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Binge Build: Takom T-55s
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Friday, October 05, 2018 - 06:23 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joseph,

Those are all superb builds - looking forward to seeing paint and weathering on the 54B and 55AM.

Cool little portable setup for modelling on the road, too.

Jerry



Thanks very much, Jerry. I am looking forward to painting these up as well. The portable setup really worked. It allowed me to be quite prolific. I have multiple builds taking place right now.

Here are the pictures of the primed T-54B.













Thanks!

-Joseph
panamadan
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Posted: Friday, October 05, 2018 - 06:43 AM UTC
Joseph,
I’m not sure if you covered it before, but how did you find the roadwheels and their separate tires?
Dan
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Friday, October 05, 2018 - 07:32 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Joseph,
I’m not sure if you covered it before, but how did you find the roadwheels and their separate tires?
Dan



Hey there Dan,

Nope, nobody has asked that yet. I can only comment on the build side and not the accuracy. The road wheels look fine to me. I don't have to go for aftermarket replacements. The separate tires are hard to clean. They have ribbing details on them and the sprue attachment points are located in between these details. Because of this, it is a pain to clean up the remainder of the sprue attachments. On the plus side, the separate road tires are easy to paint though.

-Joseph
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Monday, October 22, 2018 - 06:13 AM UTC
Had some time to work on the T-55 AM. I used the Light Green paint from Ammo of Mig Modern Russian Camouflage colors Vol. 2 set. Here's how it looks.



Then, I'll use the Mig Masking Putty for the camouflage patterns. I'll post pictures of the process.

Thanks,

Joseph
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - 04:54 AM UTC
Camouflage painting has begun. After applying the A.MIG-051 Light Green as base, I then used the Mig Masking Putty.


Then, I applied A.MIG-083 Zashchitnly Zeleno as the first camo pattern.


Finally, I used the masking putty again in preparation for the darkest pattern.



According to the paint reference, I should use the A.MIG-033 Rubber & Tires for this.



It was late and I didn't get to take pictures after the masking was removed. I'll try to post the resulting pictures soon.
ivanhoe6
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Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - 07:53 AM UTC
Gosh Joseph, nice work but a labor of love isn't work is it.
Looking at your African T55 some of those detail pictures look like they could of been taken in a "walk around" of the real thing !
Thanks for sharing !
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Thursday, November 01, 2018 - 04:39 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Gosh Joseph, nice work but a labor of love isn't work is it.
Looking at your African T55 some of those detail pictures look like they could of been taken in a "walk around" of the real thing !
Thanks for sharing !



Thanks for chiming, ivanhoe6. The African T-55 is my favorite so far. You're right, this isn't work because I am having fun at all these builds.
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2018 - 12:15 PM UTC
Here are the results of the camo on the chassis (the turret still needs to be painted with the darkest pattern). The masking putty worked well, showing the hard edge camo on all three colors. I like the result on the engine deck screen. Have a look.



And some detail shots.











-Joseph
panamadan
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Posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2018 - 04:10 PM UTC
looks good Joseph
Dan
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Posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2018 - 11:34 PM UTC
Joseph, your hard-earned camo turned out fantastic. Using the putty works wonders for when you're doing this over such a complicated surface. If you ever need to replace your putty, there is a much more reasonable alternative. It is called Theraputty and is available from Amazon.

Regards,

Eric
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Thursday, November 08, 2018 - 10:23 AM UTC

Quoted Text

looks good Joseph
Dan



Thanks Dan!


Quoted Text

Joseph, your hard-edged camo turned out fantastic. Using the putty works wonders for when you're doing this over such a complicated surface. If you ever need to replace your putty, there is a much more reasonable alternative. It is called Theraputty and is available from Amazon.

Regards,

Eric



Thanks Eric. Yes, I am really sold on the Masking Putty. Especially for use with the hard edge camo. I don't know if this will be effective for the soft edge patterns though. It'll probably be done free hand. Thanks for the heads up on that product. I'll keep it in mind.

Update on the turret. I went ahead and applied the putty again and sprayed the darkest pattern.





Here's how it looks after being unmasked.




Plus some detail shots on the turret.







-Joseph
Removed by original poster on 05/13/19 - 19:57:22 (GMT).
canismalus
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Posted: Friday, November 09, 2018 - 09:56 PM UTC
Wow, Joseph, that‘s very impressive paint work - excellent!

Jerry
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Friday, November 16, 2018 - 07:36 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Well that's a very nice camo job indeed




Quoted Text

Wow, Joseph, that‘s very impressive paint work - excellent!

Jerry



Kharkov and Jerry, thank you very much for your comments. I really appreciate it.

-Joseph
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Monday, December 10, 2018 - 05:21 AM UTC
Hello everyone,

I was not able to take pictures but I have made some progress on my T-55 AM. All the other details such as tow cables, un-ditching log, spare tracks have been painted. Only thing left to paint are the tracks. Hopefully, sometime this week.

Brace yourselves, T-55 Winter is coming! I do have additional projects that will be included in this Binge Build. These thread will no longer be exclusively Takom since I now have Miniart kits (can an Admin help change my thread title to just Binge Build T-55 Family?). Anyway, here are my future projects:
1) Takom kit 2051 Tiran 4

2) Miniart kit 37020 T-55A Mod 1981

3) Miniart kit 37019 T-54B Early

4) Miniart kit 37007 T-54-3 Mon 1951

5) Miniart kit 37021 Tiran 4Sh Early Type


-Joseph
panamadan
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Posted: Monday, December 10, 2018 - 05:44 AM UTC
Miniart Madness!
Dan
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 12:28 PM UTC
Hello everyone,

Not much progress on my other T-55s because I've been busy with another Binge Build (I'll probably create a thread for it), this time, I'm currently working on Patton tanks!

The only update that I have for this thread is that last January, I entered my three completed T-55s at Spruefest. Check out the entries here at https://www.spruefest.com/ . There was a category, "1/35 Post WWII T55 Series" and I took third place! I'm so humbled because there were more than 500 high quality entries (different categories) in this competition and somehow, I still managed to take home a trophy!

Very encouraging. I'll try to continue with this Binge Build thread when I get a chance. In the mean time, here's a picture of the winning T-55 and the trophy.


Thanks,

Joseph
Armorsmith
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Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 01:22 PM UTC
Well deserved congratulations. I too am a big fan of the T55 family.
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 07:34 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Well deserved congratulations. I too am a big fan of the T55 family.



Thanks very much, Armorsmith. Yup, I am a fan of T-55s too. One family of armor that have seen a lot of action and consequently, a lot of scale modelling potential. I have added Israeli Tirans as well as a couple of SU-122-54s in my stash now. So, more to come!

Here's the latest on the T-55AM. Barely visible, but on the lightest camo color, I tried to experiment with a figure painting technique I saw from Calvin Tan's video. I have applied some highlights to provide some visual interest. A very subtle approach to modulation. These can be discerned on the smoke dischargers, bolts on the minesweeper connectors and bands on the barrel. But, like I said, it is barely visible. I will do the same for the other camouflage colors.
Armorsmith
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Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 09:02 AM UTC
Tirans too. I've done the Tamiya 5, Takom 4, Tamiya Enigma, and Trumpeter 6. Looking to get the Minicraft ones too.
Removed by original poster on 05/13/19 - 19:57:52 (GMT).
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2019 - 06:52 AM UTC

Quoted Text


That's a very well deserved trophy Joseph

I'm looking forward to seeing all those Miniart kits going together, that's a very nice stash of T-55 kits you have there, I bought the Miniart T-54b Early Prod (37019) late last year, I've got the lower tub/hull together and plan to use it for a conversion, on first look it seems to be a very nice kit.



Matt



Thanks very much, Matt! I hope you'll post your build log or pictures of your T-54B as I would like to see it.
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 09:39 AM UTC
Hello everyone,

After painting the details on the T-55 AM such as the two cables, spare tracks, unditching log, DsHk, etc. I dry fitted the parts and took pictures. Here is how it looks so far. It is now ready for decal application and weathering.












Thanks,

-Joseph
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Friday, March 15, 2019 - 06:50 AM UTC
I started working on my Tiran 4 from Takom as part of the MBT Campaign


One of the first things to do is to remove the bulge on the sides of the hull. I tested two approaches, first one is to saw it off.


The other is to clip it off using a side cutter.


Verdict, clipping it off is a better approach. I will be adding build progress to my ongoing thread about building T-55s.

Thanks,

Joseph
BravoTwoZero
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Posted: Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 09:49 AM UTC
Hello everyone,

Takom Tiran 4 is now ready for primer.








Thanks,
Joseph