Hello everyone,

I am planning to do is a diorama that is based on a picture from the Valley of Tears, during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. It shows a Syrian tank was left abandoned on one of the Israeli built antitank ditches. A major reference I will use is a 1/35th scale diorama built by Ed Okun. You can check out his work at http://edokunscalemodelingpage.blogspot.com/search?q=tears

For the T-62, I will be using the one supplied in Esci Kit 8615. I have worked on this model previously and it ended up being a shelf queen. The following photos show the work I have done with the T-62.

I've added some AB putty so that there is no overhang in front of the turret. I also added "wiring" for the search light and created MG port from scratch.


I did not like the barrel that came with the kit so I replaced it with brass tubes.


I roughed up the turret surface and added some more details.


I dry fitted a DsHK which was borrowed from Revell T-55.


Both the tracks and road wheels are from Modell Trans Modellbau.


There was not enough tracks to go around the left side so I used the kit supplied ones and added guide teeth.


The driver's hatch is an extra part from the Revell T-55 kit.


This is where I left off and is my starting point for the diorama.


-Joseph

Very cool build for 1/72 man , nice .

Love the concept. I think the photos is a great source of inspiration. I'm looking forward to following this build.

One question, you said you roughed up the surface, how did you do that exactly? I want to try that on a few of my future tanks and would love to know how.

Thanks Cheyenne! You should check out Alex Clark's 1/72 builds, he is quite a master!




Hi Dane,
Yes, when I saw Ed Okun's blog, I wanted to adapt it in 1/72. That way, it's not exactly copying his work but definitely inspired by it.

I roughed the turret up using a heavy grit sand paper. I just sanded it in a random pattern until I was satisfied. It looks overdone right now but I will tone it down using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. You'll see it in later pictures.
-Joseph

Joe,

Great respect for you and your work in 1/72. Amazing that you added the tread teeth and sculpted that oval on the mantel.

I will watch your progress.

Hey Frederick,

Thank you very much for you kind words and thank you too for your interest.

-Joseph

After a long reign as shelf-queen, here are the work that has been done on the T-62.

Starting with the tow cables, I continued working on this model. I got the New Penguin resin cable ends and used an old telephone wire for the cables itself.


Here is the end result.


I used spare hatches from Revell T-55. Here's how they look installed on the T-62. The dimensional lights are from OKB Grigorov.


The DShK is from Armory and the antenna base is from Zedval.


Here is a picture of the Armory DShk


I built the DShk barrel transport support from scratch.




Most of the photoetched parts are from T-55 photoetched set produced by a Polish manufacturer, PART.



I scraped off the molded stowage boxes and replaced them with photoetch.


I installed the sides only for the front left stowage box because the cover from the set has the wrong pattern.



Here are more shots of the OKB Grigorov dimensional lights.




I ran out of the gray colored dimensional lights for the rear and ended up using the crystal ones. I guess it doesn't matter, they will be painted over anyway. I also added photoetched grab handles for the rear dimensional lights.



Lastly, I added details for the fuel tanks. I noticed the the caps are on the wrong side but I left it as is because these will not be too obvious when I paint it up with camouflage.




A few more details and the build phase will be done. I will be working on the diorama base next.

Thanks,
Joseph

Joe this is awesome, looks great so far. Glad you brought it back to the bench, and I really like the work around the fuel tanks

I'll be following your progress.

Regards
Dave

Thank you very much, Dave. As far as work on the fuel tanks, completing a couple of Takom T-55s helped a lot. Plus I have a great reference book too!


Here are some more photos of the T-62.








-Joseph

Joe , that's some mighty fine exceptional work in that scale , .... respect man , respect !!!

Totally! Talk about fine motor skills, how’s your eyesight holding up?? Fantastic work

cheyenne, thanks very much. I had some good practice when I worked on a 1/350 Japanese cruiser Mogami.



Thanks very much, Tim. My eyesight is not as good but I think it's more because of age.

I started working on the base by cutting strips from a plastic sheet. I just approximated the depth of the ditch.


I used a tool that I bought from MicroMark to glue the corners on a 90 degree angle.


Here is the result.


I then glued the pieces directly to the display base.


I added pieces of foam board, building it up and varying the edges.



Lastly, I dry fitted the tank on to the terrain with reference to the 1/35th scale diorama.


Thanks,

Joseph

I am pretty happy with how the framework for the base looked. However, when I checked the actual pictures of the tank and its surroundings, I noted that there are rock outcroppings that protrude from the groundwork.



To replicate the outcroppings, I decided to test out two products, the Das airdrying modelling material and the Woodland Scenics C1230 Outcroppings Rock Mold.


I took some of the Das clay and pushed them on to the molds.


24 hours later, I have some pretty good looking rock outcroppings. They are all rock hard but can still be cut with X-Acto knives. Here's how they looked. I'm sold!


I test fitted the outcroppings on to the base.


And, I glued some of them in place.


Finally, I added some more Das clay plus some pebbles and fine ground for texture. Here are the resulting pictures.



I think the result looks convincing enough.

This is great work in any scale,but in this small scale it is a place apart! Brilliant stuff.
J

Thanks very much, Jerry. Means a lot coming from you. I consider you among great modelers here on this site.

Hello everyone,

I have applied Mission Models primer to the T-62. Here's how it looks.















Thanks for viewing,
Joseph

This is looking awesome already and I can't wait to see it when it's completed.

Thanks Ron! Here are some more pictures of the T-62 dry fitted to the base.






The left side of the ditch (in relation to the tank) is still being "sketched". This will not be its final stage. I am trying to work out how the slope is going to look like since I have no actual pictures of how it is.


I will not be modifying the tracks and return rollers to conform to the terrain.

I'm loving the overall result. The attention to detail with the terrain is particularly stunning. Great stuff.

Thanks very much, Dane! Here's another update. I was able to work on the base. I went to my backyard and sifted some dirt. Here they are sorted by size.


I started applying them on to the base.


I positioned the T-62 so I can check the progress

Yep,better than the majority of 1/35 scale dios I have seen!
J

That's quite a compliment, Jerry. Thank you very much.

Base has been primed.




T-62 has been painted using Ammo of Mig paint A.MIG-915 Dark Green (BS 241). I put the tank in place on the base and colored it. I tried to modulate the colors at an angle so the dark side is the right side of the tank. I still have to get used to the color modulation technique. My modulation is still barely visible. I'll take it for now since I'll be applying camo anyway.










Here is the T-62 on the base.






Thanks!

wow!
i really can’t believe is 1:72....

i too use background dirt for my terrain, but i let it its real colour, may i ask you why do you prime it? nature is not the best way to mock nature?
sorry for the basic question....
ciao
edo