A little update. There is a right smoke grenade launcher box. It took me 4 hours to build it, it consists of 50 small parts, a kill for my nerves. But the work is done and i am pleased with the result.






Best regards. Stefan

Your top outside corners on the smoke launcher don't seem to line up. Better than I could do. Just thought a extra pair of eyes always helps.

Yeah, didn`t saw that. Thank you, i`m gonna fix it ofc.

Looking very good so far, excellent craftsmanship...

What did you use for the smoke launchers?

I used the ones from Tamiya T72M1 kit... Smoke launcher should have a small hole in the cover center, but i dont have the ones like this, and there is no way a can make that, so i used these...

Right front armor of the turret are finished, and so the whole right side of turret.






And one pic of work so far.




Best regards! Stefan

keep at it Stefan. some beautiful work here.

Very nice work, your scratch skills are very good I am looking forward to the end result.

Incredibly good Stefan, let's go on this way!

It's a pleasure to follow this build, very detailed...

Hi Stefan,

Do you have a punch and die set? How did you do the rivets/nuts?

Nice work, keep it up!

We so need new modern T-series MBT's.


cheers

Thx all for comments! A am very glad someone is noticing my work!

@ Rick: Heck we do! Mostly i want someone to build a suitable turrets. I plan to build Slovakian T72 Moderna M2 and T90MS and the biggest problem will be base turret, just like here...

@ Cagkan: Damn it, i don`t know what punch and die set is but of course i suspect. I make mold for my rivets in a piece of wood, i can make any shape and size i want, and it works great for me!

A new, inexspensive way to make rivets. I was having to cut up very thin rod to make mine. I'll be trying the block of wood technique. How do you remove them, once dry?

Yes, me too I obtain my rivets slicing Hexagonal or circle rods

I'd like to know how is your method

Thanks in advance

Anyway this is a punch & die for model kits

@Matt: I remove them with skalper...

I will take a picture of the process if you want, just to show you how do i do it...

Best regards, Stefan

Here are the photos of my way to make rivets.

First i make holes in a piece of wood, with something sharp. You can make hole of any size and density...



Next, you heat a straight piece of plastic from some model. I recommend using some good plastic, Dragon, Trumpeter, Academy and such... When the plastic starts to melt, you insert it in the mold, wait for a couple of seconds, and take it out. Then you use surgical knife to remove the rivets from the frame and put it somewhere where you can`t lose it (i sad that because i lost a lot of them). On a piece of wood or metal you pour a small quantity of glue (i use revell glue, super glue is not suitable for this because it drys fast). Then just lift the rivets with pincers or something else, touch the dot with the glue (be careful not to lose the rivet in the glue) and then just put the rivet where you want.






I hope i was clear enough! If not, feel free to ask!

Yes, very clear, thanks a lot

Instead of wood I could use also perforated metal foils to do them

I slice polystrene rods or buy masterclub scale rivets (they are definetly perfect).. but I stay on slicing most of the time

@ Cagkan: Your way sure is better, in the future i plan to make rivets myself like you do. But mine is more economical, end that is what makes a difference to me. Thx for commenting!

Thanks Stefan. I just had a epiphany on how to make rivets with resin and some clay.

Stefan- truly fantastic scratch building- this is really great to watch coming together.

Hey Matt- have you got any Eduard etch sets lying around? They have perforations on the edges of different rivets etc and all you have to do is push a heated piece of plastic through and then cut it off, similar to what Stefan is doing with the wood.

@ Karl: A had those actually... They are very good for that purpose. But unfortunetly, i had only one and i lost it. My workshop is truly a mess so things get lost very easy...

Hey Stefan

I've found a CHEAP SPECIAL TOOL to do rivets like you

But i THINK is quite hard finding it out of Italy...



...Is an Italian coffee maker filter. I've tried....is PERFECT to cast rivets

BTW thanks a lot. I was inspired by your great idea

cheers

:D

I admire your creativity, great idea