Well, that's a first: I'm going to do a build log.

I have the T-44 waiting to be reviewed, so I'll regularly update the blog on the building process. I've done an in-box ; now it's time to see how good the model is. Once enough material is collected, I'll post on my blog as well.





Since there is no driver's compartment, I'll use CMK's set for the T-55; they look pretty similar, and if I find any differences, those would be easy to make.

Very cool.I get the kit too and will follow your work.

It looks like an interesting build. I can't wait to see how this comes together.

Talking about the interior, here are a few more drawings that may interest you as well









and a larger version of the drawing I've posted in the T-44 review thread (just left-click on it ) :


H.P.

Thank you You are really, really kind. These are incredibly useful

You're welcome Andras. You'll find more interior pics and drawings here :

http://topwar.ru/25071-modernizirovannye-srednie-tanki-v-poslevoennyy-period-tank-t-44m.html

..But they're for the T-44M variant and may not be accurate for a T-44

Here's a vidcap (from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5gHD_5PbhY ) showing the (original ?) driver's seat. I don't know if the featured T-44 is a "M" or not (some items like the dashboard differ from those shown in the TM drawings)... Maybe some parts used for the restoration come from other tanks....


H.P.

The humble beginnings...

Back of the chassis



Cleaning up those thin pins will be a nightmare. I might just replace them with evergreen

Roadwheel



Engine












Torsion bars



The instructions are not clear if the bars need to be glued to the cover - I assume they should not be. (Otherwise they could not be moved.) I glued the two sides of the cover by applying the glue to the assembled halves, so the torsion bars would not get accidentally glued to them. They do move.

Lower hull and sides taking shape







This is about steps 1-12 (well due to practical issues you kind of need to play around with the order of steps - after all, some parts need to be painted and weathered before proceeding.)

Hi Andras
so curious about this build, will be following

Inside of the turret



Outside- rough casting texture



The top of the turret - the hatch is movable



Bottom of the turret




Starting to work on the gun










Fume extractor fan


Gun optics




Mudguards







I've started to paint the interior white (takes a lot of fine coats over a grey primer).

Meanwhile I had a go at the PE



The thing is -from here, it's mostly details. There will be a lot of little tidbits, a lot of tiny detail painting, but the model will be looking like a tank soon. Most of the main parts are assembled.

I'm waiting for the CMK T-55 driver's set, which will be adapted to the T-44, and once it's ready, I can assemble the hull.

In the meanwhile I'll be working on the ammunition... (I'm trying AK Interactive's True Metal wax based paints. Pretty curious how they'll turn out.)


There's more talk about the model on my blog; check it out if you are curious.

How is the plastic ? Is it better now & not so brittle?

Yeah, I wanted to mention that. I'm doing DML's Marter III in parallel, and I have to say there is no difference I can feel between the two models. It has the same smoothness, it behaves the same way; I detect no brittleness. The kit feels like a DML/Trumpeter/whatever higher end model in all respect. Except for the instructions: those are much better

(I'm also working on MiniArts SU-76(r) for the get the job done campaign, and while the plastic of that kit has somewhat of a "cheap" feel, I did not detect any real issues with that, either. It did have some fit issues, though. The D7 dozer was simply incredible, so I have no real experience with the famous "MiniArt Brittle Plastic Effect"...)

There is definitely one of these T-44s in my future and I'll follow your build with interest. Thanks for posting your experiences.

Well, I've ordered the CKM driver's compartment set for the T-55 as a basis to fill out the missing space in the driver's station, but it has not arrived yet... I'm not sure what's going on with the order.

In the meanwhile I was working on the ammunition... I tried AK interactive's was based true metal gold with varied results.



Even though AK's video suggests polishing after 30 minutes, this will remove a lot of the paint, exposing the primer underneath. The paint still rubs off after a week, by the way. Nevertheless, when I use a paintbrush loaded with paint to "polish", it works fine; the results are quite nice.

Painting the rest of the details on the ammunition takes a while; I've been probably spending as much time doing it as I've spent with the rest of the build

Anyhow. I'll have some time to finish up most of the build over the weekend as I had to cancel a trip.

During Easter I had some time to work.


The gun is an intricate assembly; the only issue was the attachment of the gunner's sight to the gun assembly. The pin is tiny, and it's not very strong. Some blue tac held it in place until the glue dried, but it still will need to be handled with care, not to detach it with a careless move.







Painting the gun assembly











Inside of the hull is primed with white, and ready to be painted.




The bottom hull is painted in a greyish-bluish color. According to the assembly guide the whole thing is painted this color. On a youtube video of the tank I've seen only the bottom and a strip of the sides painted, the rest was left white. I have decided to follow the references, not the instructions.




I've only did some subtle weathering; the tank would probably not be heavily worn.




Sides of the hull are being finished and fitted.




Firewall between the crew compartment and the engine compartment



The dry fitting of the hull was not very promising; there are some gaps between the bottom of the hull and the sides.


The hatch for the driver -moveable if you can manage not to glue it shut.






The turret is also made out of several parts -bottom, top, two sides.




Ammo rack at the back of the turret


Assembly proceeding -fitting small parts before gluing the turret together.






The top of the turret -workable hatches if you don't glue the tiny parts shut.





Engine





Well, that's it for now. I'm going to assemble the hull, and see how big of a problem the fit is. (Or isn't. We'll see.)

Excellent build the models is looking great.

Robert

Well, the fit of the hull is not good. I did not do a dry-fitting before starting to work on the hull, which is a shame, but now I had difficulties to fit the sides to the bottom. I glued the ends first, and then progressively went forward, gluing the parts together. However, there WERE gaps between the parts.







Nothing some filler would not fix, but still... The fit is an issue here.




The ice-cleats are pretty easy to do, however, there is a tiny problem: the holding rods need to be cleaned of their attachment points before they fit through the holes on the cleats. This is no easy feat. You do get some extras, but they break very easily. First, enlarge the holes on the cleats.
Second, clean the rods very carefully...









Or, as I tried, you can just use evergreen strips.



Apologies for the photo quality; last night I had no time to get my camera out and used my phone. I was glad I could finish as much as I did in the time I had for this.

Further progress on the tank... it's taking shape now.


The hull was assembled; as I said there were major fit issues there. Clamps and a systematic approach helped: I started gluing the back, and once it tried, went forward.




I've glued all the PE to the mudguards





I've finished the turret, and glued it together. It's worth gluing one side at a time to the base, and then add the gun.







The thing is: once you attach the gun, it'll be quite awkward to handle the turret, as the gunner's seat will hang out, and can be easily broken off...

The top is not glued on yet- obviously.





A view from the front




The bottom of the turret's top is quite busy (it's not done yet)




aaand the turret is finished.




There were some minor fit issues where the two halves meet; some filling will be necessary. Other than that, nothing is visible (at least nothing is visible without primer).

Looking like good progress to me, is there a rain cover above the manlet to cover the gap.....PE or Plastic?

It's PE. (Obviously, not yet installed.)

I'm impressed with how much detail this kit has but the reputation of Mini Art's buildings and their lack of quality gives me pause to consider this kit.

I like what you've done so far.

Dunno, I have not tried their buildings (I've only seen one negative topic yesterday, as it happens), but I'm not sure what you mean by lack of quality. I've finished the SU-76 not long ago (could be better, but not a bad kit, going to finish the post about it today), and the D7 Armored Dozer (which was awesome). So I dunno. This model is fine; the only major gripe I have is the fit on the hull, which can be dealt with (and the fact that there is no driver's station provided).

I've built about 10 Miniart kits from there T-70 series to the Gaz AA and AAA, I even built there Mercedes truck. I'm currently working on there Staff bus right now. There kits are very good, no quality issues. The only complaint I would have is that sometimes, they go over board on the number of parts to build up sub assemblies, the parts are small and delicate and can lead to some builder fatigue and frustration.

Like you I have read the review from a couple others here that say that their buildings are flimsy plastic and fit very poorly. I'm just curious if their building fit issues transfer over to their armor kits.

Vacuform and injection moulding are two very different things... I've yet to see a vacuform kit that has no fit issues. Miniart's plastic kits are perfectly fine. Some of them (the older ones, especially), suffer from some fit issues, but none of it is deal-breaking. None of the horrendous "old plastic kits from Eastern Europe" syndrome. (I'll put up the SU-76 blog tonight; you can see how an old model builds up.)

EDIT: here's a link to the SU-76 blogpost

https://butterfingeredmodelbuilder.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/miniarts-su-76r/

Quick update (I'm lagging behind with photos... the interior is pretty much done, except for the driver's compartment. (Don't ask.)

The tank has been primed with black, but no photos yet.

Turret interior is finished (I really liked the touch with the little clamps holding the plug for the pistol port... I even managed to install them. I think a chain is missing, though.)












co-axial MG