieved that the tracks worked out

Thanks for looking
 

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