The T-64 is a Soviet-era main battle tank developed during the 1960s.
It is a great leap forward from the soviet tank designs during that time as it incorporated many features that were way ahead of its time such as an autoloader and a 125mm gun/missile launcher, an advanced tractor system, and an upgraded diesel engine.
This is the brainchild of the T-34 designer Alexander Morozov.
However, during the T-64 deployment, it was found out that it had many teething problems and due to this, huge number of civilian mechanics were 'semi-permanently' deployed in Soviet Army bases to address this problem.
The T-64 was further developed to become the T-80 series.
No T-64s were exported to other satellite countries, not even to the most faithful Warsaw Pact states. It is a testament on how the Soviet Army kept it hidden inside the borders of the former USSR as they considered it as their 'super tank' during those times.
The Kit.
The kit is moulded in light grey styrene.
It also contained a set of PE parts and styrene/vinyl sprues for the mantlet cover, rear fenders and unditching beam.
Details are great and well-defined.
Parts breakdown are fine and just right, the only problem is with the link and length tracks.
It would have been better if it is an indy-link system.
Overall, the build of the kit is fun and this kit is well recommended.
The Build and Finish
The tank was built with minor modifications primarily on the snorkel and fording tools.
I modified and deployed the snorkels as I want to see something different.
The snorkel braces on the turret bins were scratchbuilt from spare PE sheet.
A lot of research was done on how the snorkels were deployed as Cold War-
era photos of this tank is very elusive.
The T-64 was then primed with grey lacquer primer for better paint adhesion.
It was then given a base coat of tamiya acrylic flat green, flat yellow and flat white mix.
The sand colored camouflage were also applied using tamiya acrylics as well. The sand colors consisted of dark yellow and flat white mix.
The black camouflage were handbrushed using Vallejo Flat Black acrylics.
You might notice that this scheme is similar with the US Army MERDC scheme of the 1980s.
Next is the weathering. The weathering mediums used are AK Interactive washes and their streaking solutions.
Oil dot filters were used here using Winsor Newton oils.
Mud splatters were done from the splatter method using AK enamel effects (Fresh, Dry and Wet Mud) and plaster of paris.
AK Fuel stains and engine oil effects were also used on the engine deck and fuel ports to simulate spilled fuel andengine oil.
reference photos:
Enjoy comrades!
