Greetings all,

I've been a long time lurker, and have learned so much from this forum and site that I felt I should contribute!

I'm currently in the middle of a build, which is not really the ideal time to make a thread, but hopefully it’s all good haha.

I'm doing an Iraqi T-72M1 (Lion of Babylon). When I was starting the build I was looking at some of the newer T-72 kits on the market from Meng, but in the end I settled on the Tamiya M1. It was designed to be the correct model, and it was cheaper. I also intended to add a huge amount of PE and upgrades so I wasn't too worried about lack of detail on some parts.

By far the biggest complaint is the turret shape, which is way off, but I found there was a resin upgrade kit by S.B.S. models. It wasn't cheap, but necessary for this particular version of the T-72.

Here's the kit, and the upgrade stash:





This is the start of construction. I have removed all of the moulded on clasps, and rescribed the lost detail. I've also started on the PE, adding the PE clasps and some grills and other bits and pieces.





Here is where I started on the turret. The main hull and wheels aren’t finished, but I wanted to get all of the major sub-assemblies started.





PE is not my strongest skill, but I am enjoying it, and learning heaps! Here's some close ups. The bent and twisted clasps were not intentional, but do work for a subject like this (the bent fender, and missing dust-guard are intentional )





















Heres some pics of the completed hull and turret. It has all of the PE installed and some VERY minor scratch building on the power conduits.







Started on the paint! I knocked one of the PE parts off the barrel, and just before I went to glue it back on, I found a great pic of a Lion with that exact part missing, and the two locator holes look to be present on the real barrel!
I'd like to point out that in this pic, I had done the basecoat, and then started on the filters in mostly warm tones like red, pink and yellow.





I had done a little pre-shading, but most of it got lost with the basecoat, so I decided to use oils to get a little modulation and hopefully mimic shading as well as built up sand and dirt.













Chipping was also done at this stage. I went for a light blue/gray as I wanted to use graphite power on the larger chips, so was intending for a small gradient from the dark metal of the graphite, to the lighter gray.









The sideskitrs or dust flaps are made from heavy rubber, and are either kept black or painted the same colour as the tank. In the reference pics I'd seen, any time these are painted the flexible rubber and dry conditions cause the paint to crack and peel. It was an interesting effect that I attempted to replicate.



Thanks for sticking with me this far, it’s much appreciated!

This is where I am at now (well, I’ve progressed a little more, but not got pics yet). I've added some dry pigments, streaking effects and dust effects.






Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my work, any comments or criticism will be greatly appreciated!

~ DrChopp

I'm impressed. Something about four sets of etch would put me in a coma.

I love it.Your heavy weathering and chipping on the side skirts are very impressive along with the rest of the tank.Also did you hand paint the flag on the side or is it a decal?

The cracked paint on the skirts is EXTREMELY effective. How did you do it?

Cheers! Yes, this is definitely my most ambitions project so far! Definitely thought I'd bitten off more than i could chew a few times!




Thanks, I'm happy with it so far! - The flag is a decal that came with the turret upgrade. I wanted it to conform with the rough cast texture so I kept adding Microsol until it was soft enough to sit properly. I also got a toothpick to add a little chipping to it to really sell the effect - glad it worked!




Thank you! I am pleased with it also, its just Vallejo crackle medium, but the trick is to add it over the two coats of paint. I found lots of people (including me) thought you are supposed to paint the first layer, then the crackle, then the second - But turns out you do the first and let it dry, then the second and let it only juuuust dry, then add the crackle.

Time for a bit of an update, thank you to all who took the time to have a look at the monster first post!

I wanted to mute some of the crazier blue and purple hues back down to create a little more uniformity. Using the turret as a test bed, I used pigments that best matched either the dark sand for the shadows, or a pale sand for the horizontal surfaces.
I also stumbled upon a picture of a Lion that the crew had supplemented its terrible, terrible armour with sandbags. It was an interesting effect, and one I replicated using flexible sandbags by GreenStuffWorld.









Thanks for looking!

Hi Steven,

Very impressive - your PE work and the way you‘ve used oils, pigments and the crackling medium are really effective. Can‘t wait to see it finished.

And before I forget, welcome to the site!

Jerry

At the point where my brain forgets it's looking at something made of plastic and thinks it's looking at something made of steel, I know it's a terrific build. Nice work.

Thanks very much Jerry! I'm looking forward to getting it done too, but still having fun with it




Thanks Doug, really appreciate your kind words! Should have another update in the next few days.

~ Steve

Holy [auto-censored]! That looks good!

Gaz

You're a Legend mate! That's so realistic mate, well done! Damn!

Cheers Gazza!




Thanks mate, really do appreciate it

I've got another update, I've now finished work on the main hull.





I've added the sandbags to the hull also, really enjoyed working with the flexible sandbags.







I felt I overdid the soot on the exhaust, so I toned it down to just look like build up - I'ts still overdone, but I like the effect



The fuel system was another fun part. I applied a very light blue filter to make the barrels look like they were painted separately to the tank.









I added some enamel fuel stain effects to the fittings and some enamel dust to the hoses. They aren't as dusty as I was picturing, so I may hit them again, we'll see!

Thanks for looking!

Sorry for the double post! - I wasnt sure if this was the place for progress shots of the diorama for the Lion, if this is the wrong spot let me know and I'll remove them.

I wanted this one one a diorama base that was of a "peacetime" Iraq, or at least a pre-1991 Iraq. The appeal of the Lion for me is the propaganda and internal deception that allowed it to exist in the first place, let alone garner an undeserved, but fearsome reputation.

I wanted some vertical elements in the dio, so I thought of a street light or power pole or something like that, which turned into the need to have a structure in there. The wall-murals of Saddam was always something that stuck in my mind, so I thought it would make a good focal point and add some interest.

TL;DR - Here's the current state of the Diorama base for the Lion of Babylon:



The mural isnt finished yet, so its a good time to point out what I did as it can still be seen. - All I did was print out a black and white photo of a painting of (young) Saddam, then glued it to the wall. I then just painted over it with the colours. I still have a bit more to go, and you can see the dots from the ink jet printer in this pic (mainly around the glasses frame). All and all this was about 2 hours work not including dry time, and I reckon its coming along nicely.



Thanks for looking!

~ Steve

Hello All,

Sorry for the triple post - am I not supposed to be posting WIP pics of the diorama here? Is it intended for the tank primarily?

Well, I have been making progress on the dio -



I wil be adding a bunch of sand and filters, washes, streaks etc, but wanted to get the details in there before that.

I decided a chair, table, sandals and a boombox would work to quickly tell a fairly generic 'civilian' story.

Something I noticed from the reference pics was just how much water was in the streets. It seems the further into the urban sprawl, the more moisture is found in gutters and in puddles.

I wanted to have a tap in there, to give me a way to have some water in the diorama, and with some reason to have it too. I was in the process of building the tap from wire when i had the idea of having a wrench rusted to the tap. I've seen wrenches used to control taps where the actual tap has been lost, so thought it would look interesting here.





Thanks for looking!

Steven,
Love what you've done! The dio is great, and I never would have imagined using blue or purple filters. The miural is icing on the cake.

Keep it up!

Gaz

Hi Steven - nice work all around - thanks for posting!

Cheers Gaz! Glad you like it so far!




My pleasure mate!

Very small update, I was taking the dio outside to use some two part epoxy to attach the dio to its base. It was a fairly overcast day but when the sun did come out a little, I thought I might snap a couple of pics:





Very close to the end of this one, so I have to be very careful not to rush it now that its almost complete.

Cheers!

Sorry for the double post - I'm about 99% done, just a couple of very minor things to do, but if they never happen then im comfortable calling it done as is.

Sorry for the poor quality pics, phone camera, through glass with ambient lighting. I'll take it out of the case and get some decent pics to put in the diorama section here, but until then, here's some pics:











Thanks to everyone who took the time to have a look at the build, and thanks to those who commented on my post, its very much appreciated!

~ Steve

Hello all, sorry for the triple post!

The Lion is complete! I've made a post in the 'Diorama' section for the galley ( HERE ) but here is a pic for here to close out the thread.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to look, and to those who commented, it is all very much appreciated!

she's a beaut! what tool(s) did you use for all that PE?

Cheers! I have some flat pliers without the serrations, and I find this tool invaluable for PE applications. I also use a roller set from "RP Toolz" that's very useful.

Thanks! I appreciate it