I bought this kit as a filler while I'm waiting for the Meng T-90 kit to arrive.. A million weeks from now.. That's why they call it the far east...
OOB build for this one
On your marks....get set....

Update

WOW...nice and FAST!

Hi Wayne;
Looks Good, it will be fine OOB for the NVA its Based on.
The Tamiya kit is great, I have purchased quite a few and they build into a very nice model

Good Luck & Have Fun !!

CHEERS; MIKE.

Good looking build so far. What are the plans for markings?




Erik

I want to have it climbing out of a field on to a dirt road.
I saw a picture some where on the web which I can't seam to find any more
But I'm gonna try that
As for markings I might just leave them off
Any other ideas feel free
Wayne
Update

Well that pretty much does it one T-72 built in less than a day and that includes seam and parts clean up
Some extraneous seam clean up some putty, I may add a bit of main wiring for smoke dischargers and some strapping for the log
Then for paint. I may go with a three tone camo pattern just for the hell of it
The lower hull is not attached so I can paint the running gear as well as remove the tracks for painting
So things like the fuel hosing will be put on later

Hi Wayne;
Looks pretty darn nice, the kit is Builder friendly for adding the extra details that will make for a Extra Special T-72. If you follow JD advice and his superb builds you will have many hours of fun.
Keep up the good work !!!!!

CHEERS; MIKE.

Thanks for all the kind words.
Going to try and get it all painted before the end of the week
I enhanced the turret exterior wiring to the smoke discharges and some other bits as well as finishing some putty work (very minor) last night
Wayne

That builds into quite a nice T-72...

Why does this kit receive so much criticism? What are the major flaws?

Real quick, the reason this kit gets a bad rap is that:

1. The real vehicle measured for this kit was a museum piece that came from the East German Army...of which there were only 27 of this specific style made. Tamiya goofed on their choice.

2. The kit represents a Polish T-72M turret on a sort-of Russian T-72M1 hull. This is a unusual combination.

3. The turret is part of the problem. Even when put against the museum vehicle it represents, the lines and curves are off. The turret is a weak representation.

Why Tamiya have not invested in bringing this kit up to standards is unknown. A new turret, and setting up the front glacis for different variants, would have sold them a LOT of kits.

If you want to build a T-72 for your collection, and you are not into AMS, this is not a bad kit. It is the BEST T-72 kit out there right now. You can always buy aftermarket to make any T-72 you want as well.

This was essentially built as a test bed for some heavy weathering and such
Base paint is on.

Thanks for the overview Jacques.

But from the looks of it, the hull is well done and with the numerous resin turret and glacis choices, could serve as the basis for an AMS style build.

Albeit the best T-72 in the market, the Tamiya T-72 has some flaws, some of them very difficult to fix: I'l try to recall most of them:

1.- Turret shape: needs more beefing up to the front part (both sides of the main gun) for a real T-72A turret, I heard somewhere that the roof between the two hatches needs to be more pointy, not sure about this. It may be a difficult fix so a resin turret replacement is better, This is the main one, I like the looks of the true turret shape.

2.- Front-most fender stowage box: It has the hinges moulded in the wrong position. Easy fix.

3.- Radiator grill: It is moulded in the center line of the hull and it must be offset to the left of the tank (closer tho the exhaust), Zvezda's and Meng's T-90s have this detail corrected. Very difficult to fix, even Verlinden's replacement upper hull has the same problem.

4.- Main gun: It is too short, it seems like they used a gun in recoil position to take measurements, just use an aftermarket barrel, but not the Eduard one, it has the same problem.

Those are all the unaccuracies I can remember for now, but take it easy, It's a nice kit and surely looks like a T-72 when finished. Maybe another forum member recalls another unaccuracy, I'm all ears, still have a Tamiya T-72 in my stash

This is just about finished
The was completely out of box
See you all in Connecticut in 2 weeks

thats a great looking T-72 Wayne.

agreed, that T-72 looks great

Thanks Guys
I think the photos could be better
Thank
again
Wayne