Su-85 Early Production MiniArt

[Bryan Krueger]

This is the first Group Build I've participated in at least 5 years. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain regular updates.

This is my first MiniArt kit and here are my thoughts so far:

The plastic is softer than anything I've worked with before. It takes Tamiya and Gunze liquid cement just fine.
Overall the kit has some really nice details. Parts are crisp, and detail is sharp for the most part.
There is some flash on the inside faces of the thru hole in the road wheels that will need to be cleaned up.
The part break down for the running gear is a little overly complicated. I'm fine with extra parts, it's better to have more than less, but the number of parts for the road wheel arms will create opportunities for misalignment of the road wheels.
The molded welds are nice. See photo below
The tracks are very well done. The sprue attachment points could have been smaller but clean up is fine.
The tracks click together and are workable. But be very gentle. The tiny pins used to hold the track together want to sheer off. I've ruined enough trying to assemble one run that I will need to glue the last few tracks together on the second run as I've run out of extras.

This is my progress from over the weekend. I spent both days at the table focused on getting the running gear assembled. I'm using a couple of PanzerArt resin all steel wheels and a Dragon spider wheel for some variety. I want to get the tracks fished and see how they hold together. I have a feeling I might need to glue them together like magic tracks.

[Philipp Gross]

Great start! Miniart obviously have greatly improved their kits over the last few years. Not that their old stuff would have been bad either.

Philipp

[Adam Durrant]

The reviews of the MiniArt Su-85s seem positive, but like you, I'm suspicious of any track held together with the wee "pin into a dimple" arrangement and would tend to glue it all together.

Will follow this with interest Bryan.

[Bryan Krueger]

These are are tiny parts.



Phillipp - This is my first MiniArt kit. So far fit has been really good.

Adam - They're holding together for now, not sure how they will handle paint and weathering.

[Bryan Krueger]

Starting to look like an 85 now. I added the applique armor plates to the commander's station as seen on a few Early production 85s. The white epoxy putty is making it difficult to see the welds against the white styrene. I have some Voyager PE front fenders in the spares to use and then its on to the fuel tanks and little bits.

[Olivier Carneau]

Nice and FAST build Bryan. I'm impressed.

[Philipp Gross]

Well, that was fast indeed. Enough time for a 38t after this?

Philipp

[Bryan Krueger]

Thanks. This was the easy part though. A lot of the parts aren't glued on yet. PE fenders didn't work out so I'll need to figure out a plan b.

[Shawn Ramsey]

Nice progress Bryan. Another fast one.

Shawn

[Bryan Krueger]

Thanks Shawn, there's a lot of parts but a pretty quick build when OOB.

I haven't taken as many in-progress images as I should but here is the latest.

Further kit notes for my build and the MiniArt kit in general.

The tracks have held together surprising well. There have been a few instances when they have popped apart, but so far not so bad. They are not nearly robust as indy tracks with separate pins.
The kit PE is very fine. The tool box clasps are very nice and comprise three pieces each.
The PE for the tie down straps looks a little too fine for my tastes. I'm going to omit these and the ice cleats.
They only supply you with enough PE for two fuel tank tie down locations which is odd. The ends need to be rolled over and form a loop but no indication marks are provided on the PE so I had to guess.
I thinned the front and rear fenders with a burr in a motor tool and banged them up with needle nose pliers.
I replaced all the tie down loops with formed brass rod. The kit ones are a combination of flat PE and styrene with beefy sprue points. I annealed the brass rod with a torch first so it was easier to form. I still need to add the welds for these.
The kit hand holds are very fragile and have a multitude of sprue points. Too many to trim or clean up without breaking the fine rod. I trimmed out the rod and replaced with brass rod.
The air exhaust screen is nicely done in two pieces. The mesh sits in a molded recess and the frame fits over top. I soldered the two together first and then had difficulty getting the parts to align in the plastic recess.
The kit tow cables are molded styrene. I trimmed off the eyelets, drilled out the ends, and inserted some hand made copper wire "cable".
The kit tow shackles look a little small but I used them anyway.
I used some Aber soviet tool clamps for the empty shovel bracket.