The Model Box

My first few attempts at squash casting using melted down sprue plastic. I'm not too happy with them yet, having attached them temporarily and compared with the original part. I'll be attempting some more castings and will hopefully come up with suitable replacements. BTW, having a motor tool is a must imho. Squashing the melted blob of plastic creates a thick backend that is a b#tch to sand off.

 Work on the 1:35 SU-122 continues as I try to replace some missing parts thru squash casting. Squash casting is a technique to reproduce simple parts using a one-part mold. Here's a link to where I first learned about it. For the 1:35 Tamiya SU-122 project, I realized that I had lost 2 viewport hatches for the tank destroyer's superstructure. Luckily though, I found one of the three hatches and decided to try squash casting replacement parts.For this attempt, I'll be using an A/B epoxy putty for both the mold and the replacement part. Depending on how it looks, I might try a different material later on such as glue-softened sprue plastic. Anyway, I mix a batch of the putty together by kneading vigorously the resin and the hardener components and roll them into a cushion-like ball. After the colors had evened out to a neutral color, I split the blob into two and use the plastic hatch part I have left to create an impression on one side of the balled-up putty.

Most of the kit was partially built ages ago and some parts need regluing, resanding or replacing.I like the way this Tamiya kit designed the wheels. The parts fit perfectly. I hadn't realized that some of the parts were left to unglued and were just dry fitted for around a decade already without falling off! I also found the rive sprocket assembly quite clever, having no center rod as an axle but attaching directly to the underchassis but still freely locating. As you can see, the kit was designed to be motorized but I can't rememeber if it did come with a motor. The directions do not mention one so I believe the motor was an optional part. By the way, the directions of this kit are in Japanese, which I can't read so I go by the construction pictures. The superstructure was quickly assembled but I found it too difficult to find the locator marks with the dark green plastic of the kit so I light sprayed a thin coat of primer. It made the task of l

There isn't much about the SU-122 you can't find on Google but I found very few reference photos of the actual vehicle in action. Most of the pictures I've seen are of scale models.  Here's a link to the SU-122 entry at Tanks Encyclopedia And here's another small image from The-Blueprints.com . Register and get the bigger versions, they are free with regiatration. And here are some photos from wwiivehicles.com And here's another technical drawing by George R. Bradford:

The SU-122 (from Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 122 mm) was a Soviet self-propelled howitzer or assault gun used during World War II. The number "122" in the designation represents the caliber of the main armament—a 122 mm M-30S howitzer. The chassis was that of the T-34. from Wikipedia This morning, I reopened a kit that had been partially assembled years back. The Tamiya 1:3 5 Russian Tank Destroyer SU-122. More soon as I check the parts as well as the earlier assembly.  Time to crack open some reference material.  As I gather more material, here's a line-art blueprint of the SU-122 from The-Blueprints.com

More of the 1:48 M-60A1 and AMX-30 WIPs from Kitech.

Aargh! Why do I torture myself? This Kitech M-60A1 has exactly the same problems as the AMX-30 . First of all, the Reactive armor parts are under scale and pretty thin. So I didn't put them on. Poor detailing, rudimentary parts, make-believe lower hull, wrong tracks, poor bustle rack etc. I could go on but I did put it together in a few minutes, save for around ten to fifteen minutes spent resanding the attachment to the commander's cupola. In short, still not a total waste since I enjoyed the practice time. This kit is more of a toy than an accurate scale model. It came with a motor but I didn't waste time trying to make it work. But who knows? Maybe some day. If I'm bored enough :)