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14 hours ago, Plasto said:

The Tracks are looking good.  

 

For mine I opened the holes out to 0.6mm and used some 0.55mm wire I had here that gave more or less a close tolerance fit so I forwent superglue... If you are going to use some 'track fluid' on them to blacken them then I can suggest from experience that you need to soak them in some degreaser and really scrub the links to get the release agent out of the track patterns as if left it repels the blackening solution. 

 

 

Many thanks. I don't have any blackening agents so I'm going to stick with a coat of Halfords primer, followed by a couple of coats of Tamiya paints and then some pigments. We'll see how it turns out in a day or so.

 

John.

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13 hours ago, Carius said:

Wow John great progress with the tracks :popcorn: 

 

 

Thanks Carius. They're certainly an improvement on the kit's tracks. And all those spares as well:D.

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3 hours ago, Gremlin56 said:

The thick super glue will do the trick John, as you experienced the thin stuff produces great metal planks :yikes:

 

It certainly does! I won't make that mistake again.

 

John.

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18 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Those tracks do look excellent. :goodjob:

Hope you have a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Thanks Stix. I've just been painting and weathering them and the rest of the lower hull, so hopefully I'll post some photos over the next couple of days.

 

Regards,

 

John.

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Managed to get some work done over the last couple of days on the lower hull. I decided against using my usual choice of paint, namely Tamiya, as I had a bottle of MIG's IDF Sand Grey. After coating the hull with Halfords grey primer, I sprayed the lower hull and the road wheels with the sand grey and was quite pleased with the result. The same primer was used on the tracks and this was followed up with a wash of MIG's dark brown wash. After drying over night, I rubbed Carr's black weathering powder all over the inner face of the tracks, where the road wheels would run. The outer faces were coated with a mixture of MIG's European Earth, mixed with thinners (boy, did my modelling room stink!!!), and the next day, once dry, the top surfaces were gently rubbed with a coarse sanding stick. Next up came a wash of dark brown which acted more like a filter as I applied it over a matt surface. Using a flat brush dipped in thinners, most of the wash was wiped off leaving enough in all of the nooks and crannies. The same treatment was given to the wheels and sprockets. All that remained once it was dry, was to apply some weathering powders to the lower hull.

 

Two views of the lower hull, painted and weathered.........

 

   d3e41238-d4df-449e-884e-2dde29b18040.JPG

 

96d28486-5eb0-4fd9-baa2-53fe6df2fa8b.JPG

 

....and four of the finished article, complete with wheels, sprockets and tracks attached.

09c17d80-c60f-475d-9728-c51b6644acd5.JPG

a1c42a9b-208a-4ed5-aa94-b62c773868a1.JPG

 

a85d562d-6648-413c-95c1-8d76f51bfe85.JPG

 

dc4c8219-3a2b-440d-85f0-0fe29d10b8cd.JPG

 

Love those Fruilmodel tracks!

 

John.

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Hi John. Well I'd say your weathering has worked beautifully! Very well done. It's always nice to get these stages completed. :goodjob:

Kind regards,

Stix

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1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

It's always nice to get these stages completed

 

You're so right. Now I can get stuck in. Thanks for the kind words Stix.

 

Regards,

 

John.

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1 minute ago, FrancisGL said:

Very well achieved the weathering, and tracks...stunning real look, very niiiice....:popcorn:

Cheers John :D

Thanks Francis. Much appreciated.

 

John.

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I know it's a bit late in the proceedings now you've fitted the tracks and painted the lower half, but Tamiya forgot to include the enlarged strengthened wheel hub on the first wheel station.  I believe that only the T-55 Model 1958 production (i.e. first year) had the small first hub: Syria and Egypt didn't get their first T-55's until 1964 (Egypt) and 1967 (Syria) - although Syria received a mixed bag of ex-Soviet 2nd hand vehicles after their 1973 losses.  Tahk did a replacement resin pair of large hub wheels but it's long OOP now and almost impossible to find.  You could possibly have adapted the kit hub by adding a slim ring of microstrip around it, faired in behind with filler through the spokes, and replacing the bolt heads with new ones slightly further out.  But it's probably too late for that now.

 

Before you start the top half, the Blast models rear engine deck with the "kinked" right rear grille is only appropriate for Czech and Polish built vehicles.  The Tamiya deck with 2 rectangular rear grilles is fine for Russian.  I don't believe either Syria or Egypt had any Czech or Polish built T-55's.  Syria did receive some Czech and/or Polish T-54's in 1967-72, so the Blast set might work for a Tiran 4.  Blast also do an excellent T-55 update set for Tamiya with improved cupolas and other parts.  It includes the rear deck.

Edited by Das Abteilung
correction
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13 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

I know it's a bit late in the proceedings now you've fitted the tracks and painted the lower half, but Tamiya forgot to include the enlarged strengthened wheel hub on the first wheel station.  I believe that only the T-55 Model 1958 production (i.e. first year) had the small first hub: Syria and Egypt didn't get their first T-55's until 1964 (Egypt) and 1967 (Syria) - although Syria received a mixed bag of ex-Soviet 2nd hand vehicles after their 1973 losses.  Tahk did a replacement resin pair of large hub wheels but it's long OOP now and almost impossible to find.  You could possibly have adapted the kit hub by adding a slim ring of microstrip around it, faired in behind with filler through the spokes, and replacing the bolt heads with new ones slightly further out.  But it's probably too late for that now.

 

Before you start the top half, the Blast models rear engine deck with the "kinked" right rear grille is only appropriate for Czech and Polish built vehicles.  The Tamiya deck with 2 rectangular rear grilles is fine for Russian.  I don't believe either Syria or Egypt had any Czech or Polish built T-55's.  Syria did receive some Czech and/or Polish T-54's in 1967-72, so the Blast set might work for a Tiran 4.  Blast also do an excellent T-55 update set for Tamiya with improved cupolas and other parts.  It includes the rear deck.

Thanks for the updates.  As you say, I've probably gone too far to correct the hub, so I'll just have to live with it.

With regards to the Blast Models engine deck, I have the T-55 update set and realised that the deck was no good for the Russian version but I can use the improved cupolas. One question though. I've been told that one thing missing from the Tamiya deck is the deep wading rail, but unfortunately, as I don't know what it looks like, I can't make a replacement. Any advice gratefully received.

 

Regards,

 

John.

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Yes it is missing but it's a simple fix with some microstrip and a fine drill. I don't know if any of the various T-55 etch sets include it: the Voyager Tiran set certainly doesn't.  But the microstrip fix is fine.  They seem to be usually a bit bent and wonky.

 

Here's a pic of a Russian deck with the rail fitted.  It's hard to find pics of the complete thing: this one is just missing the corners.  The larger pic is actually a Chinese Type 59 deck but the full rail detail is visible and it appears to be identical.

Image result for t-55 engine deck     Chernobyl198.jpg

 

Here's one someone has added to an Enigma,

Image result for t-55 engine deck

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I've got to bite the bullet and get some of those Fruil tracks for a future build.  The Rye Field Models indy tracks look ok on an Abrams or a Tiger I but those Fruil tracks just beat them all to dickens.

What the hey, it's only money and about 3-4 weeks from the USA.  After watching the builds of some of the Panthers on this site I have the itch for more German armor, scratch, scratch.

 

You certainly have a project on the go here and so far you have made a fantastic start.  I'll pull up a lounger beside Richard if that's ok and watch a master at work.

 

Take care,

 

Lloyd

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12 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

Yes it is missing but it's a simple fix with some microstrip and a fine drill. I don't know if any of the various T-55 etch sets include it: the Voyager Tiran set certainly doesn't.  But the microstrip fix is fine.  They seem to be usually a bit bent and wonky.

 

Here's a pic of a Russian deck with the rail fitted.  It's hard to find pics of the complete thing: this one is just missing the corners.  The larger pic is actually a Chinese Type 59 deck but the full rail detail is visible and it appears to be identical.

 

Thanks DA. Now I know what I'm looking at, I can make one. You're right, the Voyager set doesn't contain it and nor does the Eduard set, so it's down to scratch building it (More fun anyway).

 

John.

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4 hours ago, Ripaman said:

Those tracks certainly have a great sag affect John, lovely job :like: and thanks for explaining how you did the tracks.

 

Thanks Richard. Yes, you can't beat the realistic sag that you get with these metal tracks, although I've got a feeling that I used one or two more links on the left side than I did on the right!

 

John.

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3 hours ago, BlackMax12 said:

I've got to bite the bullet and get some of those Fruil tracks for a future build

 

Many thanks Lloyd. See what I said on Etienne's AMX-30 thread with regards to the tracks.

Regards,

 

John.

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2 hours ago, Gremlin56 said:

Very nice job done on the Friuls and weathering John, looking excellent IMHO,

 

Thanks Julien. It's the first time that I've done it this way; ie just primer followed by washes. Seems to have worked.

Regards,

 

John.

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  • 1 month later...

It's been two months since I posted anything regarding the Tiran, but I've been doing some work on it recently. It's taken me the best part of a week to get to this stage. Didn't realise that there was so much detail to add or alter.

With the lower hull finished, I turned my attention to the upper hull and started at the front. There's an absolutely brilliant site that I visit with loads of walk around photos of many different tanks as well as other items, like trains, trucks aircraft etc.

http://svsm.org/gallery/walkarounds

There are seven pages of photos of the Tiran 5 at Latrum armour museum in Israel.

Tamiya made a few mistakes with their Tiran 5 or left items off. The first mistake that I tackled was the locking pin for the tow shackles. The first photo shows how Tamiya depicted it. It's spring loaded and was supposed to go underneath the actual shackle so that it locks the tow rope in place, but obviously this one doesn't, even though I elongated the hole that it fits into so that it could slide forward a couple of millimetres.

 

8924204a-9a4e-456f-9c83-03f4e2ce3516.JPG

 

The second photo shows how it should look. Also in this view are the three bolts which attach the skirt to the track guard which Tamiya missed off.

 

a36877fa-23bb-4a89-beee-28997c710af2.jpg

 

And this is how I got around the problem. The brass part came from the Voyager Models etched brass set. I've yet to add the missing bolt heads. I've not done the RH shackle yet as I'm leaving it until later so that I can fix a tow rope in place.

 

7b9599af-126d-4d70-b418-6f77c898eaa0.JPG

 

I replaced the kit part D19 with a new one made from 15thou card as the kit item was a bit on the thick side. I could have used the one from the Voyager etched brass set, but it was over complicated for me. Anyone know what the purpose was for this item?

 

3990fc4c-2ccc-473d-b0dc-3975eff8202c.JPG

Whereas T-55's had spare track links stored on the front left track guard, just in front of the stowage box, the Israelis changed this for a jerry can holder. You can also see the brass triangular support bracket for the track guard. I removed all of the kit ones as again, they are a little on the thick side.

 

10554117-abb9-4ef5-8610-1512d3526ff9.JPG

 

More later. Thanks for looking.

 

John.

 

 

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Excellent job up to now John. I am wondering of you can do something to this imitation of rubber on the front mudguard? On the real tank is fall, but on the model it is look like metal part. Maybe you can try to bend it down somehow?

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