Bullbasket Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I shall be building a Tiran 4. I have three different kits of these tanks and over the next couple of days, I'll decide which one. I'll probably eliminate the Miniart Tiran 4 Sh as it has full interior and will take me more than the allotted time to build it. Of the other two there's not much to chose between them as they both seem to represent similar tanks ie; early versions, still fitted with the Soviet 100mm main gun. Once I've made up my mind, I'll get some photos of the box contents posted. John. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Hi John. Great to have you along - both for your excellent model building and for your subject knowledge! I'm looking forward to following your progress with which ever one you decide to build. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 Thanks Stix for the kind words. I've decided to go with the Miniart Tiran 4 early, so I'll put some photos up later. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 OK, to kick this off, her are some photos of the box and what's in it. The parts (and there are loads of them) come in three tightly packed bags. There are no fewer than 74 different sprues in the box. Looking for individual parts is going to be fun. The decals fortunately for me, contain markings for a couple of IDF tanks as well as some for the SLA. There is also a comprehensive etched brass sheet and a sprue of clear parts. The main gun is slide moulded, unlike the one in the Takom kit which is in two halves, so I might just be able to get away with using the kit part. See you again after the weekend. John. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 There's a serious amount of plastic in that box!! (especially compared to my Tamiya kit!) Can't wait to see this in progress. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 You will be very bussy this GB. I can't wait to see the progress you will make with it. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 The mini art ones are incredibly detailed aren't they, a little over engineered in places but superb kits, you'll need all the time the gb will allow for one of these john, as you say the interior kit would have put another month on the build at least, i look forward to this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 56 minutes ago, Hewy said: The mini art ones are incredibly detailed aren't they, a little over engineered in places but superb kits, you'll need all the time the gb will allow for one of these john, as you say the interior kit would have put another month on the build at least, i look forward to this You've hit the nail on the head Glynn. This is one of the most over engineered kits that I've ever seen. I got it out last night to see what was in store for me and I was amazed. Just as a comparison, I compared it with the Takom kit that I also have. They are both of an early Tiran 4, just different guns. There is no comparison. For the lower hull, Takom have moulded it as one piece with all of the road wheel swing arm attachment points moulded as part of the hull with something like 20 parts to complete it. Miniart on the other hand have broken it down so far as to be ridiculous. More than 100 parts (and some of them tiny) make up the lower hull. Even the tub itself consists of 5 separate parts. And it's spread over three pages of the instructions. I'm not overly fond of the plastic that they have used, as it's very soft and the major components of the hull tub are floppy. Oh and one other thing that I find baffling. On the front plate of the hull are brackets for attaching the mine roller. In the Takom kit and the Tamiya Tiran 5, these are already moulded on to the plate. With the Miniart kit, you have to open up twelve separate holes in the plate and then glue the brackets on. Why? It makes no sense. So having said all of that, I'm reverting back to the Takom kit as at least there is an outside chance of me finishing that within the time frame. I won't post any photos of the box and contents because Arnold is building the same kit and has already done so. Right, I'll shut up moaning now and go and get this build ready to start in a couple of days time. John. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 2 hours ago, Bullbasket said: Right, I'll shut up moaning now and go and get this build ready to start in a couple of days time. John. I'm not surprised ,I dont blame you john, I've got a 95% finished miniart t54 sitting on the shelf looking at me as i write this,the fuel pipes and suspension parts were a right trial of patience, a kit for the long haul definitely, i dont think these kits are gb fodder, start it maybe over a cold winter if you get snowed in , should finish for the following winter😀,you can relax now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 1 hour ago, Hewy said: I'm not surprised ,I dont blame you john, I've got a 95% finished miniart t54 sitting on the shelf looking at me as i write this,the fuel pipes and suspension parts were a right trial of patience, a kit for the long haul definitely, i dont think these kits are gb fodder, start it maybe over a cold winter if you get snowed in , should finish for the following winter😀,you can relax now Looking at the Takom kit, there are 18 sprues in it compared to 74 in the Miniart one. When you have to make up an item such as one of the swing arms, it's multi part, but instead of them all being on one sprue, they will be on three or four, so you have to hunt through them all for each part. Frustrating and time consuming. I have got to source a main gun though as the version that I want to build has the 100mm without a fume extractor. RB Models do one, but it says that it's for an SU-100 so I don't know if the length is the same. As for the two Miniart kits, I'm probably going to put them up for sale. John. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 I remeber the swing arms in mine, all pretty daunting,amazing kits though looks like you get early and late wheels in the box,the kit will also build into other models too i know mine did and you'll have many many parts left over, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 why sell them? They are nice but fiddly.. still thinking about how to display that interior to do it justice... (on the other hand, I only have one with full interior...) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 I'm going to sell the one with full interior, because to me, it's just a waste of time. The other one I've decided to keep and use for spares. It has both D-10 guns, with and without the fume extractor, a nice set of tracks, a decent set of etched brass and a spare set of road wheels, (it includes the star fish and the spider). So sometime in the future I may build another 4 but with some differences. John. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 Well after a false start with the Miniart kit, I made a start on the one from Takom. Still a good kit, but nowhere near as over engineered as the Miniart offering. The lower hull with all of the swing arms, idlers and drive sprockets were done in an afternoon. The road wheels and tyres are separate items and although it’s been said that they should go on the other way, I disagree. I assembled one wheel and compared it to one of the Miniart wheels (they mould theirs as one), and there didn’t appear to be any difference between the two. As the tyres and wheels are separate, it allows them to be painted before assembly, thus doing away with the need for masking. So at the moment, this is as far as I’ve got. The wheels, tyres and lower hull have been primed with Halfords Grey Primer, ready for a coat of IDF Sand Grey. Admittedly, not much to show, but now that my Firefly build is finished, I can devote more time to this one. John. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 A good start with the lower hull. I know what you mean with the over engineering, although having not built many targets, the ones that I have are much simpler in this area. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 (edited) Hi John. Hope you a doing okay today. Great to see your build underway. Hope you get chance soon to some more on it soon. Kind regards, Stix Edited October 19, 2019 by PlaStix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 Hi John. I'm just checking to see if you have had chance to do anything more on this build? Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 Hi Stix. Progress is very slow at the moment due to Telford coming up. I've got four models going into the competition and I still have one left to get ready. I'm also constrained by time as I will be leaving home for Telford on the 6th, not returning for another three weeks. But fear not! As soon as I've got this last one out of the way, it will be full steam ahead with the Tiran. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 10 minutes ago, Bullbasket said: But fear not! As soon as I've got this last one out of the way, it will be full steam ahead with the Tiran. That's good to hear John! And good luck with the competition entries! Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 Just a bit of an update. Now that all of the Telford competition models are done and dusted, I can get a little bit done on the Tiran. Today I managed to spend a bit of time painting the lower hull and running gear, and you'll like this Stix (not a lot), it was done not with the airbrush but the hairy stick. I couldn't be asked to get the airbrush out. I'll try and get some photos posted before I head off to Telford on Wednesday. John. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Hi John. Brush painting is the way to go! 😜 Looking forward to seeing some photos. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Hi John. I'm hoping we might have some update photos of you project in the near future? Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 Hi John. I'm just checking if you've had chance to make any more progress? Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted December 22, 2019 Author Share Posted December 22, 2019 On 19/12/2019 at 17:21, PlaStix said: Hi John. I'm just checking if you've had chance to make any more progress? Kind regards, Stix Sorry Stix, but I won't be able to finish in time. I'll be carrying on with it after Christmas and I'll get one of the mods to move it to the AFV WIP section. I've started another, much smaller and less complicated build to give me something less brain taxing over the Christmas period. Otherwise, my time at the moment is being taken up with chasing uncooperative insurance assessors who don't see the urgency in a building that's about to fall down. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Hi John. I'm sorry you are not going to be able to get your Tiran 4 finished in this GB but I certainly understand why! I'm sorry you are being messed around byt your insurance assessors - who'd have thought that could happen?!!! I'll drop by your other project when I get chance and I shall look forward to seeing your Tiran finished when you get chance.. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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