This is the kit that I am currently working on. It has been a very fun build so far. Besides the base kit I've added PE from 4 sources (Aber, Eduard, Airwaves, and The Show Modeling), a transmission from MB Models, a mantlet from CMK, a barrel from Armo, and literally hundreds of rivets. I've also done a small amount of scratch-building. I also have Friulmodel tracks and a set of MA Mori drive sprockets that will be added when the time is right.

I'm impressed !
You must realy love that beast to treat it so well...

Adam,
Nice pictures. I have this kit in my stash and will follow your build with interest.
Thanks,

Pen Pen--You've hit the nail on the head! The BT is my favorite vehicle so I am willing to put alot into it. I have 15 other various BT related kits at home that I will be building in years to come from the T3 Christie to the BT-42.

Ron--I will be writing up a small build article for my own purposes since I do have so many more BTs planned. If you are interested, I could send you a copy once I finish the kit and the article.

oohhh, very nice. I know what you are going through with the rivets as I am adding them to my panzer 1, pain in the arse eh? The built looks nice and clean with good use of aftermarket products. I hope those hinges are workable...

Andrew

Oberst--To be honest with you (you're probably going to think that I'm crazy here) I love doing the rivets. When I'm placing all those little things I go into a zone and forget about the outside world entirely. I find it to be very therapeutic. For some reason the hinges for the driver's hatches (which are Aber) aren't workable. I found this to be really odd considering that the hatches for the turret (2 on top and 1 in rear which I haven't added yet) are all workable and they are from the same Aber set. Weird, no?

Adam,

Again very very nice work, it always gives me pleasure to look at your in progress pictures. They are awesome!

The rivets, man! You are correct, it does have theraptical value. I enjoy doing them as well.

So I will look forward to more pictures.

I was lying, I love the rivets too. I just thought I might seem strange admitting that I like doing them. That is odd about the Aber hinges although you may be lying...
Andrew

I can send you a scan of the instructions if you don't believe me.

Can you post the article to this site. I'm sure there are many of us that would love to read it.
Thanks

By the way, that's really good looking work you've done there.

Sure. I figured that since most people here don't tend to like Soviet stuff that it wouldn't be viewed by many, but it you think that it will be useful to some, I can post it. It will probably not be available fora while as I am a slow builder and I've commited myself to a small group build that starts on Saturday and will be taking most of my time for a while, but it will make it here eventually. I'm actually hoping to get the vast majority of the build of this tank finished by Saturday so it might be sooner rather than later.

Question to the 'Rivet Lovers' - Do you guys use a jig of any sort to keep the spacing?
I think it looks great. It's only a matter of time before I fall into the rivet world. I can run but I can't hide.

Slodder--No I don't use a jig. I looked at photos and line drawings to figure out how many rivets to apply to a given area and then used "landmarks" between the kit and the photos to judge where to put them. In simpler terms, I eyeballed it.

HTH

Adam ..What can I say that hasn't already been said ...Looks great so far ...Don't you love it when you have so much stuff for a kit that you can pick and choose the best parts from different companies.... #:-) We are nuts aren't we?? lol ..Think of all those BT kits you have to build and think of the standard you will have to beat with each different one...You have set the bar high...Congrats again on a super build and keep us up to date as you go along..

Richard

Looks pretty cool! I really like the rivets.

avukich - that's one hell of an eyeball you have. I'm impressed they haven't crossed #:-)

Keep it up!

Slodder--Honestly it is relatively easy. For example, you look at the first picture, the rivets along each side of the top plate. There are 19 of them. I realized that the sixth one from the from the front was right at the corner of the hatch. I then used a pencil and marked six equi-distant spots from the front to the corner of the hatch and placed rivets there. That left 13 from the hatch to the top. I marked them and put them too. If I had tried to acuately measure those things I would still be working on it and getting steadily madder. I am partially a rivet counter (I made sure that I had all 19 on that line of rivets), but I don't want to be too anal or I'd never get done. :-)

NICE WORK

ROBERTO

Good work on the BT I like it.
Just one Question how do you make those rivets?

Thanks for the comments guys.

In regards to the rivets, I used .035" rivets from Tichey Train Group. I can buy a pack of 200 rivets at my local hobby shop for $2.49 USD.

Adam, it´s always a pleasure to see your work!
This looks just another fine tank forming. I´m one of those who haven´t counted the rivets before, but when I see how much you can get out of it and what it does to a model, maybe I give it a shot some day myself...
It was you who got me in the tank business. Now I have many waiting for me and I´m envious of your wonderful tanks...I´m just finishing my T-38 and I have a BT-5 next. I better make a few "practice pieces" before going for the mighty StuG III with individual tracks. It will have zimmerit, concrete armor and logs on the sides and I don´t have the balls to start the build yet...

Keep those great pics coming! They´re good reference for me as I´m building Russian (and Finnish) armor as well.

Cheers,
Toni

Damn....theres some fine work going on here.

good stuff Avukich