Zvezda 1:100 M1A1 Abrams

A closer look at the M1A1 Abrams tank produced by Russian manufacturer Zvezda for their game "Hot War - Battle for Oil". This kit comes in 1:100 scale as all Zvezda "Art of Tactic" and "Hot War" tank kits. But you may use this model for any 15mm cold war game which supports this unit.

I already read some lines about this kit and how bad it would be, and I wanted to see if this is true and ordered one of them for a (luckily) heavy discounted price.

Let us take a look at the kit from this expansion to see if it is as bad as some other reviewers say:

The kit comes in two sandcolored plastic sprues made from the usual material which is used by Zvezda. To me it feels minimal softer then kits from other makers but this opinion may be subjective. As usual there is no problem with using modelglue on this, it binds pretty fast. And as you will see on the last picture, it connects also with styrene parts from other kits.

The kit came without any flaws like mouldlines and sinkholes. My kit did not have any flash or other excess material. The detail on this kit is very shallow, I would say in part is is minimalistic.

The turret is made from only two pieces and misses some details (more on that below), especially the storage bin on the turret is badly reproduced.

The tracks are in the same style as on other 1:100 Zvezda kits, while the roadwheels are good, the tracks are very simplified.

A decal sheet with some generic numbers and tactical signs is included, and I guess it is in the same good quality as the decals from other Zvezda kits. You can use decal setting solution on them but if you use decal softer, they may get damaged by it, at least I made this experience with the decals from an Zvezda plane kit.

When I constructed the Abrams, following the well made instruction leaflet from the box, I had no issues. As usual you have the choice to use glue or build it without any glue, but to be on the safe side, I used my standard Revell modelglue.

The partly built tank looks like this, note that I did not install the bottom of the turret yet:

As you can see, the grade of detail is pretty low. In the foreground you see some leftover bits from the BFM Abrams, I tried to improve its look with them (see the last picture).

And while we are at the BFM M1A1, just look at these comparing pictures of the Zvezda and the BFM Abrams tank:

Just take a look at both tanks and you will see the low level of detail on the Zvezda Abrams. While the general proportions of both tanks are almost equal, the barrel of the "Hot War" model is way too short.

(it seems, now while I watch the pictures, that the unpainted tank hull is shorter)

To keep it short, if you need an Abrams tanks, this model kit should not be your choice. Like for the Tiger from the last review, I do not think that this kit is worth its price. Luckily I got this kit for 3.5 Euro, but its regular price is above 7 Euros. Just for comparison, if you spend one additional Euro you could get the Abrams expansion for the ww3 "TANKS" game, that is (do I repeat myself??) leagues above the Zvezda kit and it offers 3 different versions to build.

Sorry Zvezda, but I say: Thumbs down, do not buy this kit.

But I got this kit and after I added some of the bits shown, I improved its look a lot, just as you can see on the picture below (I used Revell Aquacolor Bronze Green on it):

I wrote in the November blog update that I would review Zvezda planes on Saturdays, but since I left out the missing Semovente Expansion for "TANKS", next Saturday I will show this.

For this you will not have to wait till 22:30, on weekends my posts will come at 17:00 and maybe I will find some time to write a non reviewing post.

Painted Proxies and Custom Units For TANKS The Modern Age

Just some pictures of 15mm 3D printed Humvees and Zvezda Bradley tanks which are used for "TANKS The Modern Age".

Since I do not have the HMMWV TOW expansion for the game, I thought that I could print some of them and use the matching card from the starterbox. After a quick search at Thingiverse I found this stl-file for the vehicle. I resized it according to the measurements I found in the Wikipedia article about the HMMWV and printed it.

The print took roughly 2 hours, on the picture above you can see the Humvee in different stages. After I removed the support, I cut the Tow launcher, cleaned it seperately and exchanged the front part of the TOW launcher with a piece of sprue. It may be a little thick, but I found only too thick and too thin sprueparts, that I decided this way.
Since the wheels were pretty shabby, I used some Vallejo acrylic putty on them.

Painting these things did not take much time, as usual I used Revell Aquacolor paints, except for the wash I did it as I showed in this post.

In a painted state these cars look great. You still see the layers of the printing process but at distance they will not stand out too much. Overall, I am happy with them, but they will show their worthness on the battlefield, which also got a small makeover.

The official Humvee TOW expansion is still on my list, but first I want to build up a small French force which will hopefully arrive in the next days.

Next are a couple of Bradley APCs which I got for a heavy discounted price. I took a closer look at the kit in this post.

I did not like the original look of the sideskirts, so I made a quick websearch for alternatives and found this blog which shows some modifications to the tank. Again I stole without any shame some ideas and applied them to my models.

The Trumpeter scribe tool was very handy when I added new panellines to the modified sideskirts, but not only the skirts were changed, I replaced the stock barrel with an 1:72 2cm Flak barrel from RBModels, which looks pretty nice. Also I changed the TOW launcher into firing position and the smokelaunchers were placed in a different angle.

Finally I changed the position af the headlamps, and, since they are moulded as solid block, I drilled some holes them to improve their look.

Maybe I will replace them at a later time, but I am happy with the final results from the Zvezda Bradley modelkits

I added some camouflage netting following the method I described in this post. As i did for for the Humvee, the Bradleys were painted in the standard scheme which I used for all my US troops. Except for that I did not use any wash for the hull, and used a rusty brown for the tracks, followed by 2 different rust washes and some graphite from a pencil.

Since I do not have approciate decals for the vehicles from this post, there are no markings yet, but I could not resist to add a Snoopy decal from the Sparebook to one of the Bradleys. Looks great and makes it easier to tell them apart.

TANKS The Modern Age: Custom Unit #3

The Zvezda Bradley which I showed in the previous post offers a good base for another custom unit for "Tanks The Modern Age". 

The new unit card is based on the Soviet BMP-2 tank and offers the same values, also included is a weapon card for the TOW launcher, which can only be equipped by this vehicle. At the moment we did not find the time for a playtest, but this should work fine.

The PDF including the new cards is available from this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dUV45YQemgKF8rwEUKqF1NzE-39w2DFF/view?usp=sharing

A good moment to mention, that the two previous made custom unit cards were redone and now published in PDF too.

The 4th and last custom unit, at least for this moment, will follow tomorrow.

Zvezda 1:100 M2A2 Bradley

A closer look at the US M2A2 Bradley APC from Zvezda. This Russian producer not only makes scalemodelkits, also it has several ranges of wargames with mostly simplified models, usally, like this, in 1:100 scale.

This kit comes from Zvezdas "Hot War - Battle for Oil" wargame.

Normally the modelkits from this range cost twice as much as their "Art Of Tactics" counterparts, but I had the opportunity to pick up 3 of them for half the normal price.

This offers the chance to take a (closer) look at this kit:

This kit comes in 2 sandcolored sprues, containing 14 parts to complete the model. All parts are nicely sculpted and casted, I did not find any sinkholes or visible ejectormarks on all 3 kits. There is almost no flash, but minimal cleanup is needed before putting this thing together.

This kit can be built without using glue, the fit of the parts is very good.

The decalsheet seems like it is printed in the same good quality than the M-109 sheet, I had no time to test them at the moment, but there should be no issues with them. But both include the same set of generic tank numbers and tactical signs.

Also there is a mistake in the spelling of Bratley, spelling it Bredley as you can see on the picture above.

All in all once again Zvezda offers a nice, easy buildable model with this Bradley. One minus are the frontlights which are casted as solid blocks without any details, but otherwise I could not find any issues with this kit except for the fact that it comes will all hatches closed.
Compared to their first 1:100 gaming pieces, this is a step forward, especially the tracks got more care by Zvezda.

Anyway, this kit is a nice addition to any 1:100 cold war/modern US army.

After about half an hour, this kit was built. Even when I built it only temporary without any glue, there are almost no gaps which would need filling. A rough measurement shows that is kit probably hits its scale. I would like to mention that this model has slight differences compared to the picture on the boxtop.

I like its look and will have a proper use in the future. You should have read it in the post above.

LAV Tank Expansion For TANKS The Modern Age And Magnetizing The LAV

A closer look at the LAV tank expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age". This game, made by Galeforce 9, is a new version of "TANKS", this time the conflict happens in the eighties of the 20th century in a fictional world war 3.

This game uses 1:100 modelkits from Battlefront Miniatures "Team Yankee" game, just as "TANKS" does with models from their "Flames Of War" range.

Beside the cards for the game, this plastic kit is included in the LAV expansion:

 

Sounds like I am repeating myself, everytime when I take a look at BM kits but once again, this is a kit without any flaws or issues. Neither sinkholes nor visible ejectormarkings can be found on the parts, also there is no flash and there is no mouldlining except for the roadwheels.

The kit comes in 2 sprues of green plastic. If you build the LAV AT version, you will need only the parts marked in the picture above from the second sprue. Also, you could build the LAV-M mortar version from this kit, but since it will not be used for the game I do not mention it in this post.

Seeing the amount of leftover bits, I redid my my little experiment from this post to build a M-163 VADS from them.

Or maybe 2, I reinforced my US troops with another M-901 and had all the bits from the pictured sprue twice. You can see my efford in the post below.

After a view on the plastic included in this expansion, let us take a look at the cards which are included. First there are 2 unitcards in this box:

The LAV-25 is a high initiative unit, but like all (as I call them) support units from the game it has no armour and only 3 hitpoints. Since it is wheeled, the LAV has 3 movement poins. Rapid fire 5 grants some advance against unarmoured vehicles and helicopters, but against all other units this tank is pretty useless with a base attack of only 2.

For 11 points this may be a good addition to your US platoon.

The second LAV version, the LAV-TOW, has with 5 points a lower initiative than the LAV-25. As all other light tanks it has no armour and only 3 hitpoints. Its strenght are the missiles, the vehicle has the ability to shoot 4 missiles each round, supported by its Fast and Hammerhead, instead of 1 this unit has 3 armour when in cover, abilities this thing can be a good support unit.

This unit may join your platoon for only 12 points.

This time 5 additional crew and equipment cards are included, 3 crewmembers and 2 equipment cards.

The US hero is tank commander "Joel Schrader" who pushes the initiative of all LAV and M-60 tanks of the platoon. It is one of those revealable cards, if you do so you will get 2 additional attack dice but lose 1 armourpoint for that round. For 6 points this is a good addition if you have more M-60 and LAVs in your platoon.

Next included are 2 drivers, the US only "Clever Mechanic" gives you 1 Initiative during the movement phase. Also he allows you to drop an equipment card to reroll up to 2 defence dice, not bad for only 2 points.

The "Daring Driver" allows you for 3 points to reroll a defence dice when not in cover.

The 2 leftover cards are for equipment/doctrines. "Spearhead" gives the vehicle which has it equipped to move before the game starts. This may be ok for 2 points, I still did not figure it out, its use may depent on the actual game setup.

The "Duck hunter" is a good addition, especially for tanks without AA abilities. For the cost of 2 points, tanks can do an unmodified  4 dice missile attack versus helicopter. Very nice.

Once again this is a nice addition for the game. I can not say much about its playability but in theory this thing seems nice. If you play versus helicopters, this is a good AA support unit for a releatively low cost.

Not only that I recycled the leftover VADS bits from this expansion, also I magnetized parts of the LAV tank to make it playable in both versions with a change the top part. Maybe this should have gotten its own post, but read on.

First of all, building this kit happened without any issues, made fun and did not take much time. Then I figured out how I would magnetize it and started with this process.
I glued magnets to both exchangable parts, then a blob of epoxy was deployed in the inner hull of the LAV. I pushed the screw with one of the topparts into the epoxy and when it was hardened I only had to take the part off again and could exchange it with the other magnetized top part. Since I used a magnet/screw combination I saved one magnet and did not have to care about the polarity.

Blogupdate

I blocked a specific IP of a network bot or stuff like this, I hope this will not show any negative effects for other visitors of this blog. For now I will test it for a week, to see if I can reduce access for that kinky bot. For this I used the script from http://freehostedscripts.net/blockip/

In the next weeks I have plenty of time for my hobby, this is what I planned beside some spontanous projects. Some older previews of "TANKS The Modern Age" expansions will be updated to fit in the scheme of the actual style, some pictures have to be redone and some additions for the cards have to be made and I would like to add some links.

Next is that I want to build an index page with all built kits from this blog ordered by name or scale of something like that. This will help to find specific models in this blog.

Finally. I will redo one of our battlefields for a more urban look, I have already started to plan the new layout, but removing the actual flock and sand will take some time because waterproof carpenters glue was used.

AND...

I will start to work on the next set of custom unit cards for the game. This time a new US and a new Soviet unit are planned, but I still have to wait for the kits to arrive, to build and to paint them, that I can use a picture of that model on the new card. They will not be completely new, they will only be reskins, what I already did for the French artillery unit. And since the German forces are also limited with only 4 units availabe, Olli and I should take a look on this topic.

I tried a new set of fonts, the new cards will be better readable and the cards that are finished at the moment will get redone this month and then be available as PDF. And it is unclear, if I should get the French units for the game, maybe I drop them of as a birthday present for a friend, after I took a closer look at them, we will see.

More Bitsrecycling With Instant-Sil

Oops I did it again. Building the Battlefront Miniatures M-901 ITV and LAV tanks left over a load of bits. And as you may know, for me this is annoying, I think it is a waste. Except for the marked pieces all parts of this sprue were leftover once and of this sprue twice.

Sure, sometimes you will get some extra hatches or small parts, but in this case there were so many sparebits leftover, like at the Plastic Soldier Company 1:100 Panzer 38t (these were leftover), that I decided to try to use them like I did in this post.

The main parts were finished and roughly cleaned up. As you may see, the duplicated tracks, skirts and hulls are not perfect but I think they are acceptable. They would look better when builtup and painted.

The quality of the cast could be much better, but with my limited supplies I only got these results. This is how they looked when all parts were attached. Also I had to duplicate the drivers hatch. In the background you can see some of my mates Ollis Leopard 2, this picture was made at another roguish Montagmaler meeting.

Later that day we basecoated more than a dozen tanks via airbrush in a production line that would have made Henry Ford proud of us.

Having a Revell Aquacolor Bronzegrün basecoat, the improvised tanks made a better appearence than thought. On the picture they are flanked left and right by the 1:100 T-55 AM kit by the Plastic Soldier Company, a kit which was also nice to build.

I just made these two pictures, you see my original Battlefront kits of the M-163 and the M-901 side by side with their duplicates. Since I changed my regular matte varnish you can see slight differences in the coloring.
I am happy with them, and their production was pretty simple. Another time I used stuff which would else disappear in the bitsbox. For me, one aspect of modelling was always, that every kit built by every modeller everywhere is a unicate, and these are mine.

And I saved some money for other units, one pack of epoxy putty (2 €) was used for each model, some closer looks at the available French forces for "TANKS The Modern Age" may come in the future, but I am still unsure about that.

M163 VADS / M901 ITV Tank Expansion For TANKS The Modern Age

A closer look at the M163 VADS / M901 ITV tank expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age" from Galeforce 9. This game is a followup to TANKS, and, as I would call it, a spin-off of Team Yankee. It contains a 1:100 model kit and some cards for the game.

First let us take a look at the plastic:

This kit comes in three sprues. The first two pictured are from the M113 box, the third sprue contains all parts needed for the M163/M901.
Just as the other TANKS kits in my collection, the kit came without any flaws.  All three sprues have neither sinkholes nor flash, any visible ejectormarks will not be seen when it is built, and there are almost no mouldlines.

On the first picture of the second sprue I marked the parts needed, even when you manage to build both versions from this expansion, I did it in this post, there are a lot of bits left over, the M40(?) recoilless gun would fit perfectly on a Toyota offroad truck.

After a look at the plastic, now it is getting interesting, a look at the cards which were included in this expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age".

First there are the two unit cards:

The M163 VADS (Vulcan Air Defense System) is a heavy hitter against unarmoured vehicles and helicopters, its Rapid Fire ability grants 7 dice against them. And an Initiative of 7 is also pretty good. The Scout ability is needed because this thing has only 3 hitpoints with an armour of 0.

The M901 ITV (Improved TOW Vehicle) is armed with a 4 dice missile attack, useful against all other units on the battlefield, and the Hammerhead ability triples the armour given by cover, but this is needed because this unit has only 3 hitpoints and no armour.

This expansion comes with 3 crew- and 2 equipment cards. This time you can use the cards for all nations except for the heroic crewmember, "Clarence Tucker", which is a nice addition, for 5 points you will get an additional attack dice (*), and when you reveal the card you will get plus 6 Initiative for that round.

(* hmm, feel free to correct me, but I think this would not work with Rapid Fire and Missiles, and then there is only the Initiative boost left. Is this worth the five point cost?)

The other two crewmembers are the "Daring Driver" and the "Superb Commander", who are pretty nice crew members which are worth their low cost, additional Initiative or a defense dice reroll is always welcome.

"Camouflage Netting" offers additional armour when stationary, while "Ambush" gives +4 Initative in the shooting phase when you discard it, both cards are ok for its cost of 2 points.

The last picture in the previous post show the M163 VADS built and painted and what I did to build both possible versions of this expansion from this box.

The next post should be a closer look at the BMP expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age" and some small words on the recycling of the leftover BMP bits.

By the way, I found a small batch of pictures which will be added to some older posts, but this get a separate post.