Mike, it can still be a AMPS Nats build, assuming you don't WANT to do all the detail perfectly correct. If you want a detailed beastie, just find a picture and go to town. Otherwise, you can OOB it and refine the details. I have seen several excellent OOB builds of the Trumpeter T-64's.

There is no reason you couldn't do well with this kit at AMPS. Accuracy is not judged, especially at this minute of a level. AMPS is really about getting the basics right: part clean-up, alignment, joining, seam filling, painting, decaling, weathering. That being said, you can get rewarded for going the extra mile by showing how you have corrected or detailed a kit to make it more accurate or researched the markings to match a specific tank but it's not necessary to do well in the contest. Eight out of the ten judging points concern fundamental model-building skills, one point concerns added detailing, one point can be awarded for extra effort in correcting and improving accuracy and an extra one-half point can be awarded for research. So, it is possible for a competently built and finished out-of-the-box kit to score a 24.0 which earns you a Silver medal in the Basic or Intermediate categories and a Bronze in Advanced.

Read the rules/philosophy on the website and I think you'll understand better.

KL

Mike,
when you wrote "German?" that's what immediatly popped into my head, T-64.de

Sean

Sean, I thought I remembered the site being German, but even searching google for t64 German didn't help, it was the Kampfpanzer I was missing. Thanks!

Kurt,
Thanks for the reminder, I am familiar with the AMPS judging and rules and have been on those tables before.
I've been running at the upper end of Intermediate Silver for a while now and it is just like you say, that last half a point is what can tip the balance for a gold in intermediate (all other areas of the build being addressed)

So, bold text aside, in this case it is exactly what I 'need' to do or show the judges to stop bouncing off that 26.5 point cap I seem to find myself hitting.
Knowing the philosophy of the levels and being honest I am really an intermediate builder based on what I do and how I build. That said, I am still competitive (mostly just with myself) enough to want that gold medal if only becasue, like the Spinal Tap amplifiers, it is 'one better' than silver.

As hard as table captains try and as hard a chief judges push back against it, "Judges are not expected to know things the modeler does not tell them. " shows up more than we'd like.

You and I both know that there are a LOT of internet experts out there who bring their expertise and biases to the table.

It would be a hard sell to convince Joe Sherman-guy and Ordinance Bob that this particular tank did or did not exist when Internet Fred who might have remembered reading something about how the Trumpeter T-64B 1975 didn't really exist weighs in. ( no real modelers are being referred to here..-grin-)

See you in Danbury, I might even bring a T-64

Mike, I wish you best of luck with your T-64. Sure it can look good just OOB. There are just couple of tweaks to do - and it would be quite accurate detail- wise without any aftermarket needed. If you-ll make config. with OOB turret and with turning shields instead of full sideskirts ( this option is shown in manual as well ) it would be historically accurate too.

P.S. Hope you wouldn't take me for an "internet expert" ;-) I'm just a fellow modeller who also builts models of T-64 and therefore have studied some material and wants to share fruits of his studies with someone other than wife and kids :-)

Thanks for all of your information. It is very useful and welcome.
Unfortunately, I had built just past that stopping point and had committed to skirts not flaps and the sleeved gun barrel. I do like the look of the turret without the smoke launchers, so I will carry on with this one as is and be more photo specific on the next. There WILL be a next. the T--64 is a favorite vehicle, the sports car of tanks.

1. If you have a photo or 2 of what you are building, along with what the history is, that should neutralize "Internet Fred" (I like that name because I know that guy... ). Basically, the research portion for the 1/2 point.

2. I think the hardest part of this particular tank is that Trumpeter was most likely "stretching" the molds out with another variant. There is no technical reason this tank could not have existed as presented in box, but it just is not common, most likely because if they were going to replace the side skirts, they probably had at least the Tucha on hand to put on as well, so...

I think my best advice to you is to build what you have and just add a little bit to it. Maybe add the SGL's. Maybe change up a little detail (not sure what to suggest at this moment). Maybe the AAMG? PE? As a serious AMPS judge, I think those things will help. And then...basic paint prep and paint job, with a minimum of a pinwash (highlights are suggested too).

There is one problem with getting a intermediate gold...you have to move up to advanced, a MUCH tougher level.

Anyone have a sense of how often the triangular sections between the front hull and fenders were mounted? Were these removed or installed in combination with the use of mine clearing equipment?

From a spin through my photos, they appear in parade pictures, mostly, but not always. They are less common in field pictures but are also not always absent.

Leaving these off and drilling the bolt holes into the inner fenders would be an interesting detail, besides, I don't really love the look they add to the kit. Spoils the lines of the front hull to my eye.

Hi, Mike!

These "triangular sections" You are referring to, are the mud flaps to protect headlights. They need to be there by military regulations but You know the conditions of tank's life during exercises - even fenders have a tendency to get lost. But when inspection comes You need everything to be in order - that's why You'd prefer to put those flaps (and sometimes fenders too) off and store them in the unit's shop. And the only times You put them on are parade/inspection or sending tank to factory for update (small repairs were made in units in Soviet times) - in other terms - the only cases Your tank would cath Your top-brass'es eyes ;-)

Greetings, Mike, Jacques and everyone!

Looks like We've got another prototype for B-1975 mod.
Our colleague Sergey "taiga" Sinitsyn made a walkaround of a monument tank in Ekaterinburg. It looks pretty like the one Trumpy offers You to build OOB except an extra-armor on the glassis and late-type OPVT bracket.

http://scalemodels.ru/news/10822-Walkaround-osnovnojj-boevojj-tank-t-64-shtab-centralnogo-voennogo-okruga-ekaterinburg-rossija.html

Hope this would help.
Best Regards!

Dmitry,
Many thanks for that link! Great pictures.
A little click and save and this project is back on the top of the pile.