Jeff thanks for the comments and your thoughts. The Alex Clark article was a surprise to me but then again I've only researched 1/72 T80's. He is far and beyond any point that I intended to go to with this build. In looking back I recall seeing an article that Alex did on correcting another version of the T-80. Unfortunately it also went far and beyond the point that I was willing to go to.

I had two of these Monogram kits in the stash and this one was "supposed" to be OOTB. I've only gotten back into the hobby about two and a half years ago and had a lot to relearn. This site and those that populate it have been fantastic and helpful to myself and other newbies. It was my intention with this kit to show that even an older Braille kit could be simple and enjoyable to build. As you mention, it can be difficult to to resist a bit of tweaking here and there. This kit and almost any other may have some problems arise but one should not be put off by that as it's all part of the experience.

Cheers,
Jan

Ohh, great progress of this kit!
I will see for images of my older build kits, but I will link them only.
(the link, instead of the images... when I´ll be able to upload them to my photobucket-account)

greetings...
Soeren

Hi Jan,

It is getting towards a part scratchbuild rather than OOB. Excellent work and inspiring modelling, perhaps next time you will really do a OOB (can't see it myself, as I reckon you are hopelessly lost to the superdetailing disease). Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing your progress.

All the best,

Paul

Gorizont - Soeren, I really appreciate your comments and interest.

spacewolfdad - Paul, this was NOT my original plan. I truly and honestly believed (could I have been so naive ) that I would add the minimal to the build. I truly have built a few kits that were 99% out of the box for campaigns that I have entered. The Revell SpPz 2A Luchs, the Dragon Tarawa Sherman, a Fujimi SdKfz 251 come to mind. My curse with this one was that after a bit of research, the base model just looked so darn plain.

I really though that I saw the light at the end of the tunnel with my last post with pictures. To this point I have sailed along attaching the last kit pieces and the fabricated ammo boxes. I do believe that while not perfect, the latter definitely add to the effect. While working on the build today I was at the point where I was ready to add the IR searchlight. Guess what? There isn't one in this kit.
Back to the cutting board!

Progress to date.





I have the searchlight pieces from an old ESCI T62 but they aren't the proper size or configuration. Size wise they are too large. I also noticed that the T80 has a couple of additional lights on the turret and of course we can't forget about the typical Russian unditching beam and smoke dischargers. What was meant to be a quick and simple build is turning into an exercise in frustration. Maybe I should turn this into a what-if and mount a Xenon searchlight left over from an old M60 and some Chieftain smoke dischargers.


Cheers,
Jan

Hi Jan,

'why spoil the ship for a 'haporth of tar' is an old English saying, in other words stick with it and get it finished to the standard you really want. May I suggest you put it on one side for a few days and do something entirely different, then come back to it with a fresh perspective. I've done this with my PzIVJ and I am ready to tackle it again. Stick with it, it will be a little gem when finished.

All the best,

Paul

Jan,

Nothing to be frustrated about! There is no such thing as the perfect model . . . What you have is a replica of the real thing in your hands. Just a replica! Just get it as close to looking real for you as you like. Sharing how you go about doing this is part of the fun. Paul's suggestion is dead on! It's best to walk away for a while.

If you don't build anything you never learn to build. If you don't paint anything you never learn to paint. In this hobby we are all 3 dimensional artist. We all have our own unique style. You've come a long ways already . . . modeling, painting, photos, posting, sharing and most importantly contributing your time and effort for the betterment of this hobby for everyone interested!

Now go and have yourself a beer, relax and come back to it when your ready! It's looking good so far. I know that I have one of these in the stash and can't wait to find it!

-Eddy

Paul and Eddy, the words of encouragement were much appreciated and helpful. I wasn't quite ready to commit hari kari but the though of attaching wings to the T80 (Kamikaze) had crossed my mind. After a couple of libations and a good night sleep I rummaged through the tool box, spare parts bin and plastic stock to see if an answer hit me over the head.

After looking at some pictures and drawings I determined that the diameter of the IR searchlight would scale down to approximately 3/16 " (4.5 mm). I was fortunate enough to have a rod of plastruct in that size. I filled the hole with scrap styrene and gap filing (Eddy's idea) super glue. After that set up I resorted to hand sanding the filled area to get the rounded contour of the prototype. I found my tube cutter and after disassembly and lubrication used it to cut off the piece. Here are a couple of pictures of the prepared piece in the cutter.





And the successfully removed piece.



Next was gluing a cover piece to the future light. I wasn't concerned about the excess material as it would be cut away and then sanded.



Once that was done I managed to find some unused smoke dischargers in the spares bin and you can see them with the base searchlight body in the next picture.



The dischargers aren't perfect and may need some work. Next I need to fabricate a searchlight mounting frame and actuating mechanism. I believe that at this scale it won't need it to be perfect but because of the size it will take a bit of time.

Thanks again guys!

Cheers,
Jan

Greetings to everyone following this OOTB (?) build. This instalment will be rather picture intensive. Although the additions are simple, the time involved is out of all proportion to the size.

THe main focus is still the creation of the infrared spotlight. After studying several images of the real thing I made a few "calculated" size determinations (I fudged things?).

Preliminary cutting and filing of the inside of the light frame.



The further filing of the frame



Adding an attachment point on the turret for the frame.



The frame attached with gap filling CA glue.



While that dried I found and added some left over PE towing loops to the hull rear. In some pictures they should be the same as on the front. In a few they are just empty loops that they attach an unditching beam to.



And last but not least, the pieced together (dry fit) tank.





Next on the agenda is to deal with the smoke dischargers.

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Jan,

'If it looks right, then it is right', yet another saying from GB. See, it is all going wonderfully, your perseverence, patience and hard work has produced a really good result. Not much further now, there is light at the end of the tunnel (or is it the locomotive of unforseen extra detail about to hit you! ). Great stuff, inspiring for us all.

All the best,

Paul

Paul, I will not get carried away...I will not get carried away...I will......

While I was allowing the airbrush parts to soak for cleaning I attacked the smoke dischargers. That got me to thinking about further hollowing out the machinegun; which got me to think about the IR light on the commanders cupola and a light facing the rear and one on the gunners side of the turret....

I really hope that this build does inspire some people to give Braille a try or even dig out one of those older kits in their stash and see what they can do with it.

I reworked the dischargers enough so that they sit in as close a manner as to the originals. I have seen pictures of numerous variation in their placement and even some where some have either been removed or perhaps shot off. These little guys barely fit in my smallest tweezers so I don't see trying to scratch any more.





Thanks to all who take the time to comment. It can really help to motivate me to carry on.

Cheers,

Yippee!!!! The last part on the sprue has finally been attached and no more remain on the now empty sprues. I've been doing a bit more cleaning up. The sink hole in the front plate is looking great, the smoke dischargers have been cleaned up, I just need to attach the fuel barrels, and baring any other additions the painting should begin shortly.



Today I investigated various options for creating the ubiquitous unditching beam. The options were to "steal" one from an old ESCI T62, purchase a tree trunk from a landscape kit, use a twig from the yard or try to create my own. Being the masochist that I am I chose the latter most option.

One nice thing about the sprues from this kit is that they have several areas of fairly long straight pieces. I cut some sections off and tried various methods to create a wood look. After sanding the seam lines from these pieces I used a 46 tooth per inch razor saw and ran the teeth sideways over the length of the material while twisting the rod. To my pleasant surprise this resulted in some very nice looking wooden texture. Here's the textured sprue and you can see the saw blade at the bottom.



I painted the test piece with thinned Model Master Acryl 4673 Wood. I kept the paint thin so as not to interfere with the detail of the log.



A close up.



My SWMBO actually thought that I had used something of real wood when she saw it. This accidentally discovered method of creating wooden logs opens up a plethora of possibilities for future scratch building projects. One need just use their imagination to see the great potential. On top of everything else, you are in a sense recycling and putting to good use material that otherwise would be discarded.

One final thought! With the appropriate tooth spacing of razor saws there is also the potential to create rough lumber boards using a similar method.

Cheers,
Jan

Oops, a few more little items just needed to be added. I found a couple of headlights in the parts box that looked very close to the lights on the turret rear and front side. I changed their rear contour a bit and drilled out the fronts. After suitable painting the cavities will be filled with Window Maker clear. You can see them in the pictures as they are Dragon Grey.





I then realized that I should see how the unditching log is attached to tanks. After a bit of experimenting I came up with this.



I've glued them on and after they were dry I test fitted the log. To my pleasant surprise everything worked out.





I have some PE straps that I will try to use to the attach the log to the mounting brackets.

So much for the quick OOTB build.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan, this build is really coming along and it's looking quite busy compared to the earlier pictures. I just love that home made log and I can see the potential for their use. Are you going to leave it the colour it is or do something to pick out the grain detail better? BTW, would you consider creating some kind of update set with the parts that you created? Perhaps show what tools that one would minimally require to create these details? Or is that a professional secret.

Regards,
AJ

@AJB - To be honest, while I kind of like the log as it is, I'll definitely do something to it to bring out the details. As far as creating anything like an upgrade kit for these tanks, I seriously doubt it. As all the parts are created from styrene and they are rather time consuming to make and lend themselves minimally to any kind of mass production. On the other hand, you have given me cause to wonder why I didn't make two sets so as to have one for my other Monogram T80. As far as "professional secrets" are concerned, do I really even have any. A lot of what I do can be somewhat hit or miss. Experimentation is the name of the game. At the next update I'll see about providing a picture of my "secret" tools. Thanks for dropping in and commenting.

Cheers,
Jan

Except for the unditching log, the last part has been added to the T80 (the commanders IR searchlight). I still need to paint the inside of some lights a silver colour and then add the clear cover to them. With that meant that the painting could begin.

The kit box sides and instructions call for a three colour camo schene and I decided to try and replicate it. I did a rather exhaustive image search on the Internet to find a similar scheme and get an idea of the colours. I found quite a large variations in camouflage schemes just for the T80. Standard "Russian Green" was the obvious choice for the green. NATO black should suffice for the black but the tan third colour was a different matter. In pictures this colour seems to vary from a tan with green tint to it, to an almost desert yellow. I decided to base coat the tank with Tamiya XF-57 Buff. It has a hint of a green tint to it like some of the pictures.

With the base coat applied.





The second most prominent colour of the scheme was the green. I used Modelmaster Acryl 4807 "Russian Armour Green." as the base. After carefully examining the model I found that it has a reasonable degree of contours and surface detail that I hadn't noticed previously. Some of the details that I added are quite delicate so that precluded using any normal masking techniques. My freehand fine airbrushing skills are still developing so that pretty much meant I would attempt this by brush.

My SWMBO is an accomplished decorative painter and knows tricks and methods that I can hardly grasp. She suggested a few processes that might be of help and I gave them a try. Some of these involve progressively lighted coats of the same colour, The start point for the green was with a mixture of 4 parts green to 1 part flat white to account for scale effect. For the brush painting I mixed 4 parts paint with 2 parts Tamiya X-20A Thinner/Extender. This results in a very smooth spread of the paint without brush strokes being visible. The only down side is that you need three coats of the progressively lightening mixture to achieve the proper opacity.

Here's the progress so far.





'til next time!

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

I've read that the Revell T80B kit was basically "junk", but yours looks pretty good with the changes/additions you've made (excluding strict accuracy). The details look decent for Braille Scale, and your painting looks good so far.

It should look real nice after some washes and weathering.

Are you going to do a small dio?

Thanks for you comments Jeff. I have read and looked at numerous other peoples builds of the Revell T80B and one of the Matchbox version. When you mention accuracy issues I presume that you are thinking of the T80 that Alex Clark on Missing -lynx did. He went far and beyond what I had in mind. As far as a diorama or vignette go, I am still undecided. My skills in that area of the hobby are still quite minimal.

I have more or less completed the camo and am fairly happy with how it turned out. The upper body and lower hull are still not joined as I wish to just touch up a couple of flawed areas of the painting. I was quite shocked when I viewed the tank on the shelf about 12 feet (4 metres) from the work area. The camo really seems to be quite effective as the overall shape of the vehicle is totally disrupted by it.

Here are some updated pictures.







I have started on some detail painting and will tackle the decals before beginning the weathering. The decals may be an issue as there is a written warning that they are not compatible with setting solutions or solvents. Interestingly, the copyright on the decals is by "Revell-Momogram 1996," not just Monogram.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

I'm so happy to see that your hanging in there with this build. That camouflage looks great. Really super job! The washes should bring out the fine details. No need for an airbrush with the technique you've used . . . So simple yet so effective.

-Eddy

Jan,

Almost forgot to mention about that home made log . . . that really looks like a real wood log. Now that's modeling! Not to mention all of the mods that you've created to upgrade this kit with.

-Eddy

Nice result of this build!
The paint-by-hand -result looks good!

As I remember to my old builds of this and other kits, my way was "first build-then paint".
That was no good choice in the result.
Also I spray-painted all of them.

Perhaps I can make it better with my remaining T-80 kit.

greetings...
Soeren

@Braille - Your comments are always appreciated, Eddy. This build seems somewhat simplistic when compared to your Panzer IV but I am obviously creating my own problems to make up for that. Despite everything, I am most happy with that stupid little log. I foresee great uses for the technique, especially in any small scale diorama or vignette. I was actually struggling with some of the scratch parts and that shouldn't have happened. It was my own fault as I was a cheapskate and using dull blades and very old tools. My SWMBO got fed up with all the whining and "ordered me to "get rid of all the old junk" and get proper replacements. A trip to the local hobby shop and $20 or so and I had new blades, razor saws and a new set of jewellers files. MAN did they make a difference.

@Gorizont - Soeren, thank you for your comments and for supporting my endeavour. I wish that I had know some of these painting methods when I had done the BTR-80 and it would have ended up camouflaged. Here's a picture that I took as I thought you might appreciate it.



Now for some reason I was having difficulties with certain of the Tamiya paints. They were drying to a satin or almost semi gloss finish. A bit of experimenting had led me to try adding one part Tamiya X-21 Flat Base and an additional part thinner/extender to the previous ratios that I mentioned. Works out the way I would have wanted.

I have also been adding a small proportion (1 drop) of X-21 to my washes as they too seemed a bit glossy. That too is working out. Here are some pictures of the first few washes on the lower hull.







For the amateur photographers viewing this, the last three pictures were taken on a bright sunny fall day in 100% manual mode. These pictures are near Identical to what my eye sees.

Cheers,
Jan

Despite quite a bit of action in this forum to distract me today, I managed to finish the next bit of weathering. The upper body is still not affixed to the lower hull, the periscopes aren't painted and I'd like to do a bit more touching up and additional shadowing.

I am going to say that I'm about 95% of the way to calling this tank "ready for prime time." At this stage I would like to solicit comments and suggestions from the viewing public.

Here's the pictures of the T80 after a casual drive through an urban wasteland.











It's taken far more effort than I originally envisioned but I am finally getting to the point that I like this beast.

Cheers,
T80_tread_geek

Well done, Sir! Nicely executed brush-applied paint, and weathering.

Is the hull glued together (gap in front hull)?

You might want to do a dark gray pin-wash for the rear exhaust grate (?) (image from PrimePortal). Actually, I would paint the raised squares black to approximate the grid better:



You could also do some dark gray paint "chipping" to the rubber mud guards and skirts, since the paint would easily come off of them.

Still, these are just fine points for an otherwise great effort.

Thank you very much for the compliments and the suggestions, Jeff All input is much appreciated.

At the point of the previous pictures the front hull was not glued. I have since corrected that situation (picture below). I was wondering about whether the skirts were painted rubber as most of all the images I have looked at are either a grey plain rubber or have been painted. I was roughly going for a look somewhat similar to this one.

For Discussion Purposes Only

http://www.maxwolf.ru/armor/tanks/t80b_2.jpg

The picture is not the best and I realize that it is a different variant but I'm sure you can see my inspiration.

In the following pictures I have added some worn away rubber to the bottoms of the skirts. I am still not pleased with the way the exhaust turned out and will give it some more attention.





Cheers,
Jan

Man Jan, that thing really looks like it's been through the wringer, or a house or two. I presume that the completion is near. It would be interesting to have the tank running through a ruin or debris from one.

Regards,
AJ