Just great great piece of details.
I love the attention to details great great great

Waiting for the paint job

Congrats
Cheers
Seb

I'm waiting on that mine roller

Actually It's going to be a mine plough. I'm still waiting on the plastic tubing I order and hopefully it' going to be here this weekend. But I should be starting on it on monday, just trying to work out the details and where to begin.

But thanks agian for the great complaments every
chris

very very nice job!

Great detail work on the turret Chris. That Spotlight is a nice piece, I notice its in resin? Wheres it from?

Also that co-axial MG is that in the Trumpy kit? If it is thats a real nice touch to include in the base kit.

Your doing a KMT-6 and I'm doing a KMT-7 people will be spoilt for choice over Russian Mine clearing equipment!

I've got MiG's KMT-7 as well. Chris I will be very interested as to how you tackle the details missing from the KMT-6. From what I've seen here, it wont be that big of a deal for you . On a side note my T-72A stuff comes tomorrow so building will begin on that promptly.

Hey Jon, the spot light you are asking about came from my SP kit for the T-80 I will be working on later. It came with two styles of light and I just liked to the detail on it better than the kit. Besides, trumpy's light had a promenit mounting trench to fill in and it's just quicker to replace the light instead. As far as the co-axial goes, yes it's part of the kit and not an after market. I sanded it down some and drill out the end of the barrel. I can't wait to see how mig's mine roller is going to turn out. Your's should be pretty straight out of the box, were the skif kit won't be.

Sean let's just say the mine plough is going to be a challenge, the more I look at the kit and compair it to real photos, I have alot I need to do to it. I think the only thing I can even use from the kit is the control arms for the blades. The blades them selves are going to be rebuilt as the undersized and not the correct shape. I think I'm going to jump over to the plough to take a break from the tank it's self just so I don't get burnt out on it.

Good luck with your T-72 Are you building it straight out of the box, or adding stuff from miniarm or the likes?

Chris

I didn't know it was that bad. Maybe when you're done you could create some masters and cast them. Possibly send one my way

I have two T-72's waiting, a model A which was captured by the Chechens and a model B which was used by the Russian Federation. Both of which have the full miniarm load with an SP designs plate thanks to Jacques. All I really need is a Voyager PE set with their side skirts and I'm set, but I will start the A none the less.

Cool Sean, I can’t wait to see your build on the T-72. I haven’t tackled anything yet from miniarm, but the casting details seem to be great. I would love to build a T-90, but that’s going to be a future project since a lot goes into it and not to mention the cost of it. By the way have you finished your 62 yet? I haven’t notice anymore posting on it. It was looking pretty good so far.

As far as the plough goes, it’s just the blades I’m having problems with and the hydraulic ram used in raising the thing. I just got in the last of my tubing an hour ago and have finished the outer panels of the plough and should be moving onto the main blade it’s latter today.

I’m actually trying to figure out how I could cast masters of some of the parts I made. I was thinking about going up to hobby lobby and picking up a casting kit they sell over in the model section. I’ve built a 1/16 scale M-51 a few years back and cast my own parts for it and they turned out pretty good. But know I’m talking about parts much smaller and I don’t know how it will turn out or if it’s going to ruin my originals. I would love to be able to cast the new hatch and the parts I’m making for the plough. I could always do that later and make separate parts to cast.
Chris

Chris its funny you mentioned my T-62. I'm snapping pictures of my weathing progress now. Feel free to check them out in about 10-20 minutes or so.

I have never cast anything but I'm pretty sure I've seen things on here before discussing it. It may be no different than your larger scale castings.

Looking forward to more of your work

Well everyone, the beginnings of the mine plough met desater this afternoon!!!!! I went outside to bring in the garbage cans and what do I see at my desk.......two little munchins playing with my computer and now one of the blades I have started is completely missing. I've check all over the place and can't find it anywhere. Dummy me should of closed the doors on my work area, but didn't think anything of it. No big loss though, it's frustrating that I have to build a new one now and not to mention I have to go to the hardware store now to get brass tubing. I was using some of the kit's parts and now I don't have plastic tubing to match one of the parts I was using. Good thing they couldn't get to the tank as it was on the upper shelf. Oh well this gives me a chance to build a all new and better one now.

Sean I'll difiantly be checking on your progress. Now I'm heading to the store and taking a break
Chris

Ouch sorry to hear that chris! I know how you feel many of my projects have met disaster along the way and required repair or rebuild.

Just perserveer!

So far, your work is stunning. Sorry to hear about the mine plow, but kids will be kids....

Chris,
great detail work man! Can't wait to see how it looks with some paint. If you're interested I have some basic dimensions off of the real thing as well as some technical drawings of the KMT-6 to help you with your rebuild.

Thanks everyone, I'm having a ruff 2 days. Not only did a part I was working get lost, but y computer crashed this morning and now my yougest is sick The computer is fix now, the new part is being constructed and my boy is sitting here helping.

I did manage to start the new blade this morning and frankly I like it better than the one I started yesterday.

Sean if you do have the info on the plough, could you send it my way? I'm just working from photos and kit part and gestamating theactual size. So far I have found 3 different style blades being used and not sure if there is any special purpose between them. But hopefully I should be back on track this weekend.
Chris

Well everyone, I've have taken some photos of what I have built so far. On a brighter note I have found the missing part, but I'm still not going to be using it. The first photo you can see the sprue for the mine plough and how simplefied the details look and how chunky it is.


The second shot shows the two outter extensions for the blade as I have completely rebuilt it. The missing rib structure and correct teeth have been added also. I plan to make the blade some what functional, it's going to be in the raised position, but I have decided if the panels will be extended or stowed.


The third shot shows the progression so far. The top part is the one that went missing and the middle is one I plan to go with with all new detail.
Chris

Well for those who are not aware, I'm planning to install a KMT-6 mine plough onto the T-62. Unfortunate the only available kit on the market is the skif kit. The bad thing is, the skif kit is poor to say the least, out of the box it would be fine, but the details are soft, over scaled, miss shaped, or just missing all together. Right now I'm concentrating mine attention on the blades themselves as this is the biggest problem area. The building of the plough is going to be a kit by its self and may take as long to build as it did for the tank. From the pictures you can see the sprue layout and the areas circled in red are the areas I'm talking about.



I attempted to build the first blade with plastic and a few parts from the kit, but I just wasn't happy with the turn out. The pictures I have just don't match what I'm trying to achieve. So I started to scratch build a new blade with side extensions from plastic sheet, strips, and aluminum tube. This is going to be slow and tedious build do to certain parts need duplications. I'm trying to see what can be salvaged out of the kit and hopefully the main support arms will be used during the build. Thanks to many helpful modelers, this build is turning out to far ahead of the skif kit. I still have a few things to do before this blade is complete and I can move onto the next one. I still have to order some nuts and bolts to add for detail as the photos of the real thing show a lot of slot headed blots and what not being used.





This project is taking just a bit longer than I expected it would, but the effect I’m putting into will pay off in the long run and not to mention it is worth it. I’m defiantly looking forward to my next project.
Chris

Great work!

What might your next project be? The T-80?

Seems like everyone is building Post WW2 T series tanks and is doing a very good job of it.

Thanks Sean, modern russian armor has been over due for a mkae over. It doesn't get as much attention as per say, tigers, panther and sherman do. Yes I have a T-80 that I want to build, actually two of them, But I have decided yet, I may do a T-64, BMP or a cool BTR-80 ARV I just came across today. I still have a BMD-2 to complete after this build.
Chris

would you care to post pictures of your BMD that you're working on? I myself am interested in an MT-LB but with some many kits (just got another T-72 and Miniarm things, M1A1 AIM by Dragon) and interest in other past projects I can't take on more.

Also, I made headway on my "White Crow" T-72A research. I should begin building very soon.

Sure I can post pics of my BMD, I just had to move onto my 62 as I hate working with photo etch parts and what I'm building for my 62 is much easier. I'm still waiting on parts to show up for the BMD and it's one reason why I move onto another project.
Chris

Great job on the KMT-6 really 1st class.

It's really helpful to see some images of the SKIF sprues as well, so thanks for sharing!

I didn't know you were doing a BMD as well, I really want to build a BMD-2 in the future too. I'm trying to find the Zvezda kit here in Minsk at the moment actually.

Hey Sean and Jon, here’s a couple pics of my BMD-2 and ZLC-2000. The BMD is from zvezda and is not built straight out of the box. The kit had a few fit issues, most towards the front of the hull were the front MG’s are located. I filled in one port and left the other open as many pictures show this. Damaged weld seems were replaced and antenna mount is replaced with one from trumpeter. Detail is being done with eduard photo etch. The tracks are junk and not useable at all, I’m still waiting for the replacements to come in the mail. The barrel is going to be replaced with one from RB and ATGM will be super detailed.




The ZLC-2000 is from hobby boss and is a real gem to build, 95% out of the box. I added a couple of welds seem that were damaged during the build. The front hull was the only fit issues this tank. The only thing I replaced was the smoke launchers from voyagermodel as the details were much better.



I was planning to do an airborne tank theme latter, that why both are being built at the same time.
Chris

Well I’ve started some of the painting yesterday. I’ve painted up the running gear so I can put the final tension on the tracks and get them ready for painting. I left the wheels and rubber separate to make painting a little bit easier. I took my dremel to the rubber portions to add some damage from constant contact with rocks and the tracks. After this was done, I applied a primer coat from tamiya rattle can. This was allowed to dry before the paint could begin ( 3 weeks to be exact).

First up was the rubber tread for the wheels. I like to mix my own paint for this part as I don’t like to use straight black, doesn’t look scale. For this I can tell exact mixing ratios, but I did us tamiya panzer grey with a touch of flat black and few drops of model master acryl semi-gloss clear. The clear does two things for me, one, makes the paint dry a little bit tougher and two, provides a good sealant for the weathering and decaling process.



Next up are the wheels themselves. I used Vallejo model air Russian green with semi-gloss clear added. Nothing special, just straight from the bottom as I’m not too worried about the outcome since the wheels are going to get dirty.



For the weather propose I only used two wheels to try to work out my approach to weather the tank. I would rather test two wheels instead of messing up an entire model. First step in the weather was to apply 2 coats of mig’s brown for dark green filter as a base. Next I then applied a single layer of grey for bright green as I like how it leaves a nice weathered dusty look to the green. Then I applied a thin wash of mig’s brown wash to the finer details to enhance them some. Once that was dried, I then mixed up some European dust and beach sand pigments and applied to the inner portions of the wheels and set with paint thinner to seal it.




Once everything has dried and sealed, I then mixed up some mud. For this I used liquitex resin sand which is a texture gel much like Vallejo. In this I added some European dust, beach sand, static grass Vallejo panzer ace dark rust, highlight german feldgrau, and light mud. This mixture was applied random and not to cover the whole wheel as I wanted some of the green and previous dust to show through some. After this I then took some 502 abteilung engine grease and thinned it out and applied local washes in some areas.



This process took awhile, but I’m very happy with the results and will be using it towards the rest of the build. I still need to add some grease stains and gloss to the wheels, but this gives me a good starting point to work from.
Chris

Great work on the weathering on the Road Wheels, your quite right to be very happy with them, they look fantastic!