Just wanted what I have been up to lately; it's been a while
Mix and match of T-72 aftermarket brought together to make decent T-72B, used during 1999 Dagestan counter-offensive, North Eastern flank. Crew is new Zvezda kit with limbs separated at joints to reanimate each figure into unique seated pose:

Wow! Very good work. Do you have a link to the zvezda figures?

Wow, George!

Very nice indeed! Which hull did you use? Verlinden? Where did you took the references for the slat armor? Any cool pics you wanna share?

Best regards,

Andreas

VERY nice work George. I second the questions, where is the hull from?

Hi George!
Good job. Greetings.
But why you use full verlinden upper hull. Why not front side only, from miniarm T-72B for example?
And about prototype if is it
http://vif2ne.ru/smf/forum/files/219t/(091101222930)_CHechnya._Nachalo_vojny.jpg
http://vif2ne.ru/smf/forum/files/219t/(091101222936)_CHechnya._Nachalo_vojny2.jpg
http://vif2ne.ru/smf/forum/files/219t/(091101222941)_CHechnya._Nachalo_vojny3.jpg
this is October 1996.

Very nice!

This is a good looking version of the T-72.
Do you have measurements for the commander's "wind shield"? This really adds to the look of soviet T-72's.

Thanks in advance.

Nice looking model. DId you use the Modelfixer track?

Another excellent model George, congratulations !

BTW do you know when the six-spoke wheels appeared on the T-72 variants ? I thought in 1999 they should have already been fielded.

Olivier

Looks realy sweat George. Makes me wanna dig out my Miniarm B conversion and get started.

Cheers,
/E

Nice building. I wanted to do Mini Hobby Models' T-72B years ago yet settled for their T-72M2 instead (my LHS sold the B already) but it was a nightmare. I have Tamiya's T-72 now and I am relieved. If Tamiya had included everything in the mechanics and variations page in the instructions of their T-72 kit, they would have created the holy grail for T-72 fanatics.

What size plastic strips are you using? Please keep us up to date on this build. Ryan

Here is a link to a good recent [http://armorama.com/review/4426]review[/url] of that figure set. I think you can find it in most internet stores since most of Zvezda revenues come from international sales.


Yeah, it's a Tamiya's tub with Verlinden's top hull and glacis plate, tweaked to represent domestic T-72. There isn't much material on the slat armor, judging by the video I have and some pics Guido used for his T-72BM these slats are essentially universal addons, first spotted on T-62's in Afghanistan.


Basically, I just wanted to get rid of some of the boxes in my closet, Ural's armor is no where near being my favorite, but then I saw that documentary and these tanks looked quite unique, so I decided to to make one. Tamiya's hull is no cake by the way. Apart from messed up front hull and basic rendition of fuel and stowage cells, there are no deep wading hinges and bearings and a few other details missing from the engine deck. The rear hull looks off to me, and once I fixed that Tamiya's top hull wouldn't fit as good as the Verlinden one. I have the video from which the screen you've shown are taken, those slat sections are quite different form what I saw in the one I used for reference.


I don't think there is actual engineering blueprint available to the public which shows the shield,
I've compiled a Solidworks model of a shield, you can see the principal detentions as they appear in 1/35 scale, units are millimeters.





Yes, they are basically like Modelkasten one minus pin shaft which you will have to drill out, very tough plastic, though.
quote]Another excellent model George, congratulations !

BTW do you know when the six-spoke wheels appeared on the T-72 variants ? I thought in 1999 they should have already been fielded.

Olivier[/quote]
The six-spoke road wheels were designed for T-72B which entered production in 1984, but because suspension details are identical in all T-72 variants and T-62's, eight and six-spoked wheels are interchangeable as are those from T-62, there is a pic somewhere with T-72M equipped with T-62 road wheels. As far as I know many a few T-72B's were produced by UVZ with the older type wheels, but there are also field refitted ones so unless you have a definite photo or a serial number, I would suggest to use six-spoke ones if you use front hull with late style fenders, and eight-spoke ones with the older all metal fenders.


Good luck. Adding 2 pins to each of some 220+ ERA blocks was one hell of a fun for me:-X



What's T-72M2? There is T-72S, slightly more advanced export version of basic T-72B. Get CH/Trumpeter pirated copy for heavy modding only. Tamiya should remake their kit as a Soviet T-72A so there is an easy way of getting T-72M's, that would be a good seller.



I'm using Plastruct's 0.1mm thick plastic strips for slats and various shape extrudes and sheets from Evergreen.

George, I'm not very sure on what it is; from my observations, it looks externally similar to T-72B.

It may be a an upgraded T-72M1 with thicker turret armour, anti-radiation applique on the top of the turret, smoke grenade launchers on the left side of the turret, and other re-arrangements on the turret stowage like a T-72B's.

Here's a picture:
http://www.armyrecognition.com/images/stories/east_europe/russia/main_battle_tank/t-72m2/pictures/T-72m2_main_battle_tank_Russian_Russia_army_012.jpg

There's also another T-72M2 called 'Moderna' but it is a different tank.

Great work George! I love the Slat, looks brilliant!

Seeing all these modern Soviet Tank builds goign on at the moment is really getting me excited about building my T-90! I'm nearly done on my T-55 and that diorama, and hope to have the whole thing finished by the end of November so I can crack into the T-90.

I'm looking forward to seeing you paint this, and great work with the crew figures! I'm always looking for good ideas for modern Russian tankers, I've used my favorite Tank model set already on my current diorama, for the T-90 I was considering either another Tank set or the Zvezda. How do you find the detail of the plastic sculpts? Would they be able to hold up their own against soem resin infantry in a dio do you think?

quote]


George, I'm not very sure on what it is; from my observations, it looks externally similar to T-72B.

It may be a an upgraded T-72M1 with thicker turret armour, anti-radiation applique on the top of the turret, smoke grenade launchers on the left side of the turret, and other re-arrangements on the turret stowage like a T-72B's.

Here's a picture:


There's also another T-72M2 called 'Moderna' but it is a different tank. [/quote]
Looks like T-72S to me, having said that it has no business in the parade since it's export only tank. Turret looks very similar to one used for T-72BU/90, actually.


Zvezda's tankers are very well sculpted. Molding quality is on par with dragon ones, but not quite like Tamiya yet. I think you should be fine if add resin ones for infantry, in fact Zvezda's set is actually better than many resin figures out there. There is a base for two of the figures to stand on and a pair of AKMS rifles with very subtle detail on them.

I understand. There is a post in 'Armyrecognition' that says that the T-72B was initially known by western countries as T-72M2.

http://www.armyrecognition.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1325

I would like to see how you paint this, especially the figures, because I want to paint the figure of my Tamiya T-55 and T-72. Good luck.

Yes, T-72M2 is a NATO misnomer originally applied to the T-72B. Very few T-72B have been exported outside of the former Warsaw Pact...only to Morocco and Yemen.

T-72S is a SIMPLIFIED export version of the T-72BV (T-72B with K-1/3 ERA). It DOES NOT have the applique anti-rad cladding, only has 4 KMT mounts, and only 2 storage boxes,but does have the mast cross wind sensor. Iran builds it under license and some were sold to Myanmar. The Russian Army also has some T-72S in service.

Many T-72S sold to Africa and Middle East buyers can calculate lead angles, T-72B can't. Seems more advanced to me. Anyway, I don't wont to start a rant session, so here are some pix instead
I've finished domesticazing the hull and added wear damage to the road wheels:

Love your work George !

I'm really looking forwad to the paint job on this Beauty

Cheers

Paul

Hi George,
thanks for the answer about the 6-spoke wheels.
Good job on the details, with the primer coat your model looks really great.

Great to see more work on this George!

Really ncie build and I'm looking forward to seeing it painted up!

Hey George,

I can find no references that the T-72S Shilden was sold to anyone else other than MyanMar. Iran builds them under license.

I know the OPTION to upgrade the FCS was included, so that may be what youa re refering to.

Kenya bought T-72AV with upgraded electronics.
Morocco bought 100 T-72BV from Belarus with upgrades.

Otherwise it is a lot of T-72M1 with electronic upgrades to various levels.

Do you have any references I may be missing?

So, got a coat of paint on it yet?

I recall seeing photos of the Iran's "Shildan" and latest batch of Algerian of T-72S having upgraded FCS. I've just finished the figures, what a pain in the rear...Took me a week to paint them and I'm still not satisfied with facial expressions.
Added new pics of CO with some more oil was over flesh:





I might have bit off more than I can chew with these:

More pics tomorrow

The sculpting on the figure heads look pretty good George...

Are they the heads that came with the figs or are they AM ?

Paul

They are all OOB , pretty neat set I must say. I'll shoot better pics tomorrow.