Hiya Rob, engine is tha Beez Neez fella! Great build.

Thanks guys!

The engine is indeed very nice and can be detailed as one wishes. I've started working on the engine deck now (will get some photos uploaded), Meng have done a great job of making it possible to open up the access hatch.

Awesome kit and great build, thanks Rob

Looking really nice. I was unaware that the Meng kit had an engine in it

Thanks fellas!

To get this moving along again I started work on the upper hull and adding the various fixtures and fittings.

I focused on the glacis plate first, the fit with the lower hull is a little difficult and may require some filler (just dry fitted at present):



The integrated K-V armour glacis plate is seperate:



Fitted in place along with the drivers roof armour:







One slight error that has been highlighted from a build Alex Clark is working on, is the shape of the anti-radiation cladding around the lower hatch is of a slightly incorrect shape, its nothing too major tbh.

Heres the fuel cells and ZIP boxes fitted:



Engine hatch dry fitted in place:



Two options are provided, one which has no mould marks on the inside face if one wishes to have this open with the engine on view:



Exhaust:



Be careful when adding the fittings around the turret base of the hull, I placed the parts on their wrong sides:





I had to snip off the end of one to extend the other part.

In my haste to do the upper hull I realised i'd skipped the rear hull plate:




Another update to follow shortly with the rest of the hull detailing....

Time to update this blog!

My apologies to everyone who was following this for the very slow update. As things wrapped up at the end of the year my non-modelling commitments got in the way and then after xmas work seriously hampered my bench time. Anyway, things have calmed down now so i'm looking to update all my blog and get these 'shelf queens' finished.

At present this is in a state of having the hull more or less complete, sans photo-etch which will be fitted by my next update.

Heres the hull with detailing added:



Fender hinges, very fine!:





The headlights are quite a complicated affair, with the frame a two part piece and the lamp fitted between. This is however the most accurate approach as the lamps are suspended from the frame rather than being attached to the hull themselves:



Heres the right side with the front frame added, these do require some careful clean up and are quite delicate. The finished result is worth the effort though:



Front hull more or less complete:



Heres the rear hull with fittings added, in particular the engine access hatch:



Plenty more fine detail, the most complete T-72/90 engine deck to date (although the Trumpeter kit does appear to be equally as complete):



The access hatch has two click hinges, these should be left unglued to enable to the hatch to be opened and display the engine:







One does need to fit the shorter rod, which is part of the mechanical system for closing the intake covers when fording:



Exhaust:



Plumbing for the front fuel cells, sadly none is provided for the rear cells:



The complete rear deck with the large cover in place over the engine access hatch for the small fording hatches:



more to follow soon………..

Right, lets get this moving along….

I've completed the upper hull by adding the photo-etch intake and radiator screens.



Next up the exhaust outlet.





I now could tackle the side skirts. These are constructed of the pressed aluminium mounting brackets and separate rubber skirts.



Unfortunately there is a rather prominent mould seam on the mounting strip which runs between the rivets. This is very obvious and needs to be carefully removed with a blade, tackling the seam between each rivet; quite time consuming work!



Then we add the mounting hardware for the reactive armour panels.



Onto which the panels mount very simply.



Helpfully each panel has its part number moulded on the reverse so don't worry about muddling these up once removed from the sprue.



One may wish to leave the panels off until the painting stage to allow painting the side skirts, I however decided to fix them in place now.



The final hull piece to add are the radiator flaps.



In place on the completed hull.



The side skirts just slide onto strips on the main hull casting, with an application of glue. Heres the 'ugly' view.



In place.




Thats the hull done, next up the turret. The first step with the turret is actually the barrel, however I decided to leave this for the moment as I ponder replacements.

The turret is broken down into an extensive number of steps, with various parts added and sub-assemblies to be constructed. First up..





And the interior parts to add.





Heres the first parts in place.

Right, lets get detailing that turret!

So, next up we fix some of the additional K-I ERA blocks as well as the loaders hatch hinge.





Then, placing the turret to one side for a moment, attention shifts to some of the turret sub-assemblies such as the laser probes and sights.



I opted to model mine with the laser probes open and in use.





The front set are then fixed in place on the turret, along with some additional detail parts.



Note that part K3 is the clear lens for the rangefinder.



This can be improved with the help of SKP's recently released coloured lens set which I reviewed here . We can apply the small rectangular blue lens thus.







(Probably best fitted once the kit has been painted, i've just dry fitted here.)

Next the loaders hatch can be clicked into place on the hinge (this is movable and allows one to position the hatch either open or closed). Also fixed in place is the night sight.




(Mantlet just dry fitted at this stage)



(Note above that I have prematurely fitted the Tucha mount)

I opted to fit the sight sans cover, so once again SKP come to the rescue with a lens, this time with a green tint.





Unfortunately the lens is a little undersized when fitted in place, however as long as its centrally aligned on the finished kit this should be too obvious.



Now theres a stowage bin to add, which is a multipart assembly and a little fiddly to construct. Unfortunately one problem as well was some of the mounting bars being broken, this was down to the sprue packaging being too tight.



Thankfully it was only the bottom bar that was broken in this case so I opted to leave it as its barely visible.







The multipart construction of these will leave a few gaps to fill if one isn't careful to properly align each panel.

The final part of step 31 is to permanently fix the gun mantlet in place. This is a plastic part with rubber mantlet cover. If one wishes to use an aftermarket barrel, such as that offered by Tetra reviewed here, then some modification is required. The attachment points need to be cut off to allow the insertion of the AM barrel.



Whether its the case with all AM barrels I can't say, but these certainly obstruct the end of the Tetra one.



Anyway, its a simple enough fix and doesn't really compromise gluing the two halves together.





Next up, the Tucha mounts.





I opted to fit the mounts to the turret and then add the Tuchas.





I imagine some modellers may choose to replace these with turned metal items, however the kit parts are actually free of any mould seams and are probably the best plastic rendition I have seen.

There's a replacement lens for the spotlight in the SKP set.






Next up we'll focus on the Shtora emitters and their mounts….

Great built so far, bud, thanks

Thanks!

Between this and the Char 2C i'm totally sold on Meng kits, utterly superb!

Step 33 now tackles the Shtora mounting hardware, which is were things get a little fiddly.



These parts have a bit of fine mould flash which needs to be carefully removed, the construction is quite delicate.





Theres a single small ERA block to fit here as well.



Note that the articulating arm needs to be inserted into the mantlet cover; a small hole must to be drilled into the rubber part.

On the left side is a complete V shaped ERA segment. Moulded onto part A44 is a GPS tracker which is observed on parade vehicles only (I believe for maintaining formation), this needs to be removed for every marking option other than scheme A & B (Moscow military parade).







The complete arrangement.



Now to assemble and install the emitters.



I chose to use SKP's very nice lenses for the distinctive emitter lights, so some modification of the clear plastic parts was required. These have a grid pattern moulded onto them which needs to be removed so that the lens fits neatly in place.



The raised disc is sanded off entirely.



The finished emitter is beautiful and easily the best such rendition from any kit.





The lenses look perfect.



Naturally i'l fit those once painted.




Now its starting to look the business…..

rob nice work glad to see you bake at this one I post some update on mine almost done with the weathering and I'm making good progress on my T62bdd can't wait to see more. man I should have gotten the skp lenses
dave

Thanks Dave! You T-62 looks real nice by the way, great work on the slat armour.

The SKP lenses are well worth getting, they can actually be fitted onto a completed model if you feel like adding them.


With the Shtora emitters in place I could add the K-V ERA segments next. These are moulded as a single run with upper and lower parts, which once may wish to divide up for a more correct appearance, however I'm happy with them as they are.









The Shtora modulator boxes are also fitted in place.

Further updates on the turret….

Up next is the rear stowage bin with snorkel tube. This is another multi-part construction, although the fit of parts was fairly good. The completed part looks very good and is easily the best plastic representation (it makes the Tamiya items looks positively ancient).



There is a bit of a gap between the upper part which shouldn't really be there.



The rear is nicely detailed with the press aluminium reinforcing cross.



Heres the snorkel fitted.





There is one final bin for the left side.



Both bins are then installed.









One should be aware that with the rear bin fitted in place, this will now obstruct the opening of the engine hatch. The turret will need to be removed to open the hatch and then placed back on.

Rob... the photos didn't show. Photobucket says your over your bandwidth. They want $$$$

Ahh, thats very irritating. Looks like I'll have to find another hosting site.

Anyone know if its a simple case of deleting some photos from my bucket, or actually remove posted content?

Your images are still on photobucket....

I "Right Click" On the Irritating replaced image....
and look at "Properties"...a small window will pop up and show the originating url......

I coppy that and paste it in a new tab.....and A-ha!
I get to your photobucket....

blucop is right....""They want $$$$""

Yer sorry guys, looks like i've killed my photobucket bandwidth for the month.

I'll have to let this re-set in April before anything previously posted appears and in the mean time seek out a new hosting site!

Update time again guys, hopefully the old pictures should appear now as my photo bucket bandwidth has reset.

The smoke dischargers have been installed now on the right side:



Notice as well the wiring for the Shtora emitters, the limitations of moulding mean that this is best replaced with wire, especially as it should run behind the triangular fillet to link up with the emitters.



I shall return to that later.

The next steps tackle the commanders cupola, which is a whole model in itself and incredibly well detailed.







The hatch:





One needs to be careful with construction here as its rather delicate and fiddly, the hatch can be moved open or closed on the finished piece.



Heres the TKN-4S commanders sight:



SKP provides a coloured lens for the sight:



Surface detail on the clear plastic part in the Meng kit needs to be carved away.





Heres the interior components installed:



Notice the tabs enabling one to click the cupola in place and rotate when installed:



The interior view:



The main cupola completed:



I've jumped a few steps here in the instructions by installing the cupola at this stage, but I couldn't resist test fitting it. There is a bolted ring which needs to be installed first and unfortunately this part has quite a prominent mould seem around the diameter, between the bolts, which needs to be carefully removed.



Up next will be the NSVT…….

Turret is nearing the end of completion now, just a few more fiddly bits to add to the commanders cupola.

Here we have the NSVT anti-aircraft gun, which is a stunning piece of moulding but does suffer from some awkward mould lines and sprue attachments to remove.

The instructions:









And the sub-assemblies to fit onto the gun mounting:



I'm not sure i'm especially keen on the ammo boxes as the join line is quite visible and rather difficult to fill, but I choose to just go with them on this build as they'll paint up nice enough. The little spent cartridge bad is very nice!

Theres also a spare ammo box for mounting on the turret side, which I hadn't previously fitted:





And the completed commanders cupola; stunning work Meng!





Final turret parts to add:



I'm not sure if the gunners hatch additional armour is applicable to all versions, but I added it nonetheless.



And the cross-wind sensor mast with SKP marker light added:



SKP provides an etch cover for the light as well, which I chose to fit. Make sure the lens is sufficiently countersunk to avoid interference with the cover, and a small dap of glue sets it nicely in place. I will cover this over with putty when I paint to avoid spraying over the painted lens.



The effect is superb and looks just like the real thing. These SKP lenses are a dream.

The completed turret sans barrel:











Not far to go now……...

Hi;

SUPER FINE JOB !!!---EXCELLENT

CHEERS; MIKE.

Thanks Mike, she's getting there...

Rob I have noticed you are continually exceeding the bandwidth of your picture hosting provider resulting in your Blogs being impossible to follow. As the Blogs you are currently doing are for items supplied by the KitMaker Network I have spoken to Jim Starkweather about this issue. In order to resolve the issue Jim S has increased the storage space in your gallery on the KitMaker Network and requested that you contact him via E-mail.

Right guys, it's time to wrap up this build and get it ready for the paint shop. I just had a few more steps to complete to finish off before calling the build finished, really its just a case of wrapping up some outstanding steps.

The first thing I turned my attention to was adding the electrical wiring for the Shtora dazzlers:









I think you'll agree that this a simple but necessary improvement over the moulded on parts.

The next major area to focus on, which I had side-stepped previously, are the tracks. These are quite a tedious task hence my putting them off until now.



Unfortunately you've got a heap of sprues with the individual tracks moulded all, all of which need to be cut off and cleaned up:



The end connectors are rubber:



The easiest thing to do is just get stuck in, I spent an evening in front of the TV cutting and cleaning, separating the individual tracks, guide horns and end connectors into separate bowls:



The tracks and guide horns should be clicked together first (not that I haven't bothered cleaning up the tops of the guide horns-i'll deal with this later):





Using the neat track assembly jig certainly makes life easier:





Just pop on the end connectors:



And make multiple sets of eight runs:



I then gradually assembled these into two main runs:



And then joined them into a single piece:





The detail, especially the rubber end connectors, is very good:



Heres the complete track:



Meng suggest leaving the tracks disconnected and fitting around the sprocket, but I choose to assemble the whole thing and just fit around the idlers. This is possible by removing the front idler and slipping the track in:





Tracks in place:







I really must commend Meng on ultimately producing a set of tracks that, whilst on the face of it are quite tedious to assemble, are better than most alternatives and are incredibly well detailed. The rubber end connectors allowing a degree of flexibility really is the best of both worlds between rubber-band single and individual link tracks.

I now dry fitted the hull and pretty much called in finished until the paint stage:















Here you can see how the suspension can be pressed downwards, perhaps too much:



Not bad for one of those training ground diorama's though!

Woop's i've almost forgotten to mention the barrel as well. As you can see above i've opted to use turned aluminium item from Tetra model reviewed here. The kit item is ok and certainly usable, but as I head the metal one its a no brainer. For those wishing to see the Meng barrel here it is:








So thats that folks. Apologies it's taken quite a while to get here, everything just seems to get in the way of modelling. There are a couple of small bits still outstanding such as the tow cable as well as the retaining clasps on the barrel thermal shroud, those will be finalised prior to painting. I've recently acquired the MIG AMMO modern Russian paint set so hopefully very soon I can get a coat down....

Great work !
I used this thread very often while building mine ... very very helpful thankx Rob !

Almost done with mine, needed a spare part and got great assistance and help from MENG ... thankx again Annie Yu from Meng costumer service !
Here's how far I got till now, great kit to build !


Cheers
Christopher