T64 MBT Mod 1972 - Modelcollect 1/72 - *Finished & in the Gallery*

[PlaStix]

This GB wasn't originally on my radar until I happened to see this, what looks to be a rather nice, kit from Modelcollect:

It comes with a metal barrel in the box and link & length tracks rather than band type tracks that the original release came with. The band tracks were criticised as a bit of a weakness by reviewers early on so the manufacturer may have changed them as a result. 

 

I will be making it alongside my current Tamiya Panther build so progress might be a bit slow. I will get some sprue photos taken when I get chance. I will be doing it as one of the T64s in East Germany in the mid/late 70s.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited March 24, 2017 by PlaStix

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I'm in.

 

It's the right size & everything! 

 

Can't offer my usual parts/reference support, I'm just an interested spectator for this one. 

[rob85]

Looks a cool build stix.... hmmm may have to see if there is anything in the stash applicable to this.

 

Rob

[Col.]

Been looking forward to this one ever since you mentioned it in the Chat thread Stix  

[badger]

Following along as I had the bv version for Christmas.

 

Ben

[Stu]

 i will be following this with interest :-)

 

Stu

[PlaStix]

19 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

I'm in.

It's the right size & everything! 

Can't offer my usual parts/reference support, I'm just an interested spectator for this one. 

Hi Sarge. No problem! Looking forward to seeing how this one builds up myself! Might try some more of Modelcollect's range if it's a good build. Not heard of them until I accidentally came across this kit.

 

18 hours ago, rob85 said:

Looks a cool build stix.... hmmm may have to see if there is anything in the stash applicable to this.

Rob

It does look good in the box - see the photos below for some images of what's in there. Yeah be good if you've got something to make for this GB.

 

17 hours ago, Col. said:

Been looking forward to this one ever since you mentioned it in the Chat thread Stix  

Thank you Col.

 

15 hours ago, badger said:

Following along as I had the bv version for Christmas.

Ben

Hi Ben. As I mentioned above to Sarge, I might look at getting more of their kits if this one seems good. The reviews are positive.

 

15 hours ago, Stu said:

 i will be following this with interest :-)

Stu

 Hi Stu. I've seen a couple of these built up online and they do seem pretty good.

 

As promised - some photos of what is in the box. First off - everything!:

I should have mentioned that inside the outer box, which has the artwork on, there is another corrugated card box inside to protect the pieces. Very impressive.

 

The underside of the hull - I cannot comment about the accuracy but the detail and moulding seems crisp:

 

Turret:

 

I was impressed that the machine gun already has been hollowed out at the end - saves me a job with a micro-drill!:

 

Rear deck:

 

One of the two glacis plates and mudguard sections - not checked which is used yet:

 

More lovely detail:

 

 

 

As far as I can see there are only small amounts of flash here and there as can be seen here on the drive sprocket:

..........but nothing that's going to take a long time to clean up.

 

Link & Length track parts:

These should be better than the band tracks that this kit originally had (see below) but there are no instructions for them - so might be fun!!

 

The metal barrel that comes with the kit:

 

There is also a small amount of photo-etch in the box but I don't think it's used on the 70s version of the kit I'm building.

 

Decals:

 

Instructions (1)

 

View of where the manufacturer has put masking tape over the image of the band tracks in the parts list of the instructions:

My writing on the above.

 

Instructions (2)

 

Painting guide:

 

Image from the side of the box:

 

All-in-all I'm impressed by what Modelcollect have provided in the box. Hopefully I can build it into a good version of a T-64!

 

Really looking forward to getting this started.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited January 31, 2017 by PlaStix

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Now that's a lovely looking kit.....I wish Modelcollect would do some real WWII stuff instead of all the Panzer 46   

 

I'm absolutely 100% positive that in the long run they'd make more money with an accurate 1/72 Panther Ausf A range (ie: the first accurate kit of the type ever released in the 'one true scale') than they will with anything that they have released to date. 

 

I might buy one or two kits from their current range (the forthcoming T-62 for instance), but if they released that Panther I'd buy five of each production group.....So between ten and fifteen kits, depending on how they arranged the parts on the sprues and so on. 

[badger]

I need to finish my Revell Panther A kitbash / moneypit then Modelcollect are sure to announce one!!!!

[badger]

The photo etch looks like a wet weather screen for the driver or commander?

[PlaStix]

2 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Now that's a lovely looking kit.....I wish Modelcollect would do some real WWII stuff instead of all the Panzer 46   

 

I'm absolutely 100% positive that in the long run they'd make more money with an accurate 1/72 Panther Ausf A range (ie: the first accurate kit of the type ever released in the 'one true scale') than they will with anything that they have released to date. 

 

I might buy one or two kits from their current range (the forthcoming T-62 for instance), but if they released that Panther I'd buy five of each production group.....So between ten and fifteen kits, depending on how they arranged the parts on the sprues and so on. 

Can't disagree with that!

 

15 minutes ago, badger said:

The photo etch looks like a wet weather screen for the driver or commander?

The instructions in with the PE describe it as a Soviet MBT Commander's Sheild. I'm sure I read in one of the reviews or somewhere that it was not included in the 70s versions. I think the same PE fret appears in a few of Modelcollects kits.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[wimbledon99]

Wow - That's a lot of parts for a 1:72 tank!! Looking forward to this Stix!!   

 

[Hewy]

Got agree that looks like a quality kit your building there .look forward to watching this one

Glynn

[PlaStix]

On 02/02/2017 at 2:40 PM, wimbledon99 said:

Wow - That's a lot of parts for a 1:72 tank!! Looking forward to this Stix!!   

I was surprised how many sprues and parts there were in the box but I'm pretty sure not all of them get used.

 

15 hours ago, Hewy said:

Got agree that looks like a quality kit your building there .look forward to watching this one

Glynn

It does look nicely detailed.

 

Not much of a start really - I got all the sprues washed in warm soapy water and rinsed thoroughly before letting them dry. Then I was using some Revell Anthracite on my Panther build and thought I might as well give these L&L tracks a thin coat:

 

Once dry I gave them a dry-brushing with Humbrol's Gunmetal:

 

....and that was it. I may do a bit more later but I've also got stuff I want to do on my Tamiya Panther build.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Col.]

Good start Stix. They've taken on the look of a new set of tracks rather well.

[wimbledon99]

Those single track links must be tiny Stix! Nice job 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Nah.....Those are kinda chunky! 

 

These are tiny:

 

 

 

[wimbledon99]

6 minutes ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Nah.....Those are kinda chunky! 

 

These are tiny:

 

 

 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

& I bought two of 'em! 

 

http://www.onthewaymodels.com/reviews/ESO/TKSprev.htm

 

Apologies to Stix for the thread drift, just keeping Braille relative! 

[PlaStix]

Thank you Col., Nigel and Sarge.

 

Okay Sarge, so we're now into "mine's smaller than yours" territory! Well at least that's different!

Well mine probably is bigger than yours  but I thought I'd include a photo with a one pence piece for reference:

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Stix, keep on working with the lower hull.  Before you do anything with the upper hull, see my build thread. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Here's mine with a penny for scale:

 

 

As I said, they really are quite small! 

 

The moulding on the ones at the top of the shot is less than ideal TBH. 

 

PS - On the subject of fine tracks, I found these while browsing for other things:  http://shop.okbgrigorov.com/product/218/1-72-tracks-for-t-64.html

 

[PlaStix]

On 2/4/2017 at 8:56 PM, Enzo Matrix said:

Stix, keep on working with the lower hull.  Before you do anything with the upper hull, see my build thread. 

Hi Enzo. Yeah, thank you - that's what I decided to do as you'll be able to see below.

 

On 2/4/2017 at 10:15 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Here's mine with a penny for scale:

 

As I said, they really are quite small! 

 

The moulding on the ones at the top of the shot is less than ideal TBH. 

 

PS - On the subject of fine tracks, I found these while browsing for other things:  http://shop.okbgrigorov.com/product/218/1-72-tracks-for-t-64.html

 

Yep - are those are VERY small! Wow! I don't envy you when you decide to build that one.

Those T-64 tracks in the link do look very nice too, thank you, but I'm going to stick with the ones in the kit.

 

Right....following Enzo's advice I started work on the hull on Saturday. I must admit I thought it wouldn't take long to get all the necessary bits added to the lower hull but there are quite a few things to add and I ended up working on it for about 3 hours to get it to this stage:

 

 

Most of it went together pretty well but, if you check out Enzo's thread of his build of this very same kit, you'll see he discovered the second axle back from the front, on each side, does not sit level with the other axles when it's fitted as Modelcollect have made it. This suspension arm has two connecting points (like two of the others) - the upper one being a round peg which fits into a round hole on the side of the hull. The lower peg is a square shape and is level with all the others on the hull side - as you can see here:

I think the round hole is slightly out of place with the result the axle sits too high when it's in place. I ended up cutting off the round peg and using a thin metal ruler to make sure all the axles were level while the glue was setting. As I mentioned - there are two others which have second attachment points like this and they help with the lining up.

 

The end result, when everything is set is:

 

 

It does look nicely detailed.

 

I also started planning to get the wheels painted. They appear on the sprues like this:

...with two attachment points for each wheel.

 

Because I brush paint I decided I would cut off the central pieces so so I only have one attachment point to clean up on each wheel once everything is painted and weathered:

 

I didn't, however, start any painting.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Enzo the Magnificent]

All looks good to me!    

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

2 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Yep - are those are VERY small! Wow! I don't envy you when you decide to build that one.

 

Oh I don't think the ESO 1/72 TKS is actually intended for building.....Braillers just use photos of it to scare each other on forums (then quietly sell it on eBay)! 

 

The tub is looking smashing.....If you were airbrushing (or even rattle-canning) I'd maybe suggest going the whole hog and trying my preferred 'build it first' approach, but with even with skill like yours, brush-painting it would probably be something of a chore.