I think I’ve burned out on dioramas for awhile. Thinking of composition, groundwork, interacting figures, grass, bushes, leaves, trees, etc leaves me tired rather than stimulated these days. To combat this, I have decided to do a 50 year span of Soviet armor starting in 1947 and ending in present day. So, here’s the Tamiya T55A.
I know I have skipped the T54 but they seem to be hard to find these days.
Factory fresh and little dirt will be the focus on these largely OOB builds.
The ditching log came off one of the lodgepole pines in the back yard.
The fuel tank plumbing is .020 styrene rod, difficult to form correctly. Next time I’ll use brass rod. At some point I noticed I forgot the rubber hose connectors on the fuel lines. Oh well.
Painted with MM OD green as who knows what the Soviets were apt to use. Oversprayed with MM faded OD here and there lightly, as I wanted a pretty new appearance. Drybrushed with MM Lichtgrau for a bit of contrast, which it could probably have used more of but it’s too late now. Medium ray umber filter applied once, and a dark raw umber pin wash I’m not completely happy with the track sag but with rubber band tracks, and these were better than most, there seem to be some limitations. Trumpeter’s T62 will be next, hope you all are entertained by this.
Thank you, sir. I did not do anything to the log except cut it and glue it, ain’t natural products great? Seem recall you were working on a Sherman and going to model it burned? I never did get back to you on that, sorry, how’s that coming along?
very nice. i like the colors. i aklso like the tow cables. looks like you “wired” the searchlight cable to the same spot i did on the tamiya T-62. i could not find any pictures so i swaggws it. how did you do the track sag? i pin mine down with brass rods and that works really well. have you tried using solder for plumbing and cables? i find it is softer and more pliable than styrene or brass and it comes in different diameters. my T-62 is ready to paint the dark green for a '73 syrian look. no rear fuel drums and i won’t be plumbing the fender saddle tanks because the syrians covered them with sand bags so i will be making a bunch of sandbags out of modeling clay. probably hand number the arab numbers on the turret after practicing.
Thanks for the nice comments, all. This kit was so nice and such a breeze to put together I almost feel guilty for taking all the credit for the results above. Tonight I started the second iteration, which is the Trumpy T-62. While a nice kit with crisp molding and plenty of detail, there’s a fair amount of flash as well as some pretty strong mold lines. The fit is good, but not as nice as some. Keep in mind I’ve just been spoiled by one of the nicest Tamiya products I’ve ever dealt with so perhaps that’s why I’m whining a bit now…
Wayne-the searchlight cable was molded on the top of the turret but it was not over defined and was too short so replacement was in order…at least I had a good idea where to put it given that there was one that I cut off. The tracks were glued down to the middle three roadwheels. This did not fix the ride up on top of the idler, so I got the file out and fit a short piece of .040 styrene between the fender and the top of the track just in back of the idler. Painted black and pushed in deep it can’t be seen unless you have your eye up to it with a flashlight. I have used the brass rod method on rubber band tracks before and yes it’s very effective but I’ve been using individual track links for so long now I sort of forgot about the technique until you brought it up. Electrical solder would also work for fuel lines but I don’t mind the less ductile brass rod, besides, I’ve a ton of it laying around and I probably ought to use it up. Will be looking for that Syrian T-62.
I know I said no more styrene rod for fuel lines. I lied. Brass rod did not work out so well as I thought. Base coat on, MM Soviet Armor Green…
The MM paint went on glossy which was a surprise to me, thought it was going to be matt. Guess I’ll have to wait for awhile before touching it again so it’ll cure and harden. Hate fingerprints on my tanks.
