A superb model and great build! Thanks for sharing!

Can we hope for a second seasson featuring the paint job?Pretty please!

Thanks for the kind words Christopher. You've made some very nice progress with yours and I'm pleased you found the blog useful. I'm hoping to make a start on painting soon, probably go for a similar paint scheme to yours.

Thanks for stopping by Cristian, i'm pleased you found the blog useful. I shall certainly commence the painting very soon and will update this blog accordingly in the coming days. I'm going to be trying out the MIG Ammo acrylic paint set:

Time to get some paint on this beauty! As I mentioned previously i'm going to be trying out the MIG Ammo modern Russian acrylic paint set for this, which is my first foray with their brand of paints.

The set includes six different colorers for a variety of modern Russian schemes, the three relevant here are Green Khaki, Yellow Grey and Black. There is some variation in the tones of Russian 3-tone camp, particularly the shade of green and yellow, compare:





The Ammo green doesn't quite have the richness of the green seen on the lower of the two photos, so is perhaps a closer match to the top picture, although perhaps a little more olive drab in tone. To be honest i'm not 100% happy with the colours at this stage, but I suspect its more down to the harsh appearance prior to any weathering and tonal variation with filter applications.

In lieu of a proper hand vice I glued the upper hull piece to the top of an empty primer can and applied the green first:





By mounting the model onto a handhold ensures that I can avoid touching the surface and enable a far easier paint application. I should state that in the photos above I have also applied several coats of Klear, hence the gloss appearance.

To apply the yellow pattern I used Silly Putty to mask out the pattern:



And accordingly did the same for the black, here's how it looked:



And after the whole pattern had been painted (the obligatory 'product placement shot'):





As you can see, at this point the appearance is very harsh and the pattern will need to be tidied up quite a lot with a paint brush application. The match to the painting guide is fairly good though:



I also used Pere Pla's stunning build in issue 3 of Abrams Squad magazine to assist with the painting:



I've made a start on the lower hull tub as well and focused on painting up the engine compartment:







Again you're only looking at initial weathering here, that red air filter? box will be heavily weathered. Work also commences on the turret and i've gone about the painting in a slightly different way. Its far easier to paint the yellow first, then mask it off with the silly putty, applying the green colour afterwards, so at this stage we have the yellow laid down:



So that's were she is at the moment, hopefully more progress in the coming days!

Got the turret camo finished and laid down the decals. The decals are very good, but its essential to use a setting solution so that they settle into and around the various recesses and raised ribs on the stowage bins.


















It was with some difficulty that I managed to place the decals onto the rear stowage bin behind the snorkel tube, for anyone else building the kit its probably best not to glue this part until after painting and markings are applied:

Was applied and now the details start to really 'pop' out, whilst at the same time the stark paint finished is somewhat toned down:







For the wash I used AK OIF US vehicle was, finding the dark brown to be a a great way of depicting dirt and grime built up around the raised details. I didn't want something too dark either as I didn't want the tan colour to be too stained and darkened.

Looks good, Rob. How did the Ammo paints spray?

Thanks Jon. Had some difficulty with the Ammo paints: wouldn't really lay down very well on the surface, so i've had to apply more coats than i'd normally like, but got there in the end. I couldn't get them to spray fine either, there was too much splatter and misting, as opposed to the tight edging I get when spaying Tamiya very fine (thats the reason I went with the silly putty rather than free hand spraying).

Slowly working away on the initial weathering steps and got the 'streaking' completed this evening. This has been applied to impart the effects of dirt and filth being washed down the vertical surfaces, and once again assists in breaking up the overall stark appearance of the camouflage. I have also begun the 'chipping' process, adding very fine green chips onto the tan camo:

Magnificent work, I look forward to seeing him(it) finished and thank you for this tutorial, he(it) helped a lot me in the assembly of mine

Thanks marc13fr!

I made some more progress this evening and started adding the bare aluminium colour to the deeper scratches, as well as some of the paint ware on the rubber side skirts:







I've also started filthying up the lower hull, most of which will be hidden but should be added none the less. I'm going for a dusty dirty appearance with very little mud, using dusty pigments and washes:

Everything made all right with you as for the dirty aspect, the mud hides far too much details

Getting better at it every day ... nice !
I also bought the Ammo color set ... more out of curiosity and tried them using my H&S Infinity ... even thinning them down didn't help much from clogging up ever 15 seconds.
Then I got the same results using my trusted Badger 200G ... mixed what I needed with Tamiya paints using some of the Ammo tones as reference.
These paints seem to dry to fast ... and one needs more coats of paint and time ... I'll just use them on smaller stuff and not go through the hardship again.

Cheers
Christopher

Thanks for the comments guys. More progress and i've pretty much finished the upper hull painting minus the dusting.

I've perhaps gone a little overboard on the paint chipping for a modern tank, but I find it adds a little more interest to the appearance and I'm a sucker for a well worn finish. One important consideration when 'chipping' the T-90 is that the side ZIP boxes and fuel cells, as well as other fittings, are made of pressed aluminium so will chip but won't rust. On these i've just added metallic scratches and flaked off paint, whilst used darker colours for the main hull parts. The side skirts are also worn revealing the black rubber under the paint.

First up here's some photos I took with the flash off:







With flash:













I've also added some of the SKP lenses to the headlights and convoy blackout spot lights:










I'll start work on the turret next....

Lovely done, Rob. Can't wait to see the turret

Just a brief update on this, with some work done of the turret. As with the hull i've started the weathering with a pin wish to help 'pop' out that lovely Meng detailing:












Getting there....

bravo pour ce très bon montage. cela donne envie d'acheter du Meng...
la peinture et le vieillissement sont bien réussi.

congratulations for this great assembly. it makes you want to buy Meng ...
painting and aging well.
jo

looks fantastic, looking forward to your final result!

Hey guys, apologies for the lack of updates recently, I struggle to find any time to get to the bench having been doing long work hours recently and getting home very late! Anyway, i'm trying to get this wrapped up and finished and am pleased to say it's nearly there....

First up the tracks. These have been given a coat of metallic grey from Citadel and then washed with Vallejo dark brown wash. I went for the Vallejo wash as its water based acrylic and was fearful that an enamel wash would cause the tracks to disintegrate (this has happened in the past due to the fragile parts).







This creates a nicely dirty look on to which a dust and dirt can be applied. The main thing I wanted to avoid here was any rust or real heavy wear to the tracks themselves, most photos show them dirty but otherwise in good condition.

I also have the engine block painted and fitted in place:







The weathering here has been achieved with AK enamel weathering products, the aim being to show the engine block oily and greasy, as well as a general build up of dirt and filth on everything.

The lower hull received some weathering next. I'm not going to depict a totally muddy vehicle, and instead just want to go for a dusty dirty vehicle on a training range.





Here's the wheels:





And some overall shots of everything at this stage:







Some chipping on the turret stowage boxes:



The hull in close-up:
















Nearly there now, just need to add a matt coat to the hull and turret, add some dust and weathering and just tie everything together.....

That finish is looking incredibly realistic Rob. I particularly like the wear and tear on the aluminium parts and the scrapes on the side skirts. The engine is looking damn cool aswell- suitable grimy and used. The tracks too are coming along nicely. I too had plastic tracks fall apart when I was washing them with enamel products and thinner so last time I did plastic tracks I used Vallejo Glaze medium and one of their colors for a water based wash. I have to get my hands on some Citadel metallics- they look excellent on the tracks.

Rob,
perhaps I missed it in your previous posts but did you use just a fine brush for applying your chips and scrapes ?
They look great !

Sean

Rob,

Fantastic so far! I LOVE the tracks! The chipping, especially the Aluminium ones and on the side skirts are awsome!
Have to get Citadel colors myself.

Best regards,
Andreas

Great work,

Thanks for the comments guys, I've finally managed to get this finished. I must apologise to the staff and everyone who has been following this that its taken so long to complete, unfortunately I'm generally not a quick painter and trying to fit this in around very long work hours and family commitments is sometimes a real struggle! Anyway, we got there in the end and I'm very happy with the results.

My camera set-up at the moment is a little substandard. I purchased a complete photo booth and lighting set-up last year, unfortunately its all too big for my small flat so at present I'm just relying on my iPhone, so please bare with me on the photos-I will be getting some decent ones sorted for a full feature.

































Hull weathering:







The tracks are slack because the wheels and torsion bars and still movable and will eventually be placed over some uneven terrain.





Some turret close ups; the SKP lenses add a splash of colour and do look very nice, unfortunately the coloured tinting on some of the scope lenses is lost on my photos:










Thats a wrap folks!..

A superb T-90 Rob with a masterful build and accompanying written article mate.

Will it be "onwards and upwards" anytime soon with the T-72B build you had running back in the summer?

Gary