The key IMO is to find a photograph that you really like and go from there. Knocked out armor has a lot of weird quirky stuff going on.

Unless your just interested in building techniques,you need to get your time frames and variants correct,Rob Ferreira also known as Scratchmod has his own site featuring a lot of knocked out,burned out tanks,check it out for ideas.I hope it materializes for you.

It'll require a lot of different techniques but it all starts with an idea, go for it..

Terry

Steve

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, awesome!!! 

I'd read somewhere that the Iraqis painted over the Soviet green with sand coloured latex house paint that would peel off like crazy showing the green underneath. Could be a cool little touch to add to the areas not totally blown up.  

Hmm, maybe that's why almost every one I see seems greenish in areas.

Cool Steve, I think that ten dollar kit should work out fine for what you're doing. 

Neat idea on the fire, I think it's a matter of just fooling with it till it looks 'right'. 

Yeah, I was messing around with the "fire" last night. I think I'm on track I just need to get the right mix of light, color and shape. Then I get to break a model 

I agree. Looks like you just need to get the mix of colors corrected and you're there. :)

So far, this is already looking to be a very sweet build.

Thanks Mike, I value your opinion.

I worked a little on the "Lion" today. I cut off some road arms so I could reposition them later. I also "modified" the aft fuel tanks to reflect the heat they would be exposed to.
I’m still firming up my thought for the diorama. Possibly knocked out either on the sand or in the city. I’m thinking a city scene on a street.

Be sure to "pin" those road wheel arms.

I'm not "buying" your gas cans at all. If you have photos please share. A totally full one might distort, anything less full with fumes in it would just blow up. Or they still look like they did the day they were made.

Actually makes a nice contrast to the other damage.

Hmmm, I went to look for some better pics of the fuel tanks, and I noticed it seems more tanks had them removed than not, at least in the photos I could find. I will probably just leave them off.

The first two pics you posted are current, new Iraqi Army T-72s.  They don't mount the fuel drums as they are not needed for the close-in actions they are mainly involved in now.

Earlier Iraqi T-72s mostly did mount the fuel drums.  Check out a bunch of destroyed ones here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=t72+iraq+war&biw=1412&bih=826&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIr5q8hs72xwIVU6yACh2krQ66#tbm=isch&q=destroyed+t72+iraq+

Thanks Arty,
I've looked at hundreds of pictures and since I was not over there, I have a hard time distinguishing one from another. Any advice and info from anybody is welcome and wanted. I will just keep going here and adjust the build to keep on the right track. Like you and GM are doing, tell me early so I can fix the mistake.

Thanks guys, I like armor, but never been around any (museums and parks excluded). I was a Costie, I know cutters and small boats and worked on their radios and radars.

modelcrazy

I am trying some ideas here. I painted some cotton and shoved some LED’s in it. It looks OK but I I think I need a large LED, probably from a nightlight.  I have since added some acrylic gel to it. We’ll see if that helps. I need to apply some more paint mostly orange and black and work out the bugs.
  

 

Perhaps a stupid question since I'm still fairly new to all this stuff, but is the LED in the fire going to flicker? I'm thinking with Halloween just around the corner, there's got to be something you could cannibalize to get that effect without having to put an arduino board into the diorama. (Although with that you could get crackling and far off mortar explosion sounds going too.  Wouldn't that be cool?)

Yes there is something you can canabalize for that effect and you can find them almost everywhere. Just grab a pack of those electric tea lights. Should give you a nice smoldering flame effect.

Wow!! That is a hell of a brew-up.  Gotta love the crew protection considerations on Soviet/Russian armor. 

Note: It is always a good idea to put the ammo exposed and pointing up around the turret base.

You may not be able to take a good picture of it, but it will impress people who get to see it in person. If you take it to a show it will attract attention.  :)

That looks like fire coming out from around the mantlet/ dust cover seal, where it used to be.

Looks to me like the flames should be orange, too.

Flames coming out of the end of the gun tube! I like that!

Here's an interesting detail:

Marks from the projectile fins.

HeavyArty

 It is always a good idea to put the ammo exposed and pointing up around the turret base.

I thought that was so the turret could come off so the crew could escape. Kinda like and ejection seat.

GM,
I noticed my practice piece was way too red. Actually studying flames, there's hardly any red, mostly orange and yellow.

That picture was a screen shot of a YouTube video of a T-72 taken out by an RPG-29. To watch the video YIKES!! What a hellish scene. There was another video I watched where a T-72 was hit by an RPG and as it came into view of the Go Pro camera attached to a T-72 turret behind it, you can just see the turret landing after the explosion.
I gata say, for a non-tank guy, watching the gun fire and the concussion around the barrel and round WOW! I never thought there was that much concussion. Dust flies off the objects around it, trees lose their leaves etc.

Well this is where I am so far. My idea will be to pose the “Lion” brewing up as it veered onto a street curb. Of course there will be a street on one side of the curb and sand on the other.
Now I wasn’t over there, I was at a LORAN station in Montana at the time, so I have no idea if this is a plausible scene.
The cotton is the start of the flame. I will add to it applying layers of acrylic pouring medium and cotton. I ordered some high intensity white LED’s to insert inside and will stiffen the flame with wire.

Looks good Steve, I like the articulation you're working into the road wheels there. 

And thanks guys from me too, I've thought about trying to build a burning Ferdinand TD at Kursk but never got around to it since I have no idea on how to depict a burning AFV. 

Instead of an urban scene, I will be doing the causeway at the Rumaila oilfield since I can’t find any evidence of a destroyed T-72 at the battle of Khafji. 
This is one of the flame pillars with the LED’s installed. I will be placing it in the hatch and add black smoke when I complete the build. What do you think?

It looks like you set your model on fire! I think you got it. lol

Steve I think your fire is as good as I've seen, and I'm not one to say much because I haven't had the time to experiment like you but I think I would darken the top of the flames cloud a bit. In the real fires I've seen, especially vehicle fires the top 25% or so gets pretty dark. I think you've done a fantastic job, jealous here.

Terry