At the urging of Roy Kinsella here is my Black Eagle project that I hope to re-start work on and get going as a build blog.
I'm pretty happy with the general shape of the hull (or hulls, 2 DML T-80s measured, cut and joined) and the detail added has improved them somewhat.
I'm very happy with how the scratch-built/sculpted turret turned out, the drawings from Mono Steel Art were a big help!
Measuring, re-measuring, re-re-measuring, and measuring again , the 2 T-80 hull and superstructure halves are cut
The 2 halves after being joined, and some plastic surgery with skif T-80 parts and Evergreen
The start of the turret planning, sketching and mock up, then the frame work is built up
Most of the Framework for the turret is in place, the angles are very unusual in this turret, and none too easy!
Fleshing out the turret 'skeleton' with putty
Same with the underneath of the turret, note DML turret ring
Upper turret starting to take shape, but lots still to do
Turret refining, the edging around the turret front edges will be filed back, and the main gun housing is started, this had the wrong angle and height and will be changed as you will see. Note the hull side skirts, these also had to be lengthened, many cuts and trial fittings were necessary to get them straight and matching the hull!
The turret and hull being test fitted, silly I know but I got great enjoyment how it was already looking at this early stage!
Cutting the many many pieces necessary for the scratch built active defense launchers that would mount to the turret sides similar to Luigi Cuccaro's
I had to tear off the armour plates I had laboriously fitted to the Turret front, as I had fitted them as single lengths, as in Luigi Cuccaro's build, but you tube footage showed they were many overlapping pieces! Many bolts and retaining plates had to be fashioned, some are seen here affixed, and awaiting use
The turret and hull so far, I wasn't ready for how much work was involved in scratch building, and got a shock to say the least, constant chopping and changing and re-doing of parts! I have just finished using putty to fill all the marks, scratches and gaps left by the intensive build. Am very happy so far I must say!
After much planning and sketching of my ideas for the engine deck for my Modern Paper Panzer, I started construction. With little or no shots of the original prototypes decks, coming up with a possible future deck wasn't easy. As you can see it's a heavily modified T80UD deck as per the originals lineage. A lot of scratchbuilding / detailing has been done with plasticard, DML and SKIF T80 parts, a couple of etch sets and copious filler to fill the many gaps in the DML kit which is a bit of a dog to be honest!
I have also heavily modified and detailed up a bit the rear external fuel tanks, and am still in 2 minds about the plasticard mounting brackets, and may axe these and mount them directly to the modified rear fender tail light units?
Here's the Eduard detailed Unditching Log mounts, way superior to the kit parts (which almost all border on the toy like at times to be honest) and though very time consuming and fiddly, are well worth it! Might leave the log off so as not to hide them? Note the amount of filler required on this kit, in placesI need to fill the original kit to kit parts more than I do my own scratch to kit parts? Not good!
This is where I am so far as I get back into the project. I am definitely going to change the engine deck layout based on some more pics I have found. As a prototype tank I guess I have a lot of freedom? Any ideas or comments very welcome. Hope to get stuck back into this project as it's a shame to leave it unfinished!
Cheers,
Glen
