¹⁄35

EE-T1 Osório: The Lost MBT

The Trumpeter Kit

First of all, the name of the model is incorrect. The EE-T1 Osório was the only series ever built. The EE-T2 designation was to be used on the model built for export to Saudi Arabia, and that never happened.

The kit is very good overall, with a tan plastic. But be ready, because there are a lot of flaws to be cleaned-up before you can start gluing. Here is what I discovered in each assembly phase.

• Wheel Assembly 1: just a lot of flaws to be cleaned.
   
• Lower Hull Assembly 2 and 3: should fill the lower hull holes with plasticard and putty.
   
• Rear Panel Assembly 4: I replaced the jerry cans (the kit supplied are awful) and I also made new Jerrycans holders from aluminum foil, the piece C6 should be glued on vertical position (and not inclined as ordered on the instructions) so we should, first of all, fill up the holes and glue the pieces in the correct position. The piece B7 also deserved a little attention, making and detailing a new cover with plasticard. I made a spare shoes holder from aluminum foil, and a new fixing support was made for the tools (piece D10).
   
• Track Construction 5: it has some holes to make adjustments, in my case, I used the last 4 and it was still sagged, and I had to underpass it under one of the return rollers (since it will not show after the side panel was in place).
   
• Fore Upper Hull Assembly 6: I didn't use the headlights (pieces D5 and D6) because I didn't see it in any of my references. The rear mirrors (pieces D1 and D2) were detailed with a new pole and placed in the closed position (it was only used when parking), the tools weren't glued on the muddy, I also detailed the muddy guard with a thin stripe of aluminum foil. The tool (D7) was glued in position and detailed with aluminum foil.
   
• Rear Upper Hull Assembly 7 and 8: I built it according to the instructions, with no modifications.
   
• Upper Hull Assembly 9: I left the tracks to be build later. Every tool was glued in place and detailed with aluminum foil and wire. I preferred to glue the side panels after overall painting. I did all hatches and cover handles.
   
• Main Gun Assembly 10: I used the 120mm main gun (to the Saudi Arabia version), detailed the pieces C1 and C2 with a soaked paper with white glue + water, to simulate the canvas cover of the gun, I also drilled the main gun mount.
   
• Turret Assembly 11, 12 and 13: this step was the longest and demanded more job, I started building the rubber pad that covers the gun mantelet using dentist rubber sheet, I glued all transparent parts of the periscopes (pieces: D3 and D4) and put some white glue to mask for painting. I made a new piece B26 with aluminum foil and corrected the positioning for the B35 (more to the left side and not for the right side as indicated on the instructions). I made the detailing of the upper hinge on the turret upper rear door (B16) and a new lower hinge for the same door. Also detailed the rear turret part (B16) adding a circular piece to the left side of the door and a few others small parts in scratchbuilt. I put handles, when necessary on the boxes and panels doors, using thin wire. Detailed the .50 machine gun making the support in aluminum foil, I also used another ammunition box (from my spare parts box). On the coaxial 7,62mm machine gun (D23) I drilled and glued a syringe needle with the proper diameter. I replaced the pieces C3 and C4 by scratching them with aluminum foil. Last but not least, I made two antennas using a guitar wire cut in the proper size (10 feet = more or less 3 meters), using the 1/35th scale rulers (thanks Gunnie! J).
  And the assembly is finished, so let's move to the painting and weathering phase.