1/35 Zvezda/SP Designs 2S23 Nona SVK

I seem to apologising every post but again, sorry for the huge gaps. With exams now officially over and being back from France, hopefully regular posting will return.

This a model I actually completed a while ago now but hey ho.

Bought at Telford, the conversion only cost £6 whilst the doner chassis came from a BTR-80A kindly donated to me by a fellow club member. Construction was extremely straight forward and only took a matter of days with the resin upper hull mating to the chassis very well. Beside from a few wire handles, the instructions were followed making for a pleasant build.

Knowing of my project, another club member ( http://plasticpanzer.blogspot.co.uk/ ) generously gave me a turned Aluminium barrel. Unfortunately I was unable to use it due to either the SP Designs Nona turret or barrel being out of scale. The Aluminium barrel was far to thin but made for interesting comparison next to SPs resin version. (Luckily I have 4 more plastic Nonas to build so that barrel may well come in handy if I ever get around to building them :D :D )

Once construction was complete, a coat of Halford's black was applied followed by Vallejo Russian Green. From here I used cosecutive layers of gradually lighter greens until a gentle fade was achieved. In a moment of euphoria a cream camo was also applied using a mixture of Vallejo Light Sand and Dunklegelb. Bluetac sausages were used to create the patches. This was then followed by a thin, hand painted black outline was done around the cream. I understand that this imaginary camo may well infuriate those perfectionists amongst you but I model for myself, not for history. If you dont like artistic licence, youll hate my blog :D :D :D :D

Perisocpes and sights were done using Games Workshop Ice Blue followed by a wash of dark blue and coat of gloss. Other details such as wires and crew graffiti were then painted on using a range of bright acrylics. Various bolt heads etc received a lighter coat of green to introduce further contrast. As for decals, I chose Soviet Naval Infantry. Whilst Im alsmost certain they were never in service with this branch of the military, they are however thought to be employed by the Russian Navy. With this information coupled with my immense soft spot for the Soviet Naval Infantry, a decal from one of the Bison decal sets was applied to the turret side :)

Anyway, to commence weathering a preliminary wash of Van Gogh Burnt Umber and Abteilung Black. Once dry, streaks of AK Track Wash and Dust Effects was used to build up the heavily worn image which was then emphasised by chipping with light green and black/brown acrylics. In conjunction with hand painted chips, thinned colours were also flicked onto the hull using a brush to create minute texture defects. With these coats of enamels dry, a rag dampened in white spirit was used to wipe hatch tops clean of this 'dirt' in order to give contrast and insinuate use.
The horizontal surface just forward of the engine deck was covered with various pigments suggesting dust build up and made for a change in weathering technique. the engine deck itself was then dotted with small patched of spilled 'oil' as well as spills dribbling down the sides of the hull.Exhausts were done using a variety of rust tones and oils to help represent large mileage
Tyre weathering/mud take the form of polyfilla mixed with pigments. Once mixed into a past, it was spattered onto the hull and worked into the tyre tread. Dried, it was then wiped from the highlights of the tyres leaving it only in the recesses before being given copious enamel washes.
Sorry for this article not being very 'in depth' :(