*24/12 UPDATED:SEE PAGE 2*


Decided i'd finally start a build ive been planning for a while now. This will be a slow blog as I dont have much free time at the moment with final year studies, so dont expect a speedy finish.

The Tank (which will hopefully end up in a diorama) i'm building is based on this picture of a T-72B from, I assume, the first Chechen war.


And heres a pic of some of the hardware i'm using:


Tamiya T-72
Miniarm T-72B Turret and front glacis (not pictured)
Miniarm 6 spoke wheels
Masterclub T-72 tracks
Eureka tow cable
Modelpoint Tucha's
Modelpoint aerial base
Trumpeter KMT-5 (not pictured)
various T-72 etch sets
And a pile of PE nuts & bolts, lead foil, plasti card and other useful scraps

Some references:


The Tamiya book has some decent detail pics of generic T-72 features, the Concord book is quite out of date today but still useful. AFV modeller issue 50 has a Charlie Pritchets T-72M build which is ideal reference for more generic details. I will also be using Kagero's book and WWP's reference books, and Concord T-72&T-90 reference (these have been bought yet) and a ton of online reference pics.

I dont have the Miniarm stuff yet (its on order from Hobbyeasy) but I started work anyway on the hull. I have cut away most of the front glacis, some still needs trimming once I have the new part to match up.


I turned my attention then to begin adding details to the rear deck. First I removed the rear mud flaps, one will be made from lead foil, the other will be completely missing. I then focused on the area around the 2 rear fuel cells. Using this handy pic:


I added the first set of plumbing. The fuel line is made from some hollow modelling rod, and detailed with some plastic tube for the joins.




You may also notice in these pics, that ive given the tanks a dented appearance by carving bits out and sanding them smooth. The tank retaining bracket was made from plastic card and the tamiya bit was ground down a bit to make way for the bracket. I added the tiny bolts and clips as well.




The PE mesh screen on the small intake is eduard. And finally for those who missed it, my lead foil front fender:




More updates to follow whenever the hell I have free time (maybe never at the rate things are currently going!)

Really great start Rob.

I'll be taking tips from this one

Really good start indeed. I wish you all the best for combining the best as possible your studies and the Blog !

Olivier

Awesome build on those fuel lines! Too bad I didn't noticed them to make some on my T-72

Thanks for the comments guys! Hopefully have the Miniarm stuff in a few weeks so will get a bit more done then. Sadly returning to university tomorrow!

Nice start, Rob. Very good and ambitious project.

Looking forward to see more

Cool looking project Rob, I love that reference photo!

You've got some really interesting aftermarket bits too, whats the airwaves PE set?

Looking really good so far! Good luck in school!

I will be following this with interest - great start!
Gary

Right, time to update this build! Back from uni now with a hell of a lot of time to kill, so dusted this build off, along with several other projects.

Ive articulated the suspension to fit the earth bank the tank is rumbling over as in the pic. The tamiya rubber band tracks are just fitted temporarily.




Moving on to the hull now. Tamiya glacis cut away using dremil, some filling was required once I fitted the resin front glacis.



I have ground away the fuel tank and stowage container retaining straps from the Tamiya hull to replace with plastic card. Also have begun experimenting with some smaller details-detailing the stowage container hinges by removing the plastic part and replacing with hollow wire:


Also have toyed around with the idea of removing strips on the stowage containers and replacing with PE from an old PE set designed for DML T-72, not sure whether i'll continue with this or not:


And finally the turret. Miniarm turret built pretty much out of the box.







The rear stowage container is taken from Blast models T-72A turret set, I decided to use it as its better detailed than the tamiya part and the mounting brackets are more accurate and much easier to use than the fiddly eduard etch parts. The aerial mount is from modelpoint.



Commanders shield also from the Blast models turret set:


Smoke dischargers are also model point, I added an empty one for a bit of variation. Details also added include welds around the base of the discharger mount and the electrical cable.


A very fiddly part of the turret is mounting the resin miniarm turret stowage containers. I used wire for the mounting points, but it was incredibly fiddly and took some time to get the containers to stick in place without falling off.


Finally a pic of two of the figures that I plan to use in the eventual diorama. I will also be using tank crew from TANK and some Battalion figures.

Outstanding work Rob. I'm looking for the Blast Turret as we speak. I think I'm going to work on my A and B Turrets tonight because of you

Thanks Sean! The Blast turret is pretty hard to find, they do turn up on ebay from time to time, luckily I have two of em! Theres no doubt about it, these 72's look incredibly cool. I should have the mine roller in a few days so can hopefully get the hull stuck down.

Looking mighty nice so far. I've heard very good things about those Masterclub figures, so I'm curious to see how they turn out.

-YL

Thanks Yoni!

The Masterclub figures are incredible, im not joking when I say some of the finest figures on the market. I'll take some snaps of them out of the box in a couple of days!

Hi Rob, looking great! I know most of Masterclubs modern russian range but I've not seen those masterclub figures before are they new releases or just older sets?

Rob I came looking to see what "it" would be used on, I will dig it out Fri or Sat and it will be winginging its way to you I believe Tuesday. I like what I see so far.

Rob I found the kit and have scanned and printed the pages relating to the plough, the plough and instructions will be posted on Tuesday.

Time for a little further update. I began having a look at the side skirts and decided against spending lots of money on the voyager etch parts and instead decided to improve the kit parts-what modelling should be all about!

I totally cut away the rubber skirts from the bottom and top as well as the mounting plates for the top run of skirts, leaving just the plastic part representing the aluminium mounting brackets. The new mounting plates where made from plasti card (cut roughly but it wont be seen so not too bothered) and onto this I mounted the rubber skirts made from lead foil. Ive also added various bolts and intend to remake the hinges for the skirt brackets.

Sorry for the poor quality pics, I snapped them in a hurry!

Hey Rob don't know how I missed this build. Very nice work so far.The scratch stuff looks really good. I don't know much about that vehicle, so I'll just follow along to see how it turns out.

Rob
www.scratchmod.com

Nice progress, Rob. Looks excellent so far. Your extra work really results in very nice details.

Looking forward to see more

Still plugging away at this build, not really following any pattern at the moment, I just keep flitting between different bits of the build depending on what I fancy working on.

Ive finished the upper fender parts on one side and fitted the front fender section pressed from lead foil. The fit is a little off but it looks ok and will be nicely bashed up once the model is done. I will also need to add a lot of smaller details on the fenders like the rubber skirt retaining strips, bolts etc etc







Replaced some of the detail on the fender stowage boxes as well using some brass strip from an unknown T-72 detail set.


And now a bit of work on the KMT-5 mine roller. These are Trumpeter parts very kindly given to me by Darren Barker. The Trumpeter mine roller is ok but lacks a lot of details and is incorrect in many places. I set about improving and detailing it using some reference supplied by Darren and excellent walkaround pictures from Olivier Carneau's website.

Great work on that KMT-5 Rob. Looks awesome, and it's interesting how similar it is to the KMT-7 while also being very different at the same time!

Is the Trumpy kit available as a separate set or is it part of a whole tank kit? I haven't seen it before, is it quite old?

Thanks Jon!

The KMT-5 came in Trumpeters Finnish T-55 kit and isnt available separately. My guess is the kits probably over 10 years old now and it certainly shows its age-lots of poor molding and plenty of filler required, but sadly its the only game in town.

Rob,

Hope you are well mate.

This is a masterful build to date and the attention to detail impressive. I hope you don't mind but I have saved some of your close-up turret pics to help with ERA block placement etc. for the Miniarm set when I come to build mine. A much better reference than the instructions and as they say - 'imitation is the most sincere form of flattery'

The end result should be a stunner!

Cheers.
Gary

Sounds about right, I thought that might be the case, and explains why I havent seen it around as a kit. Sounds just like Skif's KMT-6!

Maybe Mig will do us all a favour and expand their KMT range, they did such a great job on the KMT-7. I for one would love to see them expand into other rakes KMT-5 through to KMT-10! They sure have a lot to work with, Zac?