Soviet-Afghan War T-72 ~FINISHED~ Pics on Page 4

Alright now I finally have some work done worth posting about(everything else was just little tid-bits here and there). That said the two main lights are done, the searchlight and IR searchlight. ALong with a rear tow cable and FINALLY the two gas tanks.

 Tamiya includes not one clear piece in the entire kit, yet their are multiple lights where a clear lens in necessary. Why Tamiya took the easy way out, I don't know..... That said, I had to get out the srcibe and drill out the plastic piece which is what Tamiy calls a "light lens." Had some mishaps with the IR searchlight (cracking the lens holder) but I think I fixed them pretty nicely. Ater drilling out both prominent lights on the turret, I scratched some lenses for them. The lenses were also given a coat of Tamiya acrylic clear Smoke, it makes the lenses more realistic and the instructions orginally called out for the lens to be painted black, thus this variant is right on line.

After drilling, and lens making, I tried something new for my lights. Instead of going the usual route of painting the interior of the light, I used gift wrap. Okay a certian kind of gift wrap(though aluminum foil might also be a good way to go), the one that has a shiny reflective color on one side and plain silver reflecting on the other. Not having a color I needed, I took the plain silver side and painted a portion Tamiya Smoke(for regular searchlight) and another Tamiya clear red and over that Tamiya smoke(for the infra-red light).

Once the paints dryed, I took the 'gift wrap' that was painted, applied glue to the insides of the lights, and then stuffed the 'gift wrap' inside.

Once the glue dried, I cut off all the excess 'wrap' coming out of the light(which was quite tricky.) Once cut I applied more glue to make sure the 'wrap' ends wouldn't come off the sides of the light. Then it was just a matter of sticking the lens on, and finishing touches. So what do you think?

For the towcable, here the Tamiya kit dissapoints once again with the thread given. Sure it's the right scale and looks good, but the ends are all split and coming apart. Even if you cut off the ends, the thread just keeps coming apart, so you gotta use you own substitute.

Finally, the fuel tanks. I felt that a T-72 wouldn't have a complete fuel system(all the fuel tanks along with auxillary tanks.) Considering, the T-72 reportedly stuck around base in Afghanistan when going through some field tests. That's why I had orginally scratched the fenders, and now I finally have two fuels tanks to actually power the tank. Scratched using veneer,(I talked about the top piece with the anti-slip marks and detail awhile back, in a past update) their complete fuel tanks, meaning they can essentiall be a stand alone piece since they have a top, bottom and four sides.  The one on the right has a scratched cap and handle(the green piece) while the one has a kit salvaged paortion.....hopefully they look the same. A for the one on the left, the only special thing was the angled edge to the fuel tank(which is necessary, considering it was part of the orginal piece too.) To make the angled edge I simply filled it with putty and sanded smooth.

Here's where the fuel tanks will be postioned on the tank. Thankfully all my measurement were right on the money, otherwise I'd be having some serious fit issues.

Thanks for looking!

Half-price.....sure, if it makes you feel better I guess you could say that.

You did good, I bought my kit when it was new, in a hobby shop. I know for sure I paid more than $10.......

Oh, well. But if I built it, then am re-doing it, it was half-price, right?

RBaer- Glad my build will be able to help out on your re-do. But now you're starting to scare me, I hope my rubber tracks don't harden and pop off. When I bought this kit at a show, I could have bought Friuls.....but I got this kit so cheap($10) I didn't want to spend almost $30 on just the tracks.

Glad I finally looked in here, very nice progress. I've got the same kit, started a re-do on it since I built it OOB about 10 years ago.....This will be very helpful!

One thing I will say, the kit tracks on mine hardened, then started popping apart after a few years on the shelf. I scored some Friuls at a show for a very reasonable price....

Hey, wing_nut and killjoy, thanks for checkin' out the build!

agentg- Windbreak you say, guess that one of the few uses for soviet armor, other then being moving targets when their still operational.

Very nice looking build you have going there!  I am not sure who posted those photos from Afghanistan, but I have seen a few like that before.  It's amazing how much old Soviet equipment is still sitting around in the desert.

Chris

Real nice work there mg.

anytime. ya got a great looking build going here!

camo junkie- Thanks for stopping by and the checkin' out the build.

i totally agree!

scratchmod-  Yeah get the T-62 out of the stash, we need some more modern armor around here.

Wow this is looking freaking awesome. makes me want to start on my T55 or T62. Looking forward to seeing more on this build.

Rob

www.scratchmod.com

Work is moving along quite nicely after all that fender scratching. With the lower hull and upper hull finally put together(and the lower fenders all weathered up). Not to mention, the upper hull has finally been painted(along with the PE kit-supplied engine deck screens.)

I also started assembly of the turret....which needs a bit of work. Make sure you have putty on hand because the turret is made up of two pieces, thus some gap filling will be needed.

 Not to mention the turret shape is wrong. Yikes, Tamiya fell asleep at the switch on this one. After researching this problem I realized, the front of the turret, by the mantlet should not be so flat. Their should be subtle bulge/flare out, so to get this done(their is a resin turret avaible if you choose to go that route) I got the putty out again. Layering it on and then smoothing it out with my finger to get the basic shape, once dry(almost two days) I got out the sanding sponges and made it slick and smooth. Because I'm modeling an early T-72 I also had to fill in the smoke dispenser area and snorkel area.

I had time to scratch a unditching log too......okay, okay, I din't necessarily scratch it but I did go outside and harvest it. There's really no comparison between a log made of styrene and an actual branch. To make this log, I simply found a branch that's same radius as the plastic, cut it off the bush, cut to size, filed down the edges, cut off any bumps (creates the effect of branches that were cut off), and then gave it a very light sanding. No weathering needed and I have a realistic unditching log. ACHTUNG! Use a dead branch if you haven't realized it already, if use a branch that's alive then you'll have to wait awhile to the branch dries out.

 I started work on the IR light and the other searchlights on the turret(alot of lenses being made)....so will have an update on those very soon. Thanks for looking!

agentg- Thanks for the pics, those should come in handy since I'm starting work on the turret now.

Schnobs- Thanks for stopping by. For awhile there I thought this WIP was broken or something, since it seemed so quiet around here.

Looking great my friend!!

Yikes, it's quiet around here. Just wondering.......is anyone following this WIP/build? Because I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself.

Good news, the fenders are all finished up! So now the build construction will really quicken up in pace, since the majority of the scratching is done.

After the fenders were in place and the glue had dried, I went onto the bracket construction. If you cut the fenders out carefully(something I lacked the foresight to do) you can save time and use the fender brackets that already were part of the moldings. However I had to scratch my own, as you can see in the image below, this meant 3 parts were necessary to make up the bracket. You could always make it more complicated and get rid of the square corner by angling it with an extra piece(in effect creating a beveled edge) but this is your choice.

Once those were put together, six in total, and all different sizes according to the hull height in specific areas it's simply matter of attaching them. With the brackets finished I added the fender edge(this came from the kit piece with the side skirts, it was just a matter of cutting out the piece needed and scrapping the side skirts). With that done, I then did some light/electrical wiring with copper wire.

Finally it was a matter of priming everything for painting, using veneer meant I had to be a bit more generous on the primer on top and underside of the hull). After some drying time, I started adding on some of the detail pieces to the hull.

As always all comments, questions, and suggestions welcome!

The fenders are finally attached, woo hoo! It was quite a bit of work but in the end it pays off.

After cutting the veneer and doing all the measurements, I first marked off where the fender brackets would be, after that I then made three lines(as is seen in reference photos) at an equal distance apart. To make these lnes I simply took a ruler and scribed them in(just don't go to deep or you could make the veneer crack.) As you can see I marked the fenders for every part and detail first so no mistakes would be made.....but even I still made a few very small mistakes here and there. 

 Attached the fenders using some crazy glue(for that instant bond) and Elmer's polyurathane glue(for that strong, lasting bond). Once the glue dried I simply puttied the bottom where any gaps may be and sanded smooth. Now onto making the hull-fender brackets....hopefully I can get these started later today.

Thanks for lookin'!!

Got another update....yeah I know, suprisingly quick for me.

Anyways, got started on the fender construction. Meaning I had to fix the upper hull piece first. As you can see their's a gap(2mm to be exact) between the upper hull and lower hull so that gap obviously had to go. Presto! Wood venner fills in the gap, yes some people might say to use styrene, but wood venner with the paper backing work just as well. You can cut it would scissors, bend it, form it, scribe it, and pretty much anything(plus I had alot of it sitting around so that's why I decided to use it.) Though for my build I'll be using the paper back not the wood side, since I don't want wood grain showing up.

As for the fenders themselves, the basic shape has been cut now I have to cut to length and scribe in the detail. (The piece with the "x" is the wood grain side, it's very nice considering it's cherry venner so when sealed the color really pops, but for this build that's not an issue.)

Finally the one of the gas tanks themselves. Well just the top to be exact, still have to scratch the sides. Used venner here too, but used the wood grain side(sorta by accident) however I have sanded it as smooth as it can be. I scirbed in the detail, added a styrene piece from the orginal piece, and added a putty to give the appearance of a weld seam.

 All comments, questions, and suggestions welcome!

wbill76- Thanks for looking! Hibernation is right......started around Christmas, then built a JS-II for Winter Warriors, then had my spring semester in school, finally I'm free so it finally came back to the bench.

Mikeym_us- Thanks for the kind offer, but I already have the tracks painted, weathered, and installed as you can see in the pics of my last post. As for a dio, I don't build bases or dio's(though at times want I to), so their's not gonna be any figs. Thanks for checkin' out the build!

Well I have the Zveda T-72B which would have been the same as the T-72M1. Though not the same kit as the one your building as yours is Tamiya and mine is Zveda but I think the indy links for the Zveda kit could work with the Tamiya kit since I bought a set of ModelKasten tracks for the T-72. If I get started on mine in the next month or so I can set the kit track links aside for you.

BTW if your going to put your T-72 in a Afghanistan diorama I suggest buying the Zveda Russian tank crew as they look good in a Afghan dio and RBmodels makes a metal replacement 125mm barrel.

Nice to see this one come out of hibernation Michael! Nice work so far on the conversion/detailing.

Yikes, my last update was last year. Didn't realize it's been that long, nevertheless  here's an update that's been much delayed and long awaited. Tracks are all finished up, primed first then painted in my standard Tamiya acrylic flat earth, then washed in burnt umber, black, rust, and another burnt umber. Then drybrushed with two shades of darkened steel. The paint might have gone on well, but damn these rubberband tracks, as soon as you start moving them around the cracks and chips in the paint occur. It's nothing too serious, another wash can solve that problem, but these tracks are still very hellish.

Rubberband tracks ease of assembly=yes(since your obviously not assembling indy links together), easy to attach ends together=NO. I didn't sew the ends, nor did I staple the ends, nor did I try to melt them together, I went the way of glue....to be exact super glue(for that instant bond) and Elmer's polyurethane glue(for that strong bond.) Even using this combination of glues didn't make it easy, I had to stretch and smash them to fit, surprisingly they stuck together(after holding the ends for about 10 minutes apiece). In the end the join area is not perfect(paint started coming apart) so now more repairs are necessary. Either way my final opinion is that I'm an indy-track lover.

Weathering on the lower hull came before the track assembly. I wanted something different that fit the environment of Afghanistan a bit more So I went lighter on the burnt umber then usual, but extremely heavy on grime.....for that dusty/dry appearance.

Upper hull is where the real work has to happen, the Tamiya T-72M1 kit is an eport version of a later model T-72. So I had to backdate the hull piece for what would likey have been seen in Afghanistan. Keep in mind all T-72's in the Soviet-Afghan War never saw combat, it was a vehicle strictly there for field testing, so that said most didn't venture far from home base at the capital. Keeping that in mind I decided to scrap all the storage containers on the fenders of one side, and I decided to remove most of the fuel tanks also on the fenders. (lacking foresight, I removed too many fuel tanks, not realizing the tank still needs fuel to work) That means I now have to scratch two fuel tanks on the fenders, in addition to the fenders on both sides I already have planned.

After, the fenders I had to fix the frontal add-on armor. T-72's in Afghanistan wouldn't have had this much later added armor. So that obviously had to go, but replacing the whole front with resin aftermarket parts was not something I wanted to flip the bill for, nor was sanding the plate off a reasonable option, so I decided to hide it. Yes, hide it by using putty along all the edges. A lot of putty to make the lower plate and “add-on” seem like just one plate. A couple of hours of sanding later the result is not half-bad.

As always all comments, questions, and suggestions welcome. PS: if you got a pic of T-72’s in Afghanistan please share, because I’m still looking for one(though I think my chances are slim).

You got that right, the price can make an okay kit into a great kit. So far this has been a great kit, and that's not even including the price.

 start.  I got a Tamiya T-055 for $10 a while back.  That sure does make an already nice kit nicer

 I was finally able to figure out what paint to use, after a little bit of testing and luck. I went into my stash of paints, and I had a MM Acrylic Olive Drab I hadn't touched in almost a year. The oils and pigments were seperating but luckily thet mixed back together, however the color underwent a change. It was no longer olive drab, but a very light green. How that happened I don't know, but the color was spot on!

With my luck with the paint, I was able to start progressing. The roadwheels were all assembled(just a very slight seam), I also cleaned up the Fruil sprockets. Just be sure to put the polycaps Tamiya includes in all the roadwheels and sprockets before gluing.  With the roadwheels together, they were painted with MM Olive Drab and the rubber portions with Floquil Weathered Black.

Now work will be moving to the rubber band tracks.

All comments, questions, and suggestions welcome!

I wish my painting skills were up to par when I finished this one..really didn't live up to all the bling!!!! 

somehow I ran into trouble when  tried the wash..it turned the color almost salmon in places

JEFFB- Oh man, I'm so jealous. A metal barrel, friul tracks, and a PE set would be so nice. Unfortunatley for me, it's either too expensive or in the case of the PE set......discontinued.

wbill76- That's a shame, about the suspension problem still affecting newer kits too. You would think Tamiya would get wise and stop cutting corners.

Tamiya actually does this quite often with things like suspension arms. The arms on the Pz II C Polish Campaign kit that they just released in the last year for example features something similar on the suspension arms. Not sure why exactly they go that route other than it must simplify the molds and/or save on plastic or similar but who really knows?

Looks like you're off to a great start on this one Michael!