That's pretty slick, Sprue! Great idea. I'll have to try that on my next tank build.

CHEATER!!!!! Don't you know that there are no power tools allowed for that sort of clean up work?!

Haha thanks for looking in fellas 

The SLA APC has unique wheels and drive sprocket to the other two kits which require modification to the differential housing.

Then some filing and removal of various suggested details for each kit.

Thanks for looking in ...

Very cool! It's always great to see something a little different here. 

Thanks for checkin in.

The odd ball subject matter of the box art is what grabbed my attention  

progress continues ...

The lower hulls are 5 parts and the upper hulls are 1 piece including the fenders.

Thanks for looking...

The SLA APC-55 hub caps. Filed off the plastic bolt heads to replace with PE.

Now a six bolt pattern.

Looking good Sprue!  I like that you're doing all three at the same time!  Should be real interesting to see how different each one looks when done!

Thanks for checkin' in.

Building all three at the same time was the only way I thought I can get them done. If I started and completed one at a time then it would be like starting all over again and again and again.

That would probably discourage me mentally.

One of the fender fuel tanks on the T-55C1 BUBLINA was a short-shot cast. The plastic didn't get all the way into all the corners of the mold on some of the sprues. This part was one of them.

I first tried to make a quick aluminum foil form to melt/cast a new upper part of this fuel tank by melting some sprue chips from this kit.

 = Fail  

NEXT:

Try using foil again to make a partial patch, then fill in the back with glue and material.

 = FAIL  because it still leaves an un-sandable layer.

Finally I use silicone gasket material in a tube to make a quick and inexpensive mold:

Then cast with casting resin. This worked and with a little putty and sanding will look fine.

The rear lower hull part was also "skinny" on one of the spare track studs. I snipped off the parts I need from the SLA APC-55 kit to repair the BUBLINA. The i-sheets in the SLA kit says to file off and remove these anyway so it was perfect 

Thanks for looking . . . 

FAVORIT upper hull warpidge and solution

Moving right along and thanks for looking...

I like your fixits Sprue, especially with the fuel tanks!  Classic!!

Thanks  

The head light brush guard is kit supplied PE and is square instead of tubular material. Very fragile and requires careful clean up. The iSheet provides exact size description. I used basic geometry to make a balsa wood form to bend the PE part around.

The fender support PE is identified in the iSheets for specific positions on the kit hull fenders. These were measured and lightly scribed so I could glue them on top of each marked position.

Thanks for looking 

Very clever idea there to repair the fuel tanks and get the right bends in the light guards!

Thanks.

The silicone gasket material had to be applied in thin layers because it's air dry. 

This is great stuff Sprue!

Nice to see that you do not get discouraged with the kit's issues and seeing you bashing along!  

Beauty!

I really liked the foil idea, I might have to see if I can refine it and make it work...... 

Saving the drawing for the birdcage for future reference :)

XLNT, thank you for sharing Sprue!

Very Best Regards
Johan 

Gun Tech and JohanT, thanks for checking in and commenting  

I drew the blue lines though the inside dimensions of their provided drawing. While these kits aren't accurate, the SKIF assembly design is well thought out 

 The turret is a simple structure. The turret parts sprue is a different color green and a different plastic. 

Some major gappidge needed filling with putty and the kit iSheets describe metal parts included for making grab handles for the sides of the turret.

My kit did not include this material. I made my own with stretched sprue  

Puttied the gappidge.

Nicely molded in weld seam detail on top.

Dimensions for the grab handles were found by web searching 1/1 and then comparing this to the model part. A satisfactory conclusion was derived.

marked right and left side for drilling 

These are coming along great Sprue!  Love all the work arounds for the details!  Some very nice PE work as well!

Thank you for checking in and you kind words. 

I'm finishing the PE on the hull and infrared light on the turret then I'll prime and paint by this weekend … hopefully  

Cool, looking forward to seeing some paint slapped on.

Thanks, the FAVORIT is almost there.

Perfect weather today so primer goes on today then maybe a base coat color.

Thanks for looking.

Great handling of that sprue!

Goes right with the name........ SPRUEONE.

I like that.

Thanks for the comment 

You're spruecing this one up nicely Sprue!!

Sorry, after Steve's comments I couldnt' resist!

Haha, that's cool  

It's under a green base coat now and still working on the BUBLINA and the SLAPC