Tamiya T-72 to Soviet T-72A
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Saturday, December 26, 2009 - 11:15 PM UTC
Thanks George ! You're the best !
The titles translate to: "Tanks in the battle for Grozny".
I've got a couple of DJVU copies now - I WILL try to get the real books though
The T-72BM will be a beauty when I get around to it.... not sure if I'll do the slat armor though
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: August 05, 2009
KitMaker: 1,019 posts
Armorama: 933 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009 - 01:06 AM UTC
Paul, having worked on this Tamiya kit when building my T-90 I would definitely recommend you use those Miniarm tracks.
I really didn't like the Vinyl tracks Tamiya provided at all.
Sure you may need to buy another set of track links for future project, but I think it really will be worth it and will give you a much better result. It would be a shame to get all these other after market items and put all that work in, just to have it let dow by poor quality vinyl tracks...
CMOT
Editor-in-ChiefEngland - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: May 14, 2006
KitMaker: 10,954 posts
Armorama: 8,571 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009 - 03:42 AM UTC
This may be of help, it is an East German T72 that is at Bovington.
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009 - 11:46 AM UTC
Hey there Jon !
I'll try the miniarm tracks. How did you find they went together ? The Masterclub tracks I have for my T-62 have been breaking at the pins
Did you have that problem with the Miniarm tracks on the T-90 ?
Thanks Darren, I have that T-72 link, although that is a slightly different version to the one I'm building. I used it for the coloring of the DDR T-72 that I've just completed...
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009 - 08:36 PM UTC
A bit of practice below - not accurate by any means (OOTB Tamiya), but a bit of experience prior to starting this T-72A.
I'll use similair colors (a little darker perhaps) with a little more color modulation, and a wash that is slightly darker also.
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: August 05, 2009
KitMaker: 1,019 posts
Armorama: 933 posts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009 - 01:40 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Hey there Jon !
I'll try the miniarm tracks. How did you find they went together ? The Masterclub tracks I have for my T-62 have been breaking at the pins
Did you have that problem with the Miniarm tracks on the T-90 ?
Cheers
Paul
Hi Paul
Putting them together was actually quite easy. I found it quicker than the Modelkasten tracks I used on my T-55. You have to be a bit careful as the resin links are quite fragile. I read a Perth Military Modelling review before I made them and Perth reckon that they "flex" so you can snap the links together. I found though that they don't flex much at all, if you are careful you can flex them and snap over the locator holes on the other track link, but expect a few to break during the process. That in itself shouldn't be a problem though as Miniarm allow you plenty of spare links.
Having said that though a few times I ended up breaking one and then just putting it in place and gluing it back together once in place. Also a few of the pins might be a little worn or broken off, that can be fixed though with a little glue.
Miniarm say it's a workable track set, but to be honest I'd take that with a pinch of salt. They are rather delicate and I dont think I'd fancy my luck trying to get them moving without having some repair misery. It gets harder to fix and breaks once the upper hull is glue one as the side skirts cover most of the tracks. A link broke after I had finished this part of the build and I had to very carefully slide the tracks out and then drop them back in while holding the tank upright. That took a few tries and wasn't fun!
As for length Miniarm unlike Modelkasten don't advise on the number of links required. I used the vinyl tracks as a guide when I built mine. Roughly when laid out together side by side they should be the same length. You may need to adjust this though by one or two links when you put it o the wheels.
Once on though they really do look fantastic, a million times better than the vinyl ones.
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009 - 09:33 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Quoted Text
Hey there Jon !
I'll try the miniarm tracks. How did you find they went together ? The Masterclub tracks I have for my T-62 have been breaking at the pins
Did you have that problem with the Miniarm tracks on the T-90 ?
Cheers
Paul
Hi Paul
Putting them together was actually quite easy. I found it quicker than the Modelkasten tracks I used on my T-55. You have to be a bit careful as the resin links are quite fragile. I read a Perth Military Modelling review before I made them and Perth reckon that they "flex" so you can snap the links together. I found though that they don't flex much at all, if you are careful you can flex them and snap over the locator holes on the other track link, but expect a few to break during the process. That in itself shouldn't be a problem though as Miniarm allow you plenty of spare links.
Having said that though a few times I ended up breaking one and then just putting it in place and gluing it back together once in place. Also a few of the pins might be a little worn or broken off, that can be fixed though with a little glue.
Miniarm say it's a workable track set, but to be honest I'd take that with a pinch of salt. They are rather delicate and I dont think I'd fancy my luck trying to get them moving without having some repair misery. It gets harder to fix and breaks once the upper hull is glue one as the side skirts cover most of the tracks. A link broke after I had finished this part of the build and I had to very carefully slide the tracks out and then drop them back in while holding the tank upright. That took a few tries and wasn't fun!
As for length Miniarm unlike Modelkasten don't advise on the number of links required. I used the vinyl tracks as a guide when I built mine. Roughly when laid out together side by side they should be the same length. You may need to adjust this though by one or two links when you put it o the wheels.
Once on though they really do look fantastic, a million times better than the vinyl ones.
Thanks Jon !
How did you close the loop of assembled track on the lower hull ? Was it difficult ?
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
California, United States
Joined: June 24, 2007
KitMaker: 503 posts
Armorama: 500 posts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009 - 11:44 AM UTC
Try heating the track links in bowl of warm water just before assembling them into length, this should make them less britle.
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009 - 01:52 PM UTC
Thanks George that's a good tip.
The Glasis is on:
The fit at the back (near the turret ring) wasn't great so I added a little putty that I'll clean up a little better in the next day or so....
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: August 05, 2009
KitMaker: 1,019 posts
Armorama: 933 posts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009 - 09:28 PM UTC
Hi Paul,
Finishing the tracks off and linking them together at the end was a little tricky! You just have to be very careful when snapping the last link together to complete the "chain".
A bit of patience and a steady hand should do it fine.
You could try George's suggestion but to be honest when I tried that I didn't find the resin to be particularly responsive to hot water. I tried this trick to bend some warped links into line but in the end it didn't help so much.
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009 - 09:35 PM UTC
Quoted Text
Hi Paul,
Finishing the tracks off and linking them together at the end was a little tricky! You just have to be very careful when snapping the last link together to complete the "chain".
A bit of patience and a steady hand should do it fine.
You could try George's suggestion but to be honest when I tried that I didn't find the resin to be particularly responsive to hot water. I tried this trick to bend some warped links into line but in the end it didn't help so much.
Thanks Jon,
I'll give it a go later this week. I need to master those tracks as I have the T-64B coming up later also....
I plan on painting the lower hull and wheels of the T-72A, and then assembling, painting, and fitting the tracks (before moving to the side skirts, upper hull, and the Miniarm turret).
It's the process I've gotten used too, and like doing - it gets 'those' out of the way (before the fun starts
).
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 - 11:41 AM UTC
Well I couldn't resist it and stayed up last night to put the MIniarm tracks together
This morning I finished off both runs, an Id finally have it worked out - the first run was a little bit of a mess, but the second run went together almost perfectly
Work on a Hard flat surface (left to right), slot the lower pin in, put pressure upwards to increase the width of the section with the pins and push the top pin towards the hole - CLICK !!
BTW: The hot / warm water didn't really do it for me that much as it made the track links wet (ant it got messy
) . I may try this next time (T-72B) with a hair dryer and see how that goes....
The tracks are on, but not permanently, for testing and pics ....
BTW this run is on backwards too ....
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 09, 2010 - 07:37 PM UTC
Back into it soon (The tracks for the T-72 are painted).
I wanted to get this "Playmate" for the T-72A off the bench first
A bit more work to be done on the Leo over the next few days, and then I'll be back into Soviet Armor
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: August 05, 2009
KitMaker: 1,019 posts
Armorama: 933 posts
Posted: Sunday, January 10, 2010 - 02:05 AM UTC
Nice work Paul that looks great!
Subtle yet effective!
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Sunday, January 10, 2010 - 07:42 PM UTC
Quoted Text
Nice work Paul that looks great!
Subtle yet effective!
Thanks Jon !
Just a basic OOTB build for a bit of fun, although I've put some Camo nets in the baskets to fill those out - a bit of Oregano and Gauze.
It came up Ok.
I prefer to do quite a few builds with subtle rather than 'over the top' weathering.
The T-72A hull is done (less skirts), I just need to paint it and fit the tracks before the skirts go on (then time for the base coat and the turret build
).
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 08:29 PM UTC
I got all excited with the fit and look of the Miniarm tracks so I took this quick (crappy) picture
Jon you were soooo right - they beat the Vinyl tracks hands down as far as quality goes and the quality of the details (especially the pins, etc) is first class. I need to do more weathering especially on the outside of the tracks, and I also need to give them a lighter wash.
I'll post better pics when the other track is fitted and the wheels are weathered
:
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 05:31 PM UTC
Here's a better picture
I've applied washes to the wheels and I'll leave the rest of the weathering on those and the tracks until I'm ready to weather the rest of the beast.
That'll do for now - the next step is to attach the skirts and paint the underside of those. I'll then do the fantastic Miniarm Turret before I apply the primer to it and the upper hull
I'll do a "preshade" coat of semi gloss black (after primer) followed by the base coat and highlighting..
Any comments would be appreciated...
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Quebec, Canada
Joined: September 07, 2009
KitMaker: 198 posts
Armorama: 192 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 04:46 AM UTC
Your build is nice'n clean I like it. Those tracks are looking good on your tank. I will follow your thread to see what's next with the turret!
Tom.
À nos femmes, à nos chevaux et à ceux qui les montent !
England - West Midlands, United Kingdom
Joined: June 23, 2008
KitMaker: 2,329 posts
Armorama: 2,110 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 05:02 AM UTC
Hi Paul Nice work with bashing the upper hull. Looks real clean! The running gear looks nicely painted. Looking foward to more.
JAymes.
Art isn't just pritty pictures. It's an expression of human rage.
Trinidad And Tobago
Joined: December 01, 2005
KitMaker: 91 posts
Armorama: 85 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 06:09 AM UTC
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 03:11 PM UTC
Hi Tom !
I'm watching your T-72 "Restoration " - it's coming along nicely !
Thanks James, the bash isn't perfect, the next one a Miniarm T-72BM will be a lot better
Sorry to hear about your problems Kurt, I haven't had a problem with 'Historica', all of my Miniarm stuff comes from them (as well as quite a bit of my SP Design bits).
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
Minnesota, United States
Joined: March 04, 2003
KitMaker: 4,630 posts
Armorama: 4,498 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 03:49 PM UTC
Hello Kurt,
Sorry to hear about your problems. If I can assist, I know I get through to Andy surely. Just PM me about it.
Nice T-72 work as well. Glad the front glacis conversion is seen as a positive one!
Ex-34th ID MNANG - 13F and 63D
"Fire For Effect."
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 04:20 PM UTC
Quoted Text
Hello Kurt,
Sorry to hear about your problems. If I can assist, I know I get through to Andy surely. Just PM me about it.
Nice T-72 work as well. Glad the front glacis conversion is seen as a positive one!
Hi Jacques !
I've also started one of the the T-64B updates you sent me... (less applique)
I have the lower hull with wheels assembled and the upper hull attached.
I'll start a build log on that one a little later on - I have pics and will post them in that thread,
Cheers
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: August 05, 2009
KitMaker: 1,019 posts
Armorama: 933 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 08:49 PM UTC
Great work Paul
I'm glad you liked the Miniarm tracks, I thought it would be worth it
Victoria, Australia
Joined: March 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,973 posts
Armorama: 1,843 posts
Posted: Friday, January 15, 2010 - 12:40 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Great work Paul
I'm glad you liked the Miniarm tracks, I thought it would be worth it
Thanks Jon, I've sussed them out now so I'll be better for it next time.
I also got my new IWATA IS875 Smart Jet Pro Airbrush Compressor today
It's sweet !
I put some paint down on another Leopard I have on the bench (1A4). I definately have noticed the difference quality wise, and ................... it's quiet !!!
Paul
OddBall: "It's a wasted trip baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers"
KIlgore: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ...The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."
