Dragon T-72M WIP

Morning guys!

Doog, Thanks! I was thinking about leaving the tank clean. But its screaming out weather me!

stikpursher,ygmodeler4, Johan thanks!

Hi GreySnake,

that is not half bad at all, its a very nice build!
I would agree with Carl that this can be either a clean looking model and you are pretty much done or use it as an excellent canvas for your next steps.

Thank you for sharing!

Johan 

Wowsers that looks fantastic!

Looking real good there GS

I think it looks smokin'.  A nice base to start in on some righteous weathering! But it could stand as a clean model as is!

Good evening guys, Its taken me forever nevertheless here's the T-72.

I know it looks really plain right now. Going to fix that with some pastels and oil washes when I get a hold of some. But I don't think it looks half bad.

GreySnake

Doog, I built the Esci T-55 years ago. While not the same as the T-72 it left something to be desired as well.

I built the Esci T-55A(M)  (Esci released this kit as the T-55 and Ti-67 as well)  in 1991 (shortly after I returned from Desert Storm). It was a much better kit than the Lindberg T-55 (I built it as the optional Ti-67) I built in the late 80s, 1989 I think. It was while I was stationed in Germany and before I went to the desert. Any way, it was Squadron's kit of the year and a real dog.

At the time (1989-1991), the Esci T-55 line of kits were the best modern Soviet tank kits on the market. They were better than the Tamiya T-62, Esci T-72/74, Lindberg T-55 or Lindberg T-80. Esci went out of business shortly afterwards and the DML T-72 and T-80 line were all we had through the rest of the 1990s.

It was another decade before Tamiya released a T-55A that put a fork into all other Soviet medium tank kits.

GreySnake

Also took your advice and fixed the barrel and fuel drums Had just enough paint in the can to get everything nice and covered.

Doog, I built the Esci T-55 years ago. While not the same as the T-72 it left something to be desired as well.

Also took your advice and fixed the barrel and fuel drums Had just enough paint in the can to get everything nice and covered.

A brave adventure to rattle can a tank with as many complex angles and undersides as that Rusky! Looks like you got it pretty well covered though? I can perfectly imagine what you went through!

I remember building an ESCI version of one of these and...UGH! What a poorly-engineered kit!

Hey, why not go the extra mile and putty those seam lines on the barrel and barrels now? You could just patch 'em up, and then file them lightly, and then spray a little puddle of rattle can paint and apply it with a brush over the putty'ed parts? Might as well go the extra mile if you're going to have put so much time and work into it already?

Thanks for the feed back.  The results from the photos looks great!  As a younger man building model rockets, I rattle canned "one coat wonders" with some degree of success.  I love the airbrush for control, but its a pretty involved process where I consider the rattle can crude but quick.

stikpusher, Thanks! I did a lot of searching and it seemed the agreement was that Tamiya Olive Drab 2 was the best match for Soviet tanks.  Right about the detail painting that's my favorite part.

f8sader, This is this first tank I've ever spray canned vs airbrushing. And I didn't like not being able to control the paint flow and get every thing nice and covered. Took me three different paint sessions to get it covered. But maybe its just me.  

You've done our comrades proud with that one!  What issues did you have with the rattle can?

I like that shade of OD! It looks right for a Soviet/Russian tank! Now you get to do all the detail painting. I look forward to that.

Finished building the tank last weekend and painted it with Tamiya Olive Drab 2 from a spray can. Never again will I rattle can a tank model

Yes, I know the model isn't great. Seams on the barrel and fuel drums but its good enough to get my feet wet in model building again. Side skirts are just lightly glued on so I can pop them off and paint the wheels etc.

P.S no comments on Snake's table cloth please

Thanks for the comments guys.

Rob, I agree with you on the accuracy of the kit. Plus I got it for half of the price for the Tamiya kit so I'm not going to complain.

garZonh, Right now I'm planning to use the driver And maybe the guy holding the flag, haven't decided yet.

Haven't done much more work on the tank this week. Did find out that the fuel drums don't fit together very well. Got a lot of careful sanding ahead of me. Since tomorrow is my Friday I'm planning to try to finish the building part this weekend.

HI,

It will like to see how will you use the tank crew, how it will set up.

It looks good when finished ;-) I have a few and have enjoyed building them...

I built it many, many years ago. I don't knock them for accuracy issues since they produced the model when the only photographs of the actual tank were grainy intel photos of different variations of the tank from different angles. They took a chance and gave us one of the first modern Cold War tanks that we'd seen in decades. Who knew the Wall was going to fall and with it the Soviet Union?

nice project,should be good