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Nadya and the children are in Kyustendil now that the school year is over, so why not try starting a “weekend” model before they get back?

From this point onward, unless stated otherwise or obvious from the context, all abbreviations use the Latin alphabet.

What is a “weekend” model, you ask? The explanation is a little longer and more complicated.

Building a model—and especially painting it—is usually a long, labour-intensive and, above all, time-consuming process. For example, assembling my very first model, SS-010 Doobi, took 22 hours and 15 minutes. That was just assembly, without even thinking about painting or anything else.

Now that I think about it, that would qualify as a “weekend” model these days… These days, that is—I have raised the bar!

So, briefly, what are we talking about? A 1:35 Zvezda B-4 model: a “Soviet high-power (special-power) howitzer of 203.2 mm (8-inch) calibre”, with the GAU designation 52-G-625. For getting around the various marshy areas of Karelia…

The kit is inexpensive enough—I bought mine for BGN 51.35 from Hobbyland, with the various regular-customer and online-order discounts—that I can afford simply to “play around” with it without feeling too bad financially if I ruin it.

This time I decided not to film the build, but just photograph the result of each step. Why, you might ask? Filming takes far too much time and energy: arranging for the family to stay quiet, setting up lights (two) and cameras (two), choosing a time when neither the dishwasher nor the washing machine will be running… I do not live in a castle with a separate mancave; I build in the kitchen. It is a lot of work. So I decided it would be easier just to sit down for 45–60 minutes after work—especially now that Preslav and Katya are on holiday and staying with their grandmothers outside Sofia—and make whatever progress I can… But I seem to have wandered rather far off topic!

The kit itself is a little odd. Although it is from 2024, it uses “green” plastic. For anyone unfamiliar with it, model manufacturers used “green” plastic about ten years ago; most kits now use “beige” plastic and, more recently, “white” plastic. The difference is that the “beige” and “white” types are much harder—and much nicer to work with, at least in my opinion—and presumably allow finer detail. The “green” plastic is much softer and more flexible. Perhaps this has something to do with the sanctions against Russia: Zvezda is a Russian company, although I have had their 2022–2023 kits in “white” plastic, and those were nicely detailed and pleasant to work with. But let us not get into political arguments…

So, let us begin with the first four numbered steps—1, 2a, 2, 3, 4a and 4:

Nothing complicated; almost elementary, really. The only thing was that the instructions called for painting the inside of the barrel black, but I think I will handle that with black primer…

So, after 45 minutes, this is where I got to: