Eastern Express 1/72 Su-85

I will start with something simple, Eastern Express SU-85 in 1/72 scale.

HISTORY

SU-85 is a tank destroyer developed and produced by the Soviet Union in 1943/44 to counter German big cats appearing in the fields of the Eastern Front at the time in increasing numbers. It was a stop-gap measure, fielding 85 mm gun on an armoured mobile platform as fast as possible while work was made to equip tried and tested T-34 with an appropriate turret that could house new big gun.

The gun in question was 85 mm AD gun M1939 (52-K) that showed good results in combat, so it was used as the basis for three different versions as are:

D-5 developed by Petrov

ZiS-53 by Grabin/Savin

S-18 by Sidorenko

Of these S-18 was used on first two prototypes of SU-85 and abandoned, I have no information about its further usage and fate. D-5S (for samohodnaya) was used on SU-85 and SU-85M, while D-5T (same but tankovaya) was installed on T-34/85 Model 1943. Modified ZiS-S-53 appeared on T-34/85 Model 1944 and later.

Chassis of the T-34 mod 1943 medium tank was already used to self-propel 122 mm howitzer around under the name SU-122 assault gun. Even though that experiment was not a roaring success chassis proved its worth so it was decided to mount it with 85 mm gun, also in turretless casemate.

There were: 

SU-85-I first prototype with S-18-1 85 mm gun

SU-85-IV second proto with S-18 85 mm gun

SU-85-II third proto with D-5S 85 mm gun

SU-85-III late prod. Model with D-5S gun, but with different vision slots/ commanders cupola, I do not quite understand what was changed since all pictures of SU-85 I saw online had a samey looking top.

And finally SU-85M which was chassis and casemate of SU-100 but with leftover 85 mm guns.

All that is from my online research, take it with a grain of salt :)!

**The one Im building was made in Kazakhstan Soviet Socialist Republic Heavy Machinery Factories as a response to British fielding more and more of their heavy Churchill tanks in the plains of Rajasthan.***

Artist representation of SU-85 fresh out of factory.

MODEL

Eastern Express is firm from Moscow that mostly gives T-34 versions and their SU-derivatives. This SU-85 (samohodnaya ustanovka vosemnjdesjet pjatnj) is number 72014 and comes in a top lifting cardboard box with nice illustration of its subject passing the burning PZ III, wouldn't the Tiger be better composition wise? Hunter passing its destroyed prey it was created to kill? Just saying.. The box is of a smaller size (relative, compered to Dragon ones ie.), I prefer to hold model – in – work in individual boxes with all parts & necessary materials, but since the vehicle is rather low it worked well.

In the box is one big sprue of grey plastic with all the parts to build one vehicle, 77 total withouth tracks that come on their own black sprue. Now this is not of Revell level of details but it is nice and clear enough. Tracks especially are sharp and detailed, they do come with their own set of problems, but on that later. Instructions come on one side of A4 paper which is great because I can than scribble everything research wise on the back side and keep it in box with the model.

There is also a decal sheet, but it either wasn't in the box when I got it (second hand) or I lost it somehow. Considering my level of organization, both are equally possible.

Box and cover art.

Single light grey plastic sprue with all parts except...

...tracks on their own black plastic sprue.

A4 paper instructions.

CONSTRUCTION

NOTE: I haven't yet developed habit of photo-documenting every step of work, sorry.

Rear drive sprocket is fine as is. Front idler needs to have holes drilled between each spoke. Main wheels look good and are of size if my blueprint resizing was done correctly, but holes in rubber rim weren't good enough for this gentleman's taste so he had to go and drill them. 

OK, IF I scaled the blueprint right.

And it was going well to the point ( as can be seen) but then my drill on lowest speed settings started melting plastic (maybe because these last were already glued) … well crap.. at least it was on last few wheels so I managed to pull it of with the least possible damage without having to resort to hand drill. Althogether it looks good enough to be worth the effort.

Story of two wheels.

I used simple assembly to align all the wheels sort of a right, I'll have to think of a better jig to do it in the future. 

Wheel attachments are like granny's teeth.

The model has correct spacing between 2nd & 3rd road wheel by the way. Wheel axles go into shallow holes on the lower hull so I drilled them a bit so they have better fit. Road whell carrier needs some filler, unfortunately I haven't taken pictures of that part so I don't remember anymore how and where I did it. Oh well.. 

Tracks are nicely detailed but top and bottom sides are missaligned slightly and require careful cutting edges with scalpel. Also conecting teeth need to be adjusted with scalpel to fit more or else depending of a part.

And that is all there is to do with lower hull for now. The upper hull. Here we now enter deep, dark and troubled waters. Engine deck is ok, but casemate … 

Up is the casemate roof on blueprint, down is how it looks on model.

This is how it looks in War Thunder.

 Time for some major plastic surgery with my trusty Man Wah 

saw! 

So, the roof goes off and piece of plastic card in correct size is prepared.

Casemate walls need to be adjusted properly by separating front and side plates all the way down to fenders and removing completely rear plate. Also grove is made on the inside of the side panels in line with mudguard so it could be bent slightly outward to match width of the new roof. Rear plate was also made from plastic card and it has to be slightly titled forward.

Before hopping onto the upper hull, this is 85 mm D – 55 barrel that comes on sprue.

I contemplated sanding the barrel it to proper size and shape, for a full 5 seconds, and decided to order metal one. Now, I am not one to use after market details unless they already come within the box, because I prefer to scratch build as much as I reasonably can. And yeah I'm a cheap bastard. But there was no way for me to sucessfuly shape stock barrel into proper shape. I ordered one made by Aber and went on to work on the upper hull while I wait for it to arrive. And boy was there a lot to do on upper hull!

New hull was attached onto walls with internally placed pieces of plastic to hold them in place and strengthen contruction and then all holes and gaps were filled with miliput and sanded when dry. Front bulge above drivers hatch is asymetrical shape so i fixed that with some plasticard and miliput. Also the other thingy above drivers hatch had to be removed and rebuilt with plastic card and miliput. You notice pattern her? The big island on the right side of roof was wrong shaped so it had to be rebuilt with its parts and miliput. Hatchers and hinges were built from pieces of thick paper and copper wire.

Periscopes were crap so I removed them and made new one from piece of plastic by carefully scraping it with scalpel and sanding. Then I made mold from plastic card and miliput into wich I pushed piece of sprue plastic I melted with lighter. And It worked reasonably well!! Yay! Hand rails were made from thicker wire and triangular part was made from same stuff I forgot what…

Upper hull post all work.

Metal barrel.

Comparing barrels and start of work on mantlet.

Metal barrel was gorgeous and worthly investment. I would never be able to make anything nearly as good from plastic original. I did have to cut edge of ball mantlet base to fit with reshaped bulge above driver hatch.

After affixing mantlet and barrel work was essentially done and time was for:

PAINTING AND MARKINGS

With all my alternate history ideas and creativity I painted the vehicle in simple russian green overall with dark oil wash and tracks metallic iron with slight rust dusting. I borrowed red star decals from my Zvezda Il-2 Sturmovik and number 55 from T-55 tank (I think).

Good side.

Bad side. Unplanned track gap will be dealt with later with some dirty rag.

Top side. Added log with some barbed wire.

Also added towing cable to the front.

Side by side comparison of original and reworked casemate.

And job well done. I am pleased with results and am looking forward to making SU-100 and SU-122 sometimes in the future (once I get a hold of them).

Thanks for reading and forgive me for any language or grammar mistakes!

EDIT: Forgot to give my final word on this model! I would say that even without major surgery I performed it would make for a pretty piece and I would recommend it for everyone, but please make the investment of metal barrel, it is worth it.