hi fellas! started on this one a couple of days ago.. im trying to "decently" convert a chinese Type 98 tank to a Type 99 MBT...the base kit for this project is a trumpeter type 98.. which is quite bad.. light details with a lot of motorization holes as it even includes a motor... ditched the motor, sealed off the holes and in the process of adding the armor tiles.. check out the pics...

so im planning to convert this...



into this...




the lower hull had motorization holes so i used putty and sanded them out... i also sanded and flattened on the front part of the hull which is flat on the Type 99.. the type 98 carries a dozer blade type thing on the front hull.. same as the T-72.. but the 99 didnt have it so i sanded then out...



then i "widened" the sprocket wheels to fit the newer tracks... the ones supplied in the kit were a horrendous copy of the T-72 tracks..



i used old plastic cards on the front glacis to lift it a bit.. the armor tiles have not yet been put in...



the hardest part on this conversion is the turret... it has wedged shaped armor on the front (kinda like a leo2) and armor tiles on the turret sides (which i havent finished putting in).. i just used old plastic cards and putty.. i also put inserts inside to help support the card and make it last...



another tough part here is getting the measurements right for the "hole" on the other side of the turret... i believe its for the coaxial machine gun... i also sourced out the main gun from a T-72 kit as the trump one looks like a toy... the tamiya one has heavier detail into it, including the thermal wrap of the gun..



the project isnt done yet and i havent put on the road wheels so this is how the tank looks like when the turret is put on...





im still in the process of detailing turret parts such as the laser dazzler, radar, the AA machine gun and the scratchbuilding a wind sensor that doesnt come with the kit.. like i said, the kit has soft details so giving the turret parts some life would greatly help...

references on this tank is quite hard to come by... their abundance on the net isnt like the M1 so its pretty tough to work with what i have... i have to source out a lot of stuff from the spares box, including the fuel barrels on the rear and some PE parts from a T-72 since both share some similarities, but the Type 99 is 15% bigger than a T-72 in real life...

will post more pics as i progress on this...

sorry for th crappy pictures.. just took it from my camera phone....

oh, comments, suggestion and criticisms are always welcome!

Very interesting project Arkuo !
The first hole in the hull (where the blade was) is for a screw that reinforce the fit of hull halves.
Do you intend to use the Armour Model Tracks on your model ? They come with a resin sprocket and IIRC an idler too.

I guess you already have these url's but in case not :

http://www.sinodefence.com/army/tank/type99.asp

http://jedsite.info/tanks-tango/tango-type/type-98_series/type-98-gai/type98gai-intro.html

HTH
Olivier

hey there olivier!

yes, the 1st hole was supposed to be for a screw... the lower hull might be heavy with the motor and all so it needed to be screwed to the upper hull so it wouldnt fall off.. using plain plastic cement might not hold with all that weight.. but since i ditched the motor, i didnt have any use for the screw anymore..

honestly, i dont have those links so thanks you very much for giving me some more reference pics... like i said, pics of this tank are limited compared to those of the M1..

i tried to check out the armor track models indy link tracks but they are out of stock at the moment... shipping them to my side of the pond would probably double the price... im gonna try to see my options, but if worst comes to worst, then i might just go with leo 2 tracks.. they're thin enough to fit the sprockets and the leo is probably as long as the type 99.. i've tried fitting it with M1 tracks but its just too thick and the abrams is a lot shorter than the type 99...

i actually got some info on the type 98 from your site! are you the one who did the type 98?

will post more pics soon! thanks!

Yes sir
At that time I did'nt get that much reference pictures to try improve it. By chance I got one of the links I posted that helped with close-ups of the AAMG, turret roof, front glacis. I didn't get any of the rear hull that look too smooth to me. But I didn't try to fancy any arrangement.
The ATM tracks are excellent in the AFVClub M1 way. I haven't the Type98 and the Leo in the near so I can't help with their tracks comparison. The Type98 tracks seem to have a larger gap between two links, check my site to see what I mean.
Unfortunately, there is no set of the all steel tracks which look better to me, more aggressive like the Japanese Type90.

Olivier