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Ethiopian T-55A


Foxbat

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Last night I was building wheels. "Oh bother," I thought, "the previous owner has lost the little rubber grommets. No worries, I'll just keep going as I don't need my wheels to move".

 

Test fitting wheels to axles showed those grommets were really necessary for a tight fit - Tamiya may not put as many bits in the box as more modern kits, but you do need everything that's in there. Now imagine how hard I kicked myself this morning when I moved the box and found the bag with the bits of rubber and the string for the tow cables.

 

Andy

Wondering how easily those wheels are going to come apart 🙄 

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Phew, saved. Managed to get the wheels I'd already built apart and inserted the missing poly caps. Built up the rest and push fitted them to the hull to check the suspension was all square (it should be, Tamiya put a flat on the mounting pegs to help because they know idiots like me will be at the bench). All looks good, so on to the next stage.

 

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Andy

Relieved

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Splashed the first bit of paint around. Following Stix technique I painted the lower hull and wheels in a random Vallejo dark green - not too dark but also not too olive. It was barely dry before I had at it with some very watery black ink, used because I had it and didn't have any anthracite. The pictures were taken when it was still wet, the effect should be less stark when everything is dry and should look really good with a bit of dry brushing then weathering.

 

On to the pictures: 

 

Wheels - I did say they were removable for painting, and 12 out of 14 heard me. That's close enough :)

 

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The hull from the rear

 

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And the front, just for completeness

 

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Finally, I couldn't resist a little play, just to see if the new track fit the existing sprockets. It does, and very well so I'm chuffed :)

 

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Andy

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1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

Well done on the award for your cat!!! :thumbsup:

Thank you  :)

1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

.........now back to the plastic!! :poke:

Kind regards,

Stix

Way ahead of you, pics later :D  :D  :D 

 

Andy

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Coming along nicley andy,the tracks are building up well,nice cat, I've  got a fat vicious ginger tom,  called "gingey"  my border terrier bitch gives him a wide berth ,evil he is, semi wild, lives in the shed,  eats like a king ,he doesn't like it in the house ,my next door nieghbour  breed and show burmese, cats ,not pythons, they have had much success showing apparently 

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A quick and dirty update since I promised...

 

I continue to throw paint and ink at the wheels in a desperate attempt to get them looking how I think they should. It's a lot easier doing this in 1/100. This is where they were last week after another layer on top of the previous photo.

 

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I've started on the upper hull too. Here you can see lots of tiny but time consuming additions to the glacis plate, plus the first tanks and boxes on the fenders, the turret fairings and the exhaust trunking. There's a fair few brackets added to the fenders as well, but you'd never notice if you hadn't read the instructions. I have a choice of headlights and to be honest I have no idea which ones are correct. The wheels and lower hull have also had another couple of dry brushes and ink washes. They might be finished by Christmas, although perhaps not this Christmas 😕 

 

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Andy

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5 hours ago, Hewy said:

Coming along nicley andy,the tracks are building up well,nice cat, I've  got a fat vicious ginger tom,  called "gingey"  my border terrier bitch gives him a wide berth ,evil he is, semi wild, lives in the shed,  eats like a king ,he doesn't like it in the house ,my next door nieghbour  breed and show burmese, cats ,not pythons, they have had much success showing apparently 

Thank you. My boy is a Norwegian Forest Cat, called Tolv. He's 6 months old now and was the runt of the litter so nearly didn't make it. I'm massively chuffed that not only is he thriving but he's looking good enough to show. 

 

Andy

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  • 3 weeks later...

Still a lot to do, but coming along nicely. I've got a couple of days off this week so should get plenty done then (saving my Xmas Blitzbuild for next weekend). At least it looks like a tank now.

 

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I'm going with the Tamiya tracks for now, those AM ones are lovely but they're going to take longer than I have left to complete. I'll keep them for a post GB upgrade.

 

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Andy

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Hi Andy. That looks to be coming along superbly! Don't blame you about the tracks - they do take a while to do. The Tamiya ones are nicely detailed for band tracks - and you could glue them carefully - if they are long enough - to the tops of the central 3 wheels. If they are not long enough I have stretched Tamiya tracks before by warming them up with a hair drier and stretching them gently in sections.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Andy. Have you been able to make any more progress on your T-55? Hopefully you will be able to get it finished and 5 photos in the Gallery by 23.59 on Sunday.

Kind regards,

Stix

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Sorry Stix, had the best of intentions but all my mojo for this one just upped and left. It's not a hard kit, but all that mucking around at the start sucked all the joy out of it. I'll switch it to the armour forum and finish it eventually :(

 

Andy

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10 hours ago, Foxbat said:

Sorry Stix, had the best of intentions but all my mojo for this one just upped and left. It's not a hard kit, but all that mucking around at the start sucked all the joy out of it. I'll switch it to the armour forum and finish it eventually :(

Andy

Hi Andy. I am sorry you weren’t able to get it finished in time. Kit building should be for fun and if you lose interest in a build it’s very difficult to maintain enthusiasm. Hopefully we will see it finished at some point.

Kind regards,

Stix

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