AFV6-1 It's Not Easy Being Green

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It’s not easy
being green
How to get the
best from your
green vehicles
The T-60 is the successor of the T-40 amphibious tank,
and is the result of the requirement for a better armed
cheap and easily produced vehicle. Thus it shares a lot
of common features with its predecessor such as the
running gear and the tracks. It carried a crew of two
and the weakness of its armour (15 mm then 25 mm
on the sides, 20 mm upgraded to 35 mm on the front)
was responsible for its nickname “A two man coffin”.
The main gun was a 20 mm cannon (developed from
the aeroplane ShAK-20 gun) and it was used together
with a DT 7.62mm machinegun. The production of
about 4164 vehicles has stand until February 1943, and
then it was replaced by the better-armed T-70.
by Jean-Baptiste Verlhac
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I found the RPM kit in a hobby shop during a trip to Paris and I must say that
I was attracted by the curious shape of this tank, more reminiscent of a
sports car than an AFV. Moreover, and this aspect forced my decision,
included in the kit was a splendid photoetched plate, making it something of
a bargain. However when I examined more carefully what was inside I had a
lot of doubts about the tracks. They are very poor but I was hopeful that the
TECHMOD T-70 tracks (a very cheap solution) or the more expensive
Fruilmodelismo Tracks could easily replace them. I have chosen the latter
option because the detail is indeed far superior in the Friulmodelismo tracks
and moreover the fact that they are workable will save me some of my
precious modelling time ... When I started to build this tank the only
references I had were the excellent, but small, photos from the website
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Russian Battlefield as well as the step by
step construction article written by Lance
Whitford in his Kiwi tracks site. Thus I have
kept the details to the minimum and of
course, true to the Murphy’s law, I
managed to get Ground Power issue n°88
that was full of excellent (and big) T-60
photos when the construction was finished!
Anyway I have used this small tank in
order to test a rapid method for painting
these Russian green vehicle but the
method could easily be applied to any US
or British armour. First of all it seems that
there is no one Russian green but many
different tones and after having seen the
superb profiles on Russian Battlefield I
have decided to paint it in a clear tone,
thinking it will be more attractive. I will try
to describe how I have reproduce the
effects mainly due to accumulation of dust
and dirt from grease oil, etc.... I have
experimented the method with a T34-85
and a BT7 that are also shown in this
article.
for the engine radiator (the frame, the
louvers and the grille are provided) and the
engine air intake grills are also very nicely
represented. The improvements offered by
the brass parts are less evident for the
turret armour plates and I preferred to use
them as a template for making copies in
styrene as it is easier to represent the
welded joints this way. The gun shield is
best replaced, as the representation of the
overhanging front part of the turret doesn’t
look like the most common version fitted to
this tank, and the junction between the
gun shield and the cannon support is
lacking relief. As I was not planning to
produce the ultimate model of this tank I
only made small improvements such as
welding lines and some rivets or bolts on
various areas. The etched fenders are
really superb and they are very valuable
replacement parts that add realism to a
model, far more than missing rivets in the
right place. The sort of detail that
replicates scale thickness is very important
in my opinion. The fenders have been
glued to an angular support on the model
sides in order to increase the contact
surface and ensure better rigidity. These
supports (angular Evergreen profiles) will
be masked by the tracks when the model
is completed. The 20-mm gun was
replaced by a round Evergreen profile and
the tip is drilled out.
Building
The arrangement of the different pieces is
typical of Eastern European kits, with the
hull in many parts making for a tedious fit.
But it has to be admitted that the moulding
is good apart from minor moulding
problems on the thicker pieces that
required the use of putty. I preferred to use
the solid wheels rather than the spoked
ones because the reproduction of the
suspension arms is not outstanding. The
photoetched fret is very useful especially
The Fruil tracks and the sprocket wheels
fitted the model without any problems and
the kit road wheels are glued before
painting in order to ensure perfect
alignment.
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Painting
The general concept behind the painting
process is that the main weathering effect
on these tanks is due to the accumulation
of dust and mud along with the ageing of
this finish by crew movements as well as
the infantry often seen on these T-60
during WWII. Further dirt came from oil
leaks and grease used by the crew. In this
painting process, I have tried to rationalise
the procedure in order to minimise the
different painting steps.
The painting process could be performed
during two week-ends because I have
used Humbrol paints but this painting time
can be reduced to only one if acrylic-base
paints are used.
The entire model was airbrushed using a
mixture of Humbrol 120 and 150 green.
The proportion of the mix between these
two colours is slightly modified before
airbrushing each panel , and they are
masked using paper sheets. Some of the
horizontal panels are coated with a lighter
shade of this mixture, obtained by adding
Humbrol 175 or 187. Then the tools (only a
shovel in this case) and the rubber parts
are hand painted using Humbrol paints.
Once the paint as completely dried, filters,
consisting of a mixture of Humbrol 62 and
133 highly diluted with mineral spirit, are
applied over the whole surface. Some local
filters are then made on panels and
hatches with blue or yellow oil colours. This
gave more life and relief to the paint and
prepares the surface for the following
treatment with artist oils. In order to break
the uniformity of the tint on each panel,
some small portions of oil paint (fast drying
Windsor and Newton alkyds) of different
colour are laid on the surface and then
spread over the surface with the aid of
thinner and a paintbrush. It’s important to
keep a sort of vertical arrangement in the
colour variations. This step could be
omitted when the coat of dust is
particularly important. The benefit of the
quicker drying time of the oils is that our
attention can now focus on the running
gear. The textured surface is created with a
mixture of plaster, white glue and natural
pastel pigments (earth based such as
mixture of Sienna or Cassel) applied with a
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