i just finished this kit for the GB i’m in right now, but i wanted some feedback from the other guys who might now see it in the GB post. this is my italeri T-55 i did. this is only my second kit i finshed from a 8 year lull. i know the tracks are a little warped, my first time with the link and length tracks, and i have to say, they really test your patience. some parts are scratch built, and i replaced alot of the handles with brass rod. the fuel drums are partically scratched build, and i painted it with tamiya and vallijo acrylics. i left off the machine gun, as i wanted to depict an abandoned tank, like the ones i saw when i was in OIF I. along the way into the city of Kirkuk, all we saw was abandoned gear. so other than those stupid tracks that gave me some problems, i’m open for comments, critisms, cronstructive of course [:D], and any questions.
thanks for looking guys,
Looks pretty good. Definitely looks like the abandoned junk we saw all along the way to Baghdad. You might want to add an antenna to it. Other than that, it looks the part. Are you going to put it on a base with a bunch of junk around it?
Good job.
Rooster my man!
I think you’ve hit a home run here. Very cool, weathering is outstanding. I agree with Gino, this build is crying out for a vignette base with some appropriate “junk” to really set it off. There is no substitute for seeing, breathing and living the real thing, it definitely makes for a better model.
Nicely done,
Steve
wow! thanks guys. didn’t think i would get a home run here, lol. being that this is my second model since i started back up again, i only see so many flaws in it, not sure if the camera is playing tricks, or we just all see the flaws in our models. a base would go nicely i suppose, no idea where to start, or how to do it. i read all the tricks in the mag and stuff, but i guess i could give it a try. the base is a model in itself. and yeah, totally forgot the antenna gino [#wstupid]. thanks again guys for looking and commenting. i’ll be sure to start up some plans for a nice base. maybe off the side of an old iraqi highway.
cheers,
WOW!!! This is a SUPREME job, Roo!![8D][wow] I can’t see a thing to criticize or suggest! A simple base of a street shouldn’t be too hard if you can pull something like this off!!
I got a question for you and Gino, being vets as you both are; did you guys find that most of the Iraqi armor lacked markings? If not, what’d they have? It seems to me most of the pics I’ve seen show them pretty devoid of markings.
ALl in all, an OUTSTANDING job!
I’m still workin’ on my 1/72 E-100 up here in Upstate NY–under about 3 feet of April snow…11[soapbox][BH]
hey doog, glad to see you again. form my experience in iraq, the only markings i found were handwritten arabic. i really didn’t see any armor in good condition. i’m limited to seeing only some BMP’s and T-55’s. some of them were in really bad shape, blocking the runway we jumped on so we couldn’t land our transports, and abandoned tanks in the middle of nowhere or on side of the roads. unlike ginos trip through baghdad, our guys really didn’t want to fight us, they just popped smoke and blended in with the populus. i didn’t think of the arabic writing until it was too late in the painting phase, and i really didn’t know what to write since i couldn’t read arabic and i didn’t know what they wrote, or how to find what i was looking to write translated. make sense? [%-)]
Yup, I agree with rooster. Most just had writing and a few tactical numbers on them.
Love the work. Doesn’t look like the 8 years left any rust on you (I know, crappy pun). Two questions: Did you use an airbrush? Did you do try to position the gun at it’s lowest, or is that just the way it came out?
yes i used a badger 150. first time using something that i didn’t buy in a “package” deal. still etting used to how it works and how to fine tune it. and about the barrel, it pretty much came out that way. if i would have positioned it higher, i would have had a huge gap in the lower area of the manlet cover. and your pun was cool [:D]
thanks again guys,
Oh yeah! That’s an interesting color scheme. We don’t see that very often.
Looks mighty good from here Rooster. The texture of the tracks is very convincing. And around the muffler too.
Excellent work.
looks alright rooster! Only thing I see is a nasty seam along the side of the barrel. Looks like you may have tried to fill it, but it’s showing right through the paint! Good weathering though!
Excellent weathering job!
Reminds me of that tank graveyard in Taji. Looks just like the real thing. Up at Anaconda, we had a few burned-out T-55 hulls, one relatively-intact T-62, and one beautiful T-72 (pics here: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=5329658&uid=2669803).
I agree about the seam in the barrel, although I didn’t see it in the pics until it was pointed out. I also thought the tracks look good. You mentioned that they came out a little warped, but I can’t see it. The whole thing looks pretty dern good to me, man.