No, deffinetly not somthing to complain about.

Thanks Bish.

No on the decals, no markings of any sort included. Seeing how I got the kit for free to participate in our club’s online group build, I won’t complain one bit about that. 

Spot on Stik, really well done. Curious tehre are no markings though, did the kit not have decals.

Ok, I’m calling this one done. I have a base in the works for it, but that will be a few more days down the road as I go back to work tomorrow. Anyways here is how she looks for now...

I’ll get a proper completed photo batch up when I can... Off to AMPS in a bit here...

Look forward to the final result.

Bish

I still can't get the hang on black bashing. The light has come out really well, could have sworn that was a clear piece.

 

You and me both on the black basing technique. One of these days I’ll get it right.

As far as the light goes, that’s just the photo. In person it looked solid orange. Although now it looks better with a coat of clear yellow over that.

Im all done with this project now, just letting the final paint work dry before I do photos.

I still can't get the hang on black bashing. The light has come out really well, could have sworn that was a clear piece.

Thanks Bish. I need to work on my black basing. I thinned the green to 50% here, but it still seems a bit too much in the photos. It does show a bit better in person. So the dry brushing really helped. The whoopie light is a solid piece. I painted that with Testors gloss orange. I’ll put a clear coat of Tamiya clear yellow over that today, and some clear red over the vision ports blue base color. Hopefully that will give the look of the anti laser coating.

Real nice, that last stage has really brought out that green, it looks just right. The amber light on top, is that a clear piece or solid?

Today’s update- drybrushing and detail painting with enamels...

tomorrow I ought to be able to finish this up....

Bish and Tojo, thank you. It’s nice to have the end of the road in sight here...

Now that looks the buisness, very nice. Camo has come out really well.

So here is my Chally 2 with the masking off....

Up next, final touches...

I let my inner maddog out... yup, our own Duke Maddog turned me on to Silly Putty as a masking agent. This little guy used one whole “egg” to mask up. I guess that I need another or two...

and on the suggestion of Bish, I went with Tamiya NATO Green. Seeing how he is a British Army veteran, I’ll take his advice....

I’ll get more photos up after the masking is removed...

Bish

Looks very nice, look forward to the main paint goign on.

Always liked these tanks, great bit of kit. Just what you want on your side in Basra, a bit of 120 HESH does wounders.

 

Thanks Bish. I can only imagine how a 120mm HESH can help with attitude adjustment for the bad guys...

So no major update for today- just a simple airbrush session to complete the black basing...

Real painting will begin tomorrow....

Looks very nice, look forward to the main paint goign on.

Always liked these tanks, great bit of kit. Just what you want on your side in Basra, a bit of 120 HESH does wounders.

Thanks G! Although it was more a case of adjusting kit parts as opposed to any scratch building...

Well now that I have a chance to get back to my workbench, I was able to do the final steps to finish up construction...

first up, a back base onto the lower hull and running gear, before I got the upper and lower hull glued together. And since I had some extra paint left in the cup after, I used that up on the turret...

once the paint had time to dry, I glued the upper and lower hull together, added the dozer blade, the final bits to the rear hull, last add on armor side plates, and the PE bits... the PE bits seem like overkill to me, as the molded on detail in those areas is pretty nice...

and where everything stands now!

let the real painting begin!!!

SP: Looks great! Really like the scratchbuilt work on the dozer blade. 

Rob: Ouch, I built a few Tamiya 1/48th kits with the metal lower hull but that looks just plain nasty. 

stikpusher

 

 

RBaer

Lookin' good! I have to say, for 1/72, the detail is amazing.

 

 

 

 

Thanks RB. I agree 100% about the detail. Small scale armor has come a long way from what I remember.

 

Just remember, not all 1/72 scale kits are created equal. Italeri does some "fast build" kits designed for wargaming with one piece track assemblies (bogies and track all one piece) as well as highly detailed kits. Some of their kits contain two, one a fast build and one regular.

You can't even trust "one manufacturer" since they all have dogs and gems in the same line. Some old kits are awesome and some newer kits are horrendous.

Photo etch details and resin wheels help dress up some of the more basic kits:

And here is an issue with a fairly new Dragon Panther with diecast metal hull. Never got built because you can see the unused hull starting to crack and crumble.

RBaer

Lookin' good! I have to say, for 1/72, the detail is amazing.

 

Thanks RB. I agree 100% about the detail. Small scale armor has come a long way from what I remember.

That is coming on very nicely Stik, and agreed, the detail is amazing.

Lookin' good! I have to say, for 1/72, the detail is amazing.

So,my last updates for this project for a couple of weeks: first up, based upon a best educated guess, I added the piston, and reworked the dozer blade a bit based upon the online photos that I did find

and here is a better shot of the rear plate in place

and the I clipped off the front tow hooks but glued their mounting points in place, again a deviation from the kit instructions. They will give some support to the dozer blade once mounted

and lastly, everything as it looks up to this point....

Thanks Gamera! I will keep my fingers crossed too!

When this thing is all done, I think I’ll pose it for a photo with my 1/35 scale Challenger, for a good comparison of scales. I don’t have a 1/35 Challenger II built... yet. Just one in my stash.

So last nite, this was the point that I was at...

today I built up the rear plate

Then I glued that in place and and added the side add on armor

and lastly I completed the dozer blade- except for one cylinder, that in typical Dragon instruction sheet fashion, does not show exactly where that item goes... and looking online at photos has not turned up any good photos of that area or detail either...

Looks good!

Good luck with the DS tracks, so far I've not had any problems with them (crossing my fingers).

Bish

I built the Revell 72nd Warrior a few years back and that was very nice. I'd certainly consider doing a few more.

 

I would too under the same set of circumstances. If I come into possession of a 1/72 AFV or Softskin kit again by fate or fortune, I won’t get rid of it. But I’m not going to go out and start a 1/72 collection again...

Rob Gronovius

 

 

stikpusher

And tracks on! The DS plastic stretched a bit at the glue joint... 

 

 

 

I would be very apprehensive with letting DS tracks stretch like vinyl tracks. I also tend to paint them prior to installation, although that's just me.

 

Believe me, I am apprehensive.... I have had too many of the new gluable vinyl tracks from Tamiya and AFV Club snap after completion. I miss the older Tamiya tracks that had good detail on both sides, more flexible than anybody else’s, yet never snapped. I glued the joint to the last road wheel... just in case.

stikpusher

And tracks on! The DS plastic stretched a bit at the glue joint... 

I would be very apprehensive with letting DS tracks stretch like vinyl tracks. I also tend to paint them prior to installation, although that's just me.

I built the Revell 72nd Warrior a few years back and that was very nice. I'd certainly consider doing a few more.