T-55 to Tiran 4.

[Bullbasket]

3 hours ago, ijs302 said:

looking good so far , can i take a seat and follow this i am starting to get some 1/48 armour its just the right size i think ,all we need now are some leopards , challengers , ww2 soft skins a/cars etc

 

2 hours ago, pierre Giustiniani said:

Hello John

Terrific detailing !! Congrats !!

Thanks to both of you for the comments. You're very welcome to follow along. It was 48th kits that got me back into building armour, more than 15 years go. There are some really good kits in this scale, mostly from Tamiya.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

Before doing anything else to the model, I decided to tackle the problem of the engine deck, as this build stands or falls by this. The two part intake fan and mesh is I believe, only found on Tiran 5’s and Tiran 4’s that were based on the T-54B. The

T-54, and therefore early Tiran 4’s, had a single intake. So some surgery was required. I cut out the kit’s two part intake and cleaned up the resulting hole.

 

Next, I built up a series of strips on a piece of card, the same size as the hole. This was made up with 10x40thou strips, glued in place on edge, separated by 10x20thou strips glued flat.

 

Then three strips of 10x20thou strip were glued across, and it was fixed in place.

 

A piece of Accurate Armour etched brass diamond mesh was cut to size and super glued in place, and a frame of 10x30thou strip was glued around the outer edge. It’s not 100% accurate, but to me it looks right, so I’m happy with the result.

 

I also added another filler on the left, to the rear of the new intake.

 

I'm relieved that that worked out OK, otherwise a new kit might have been propelled out of the window.

 

John.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Bullbasket
wrong photo uploaded.

[Ernst]

The rate of progress is staggering. I have one question about the front fenders 10 thou rod you've applied. What kind of material and brand is that?

Ernst.

[Bullbasket]

42 minutes ago, Ernst said:

The rate of progress is staggering. I have one question about the front fenders 10 thou rod you've applied. What kind of material and brand is that?

Ernst.

Thanks Ernst. The 10thou rod is manufactured by a company called Slaters. It's a plastic rod, similar to other makers plastic rod, but with one difference. It can be bent to shape and it won't split. They are mainly a model railway products manufacturer, but their stuff is useful for all genrers of modelling. This is their website address; 

https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard.php

 

John.

[fatfingers]

Aye up John 

 

Really impressive bit of plastic engineering! 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

[Bullbasket]

On 08/05/2020 at 17:40, fatfingers said:

Aye up John 

 

Really impressive bit of plastic engineering! 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

Aye up Steve, and many thanks for the comment. I'll probably slow down a little with this for a while, as I want to try and get the M51 finished.

 

John.

[beefy66]

Great job on that grill there John 👍

 

beefy 

[Jasper dog]

Looks like your enjoying yourself John!

Always been wary about doing that sort of work in case it all goes belly up but you're making it look easy, even found myself browsing the Slaters web site for card and rod....

 

Nice original work.

 

Cheers

Darryl 

 

[Bullbasket]

4 hours ago, beefy66 said:

Great job on that grill there John 👍

 

beefy 

Thanks Beefy. The trouble is that now I'm wondering whether or not to replace the rear intake. Depends on how far I want to take it.

 

John.

4 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Looks like your enjoying yourself John!

Always been wary about doing that sort of work in case it all goes belly up but you're making it look easy, even found myself browsing the Slaters web site for card and rod....

 

Nice original work.

 

Cheers

Darryl 

 

Thanks Darryl. Yes, I usually do enjoy it when it goes well.

I've still got Slater's products from ancient times, when I used to build model railways. It really is good stuff and IMO, superior to a lot of other makers products.

 

John.

[BLACKCODE]

splendid !  I love those scratch conversion and improvement works  ! 👍

Edited May 11, 2020 by BLACKCODE

[Dads203]

Lovely scratch building John on the rear deck, very precise and tidy 

[beefy66]

On 5/10/2020 at 2:08 PM, Bullbasket said:

The trouble is that now I'm wondering whether or not to replace the rear intake. Depends on how far I want to take it.

 

I think for a visual point of view the rear grill would look better replaced if you could just get the squared mesh changed but how much work do you want to give yourself 

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Bullbasket]

18 hours ago, BLACKCODE said:

splendid !  I love those scratch conversion and improvement works  ! 👍

 

9 hours ago, Dads203 said:

Lovely scratch building John on the rear deck, very precise and tidy 

 

7 hours ago, beefy66 said:

I think for a visual point of view the rear grill would look better replaced if you could just get the squared mesh changed but how much work do you want to give yourself 

 

Stay Safe

beefy

Thanks everyone for the comments. Sorry for the delay in replying, but the internet has been down all day.....again!

As far as the rear intake is concerned, what I'm going to do is make up a new one, mounted on a piece of card, so that, that way, if it turns out to be a dogs breakfast, I can stay with the kit one. If it's OK, then I can cut the kit part out. It would have to have the same diamond mesh though, as that's the only one that I have to hand (must get some more).

Thanks again.

 

John.

[Hewy]

Well i was hoping for a bit of progress, but your moving on with this one  john, love those fenders, and the engine deck grill, thats a big improvement,  

[Bullbasket]

16 hours ago, Hewy said:

Well i was hoping for a bit of progress, but your moving on with this one  john, love those fenders, and the engine deck grill, thats a big improvement,  

Many thanks Glynn. I'm just finishing off the M51 at the moment, but I'm going to have a go at the rear intake grill in the next couple of days. Watch this space.

 

John.

[ScanmanDan]

I'm just loving' what you are doing and that intake is super!  I'm going to be cribing ideas for my build, so much goodness  .  I hope you are having fun because I'm enjoying the show.

 

Dan

[Bullbasket]

2 hours ago, ScanmanDan said:

 I hope you are having fun because I'm enjoying the show.

I certainly am. Many thanks Dan. Now that my M51 is almost finished, I will be returning to my Tiran and make a start on the fuel lines.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

And so it's back to the Tiran.

The rear hull plate needed some modifications before installing it. The two lugs, which are meant to support the log that comes with the kit, were removed, and the four holes along the top for attaching the fuel drums were filled with pieces of card.

 

I drilled holes into the three fuel cells and the side of the hull, to accept the fuel lines. These would be bent to shape using .33mm nickel silver wire.

This was one stage that really tested my patience to the limit. I made six attempts at getting the fuel lines correct. The problem was the nickel silver wire. It doesn’t like being bent too much. I had to do a 180 with the wire where it came out of the forward cell, and that’s where it kept snapping. So it was over to plan B, fuse wire. Ideally, I would have used 10amp wire, but I didn’t have any, so I used 15amp, and gripped it in two pairs of pliers and pulled until it stretched a little. The holes in the cells were enlarged to take the fuse wire, and after much bending and trying, I installed the fuel lines. To stay true to the original, for the rear most line that comes from the front cell, I used the nickel silver wire, as it is thinner.

 

 

One other booboo that I made was not installing the two curved extensions on the side of the hull for the turret to sit on. So I had to do some remedial work with the snippers and cut a bit out of the extension. Next update will have this photo.

I’m not entirely satisfied with the outcome, but you can only work with what you have.

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

 

 

[phildagreek]

Nice work on the fuel lines, it’s the little things!

[Bullbasket]

20 hours ago, phildagreek said:

Nice work on the fuel lines, it’s the little things!

Thanks Phil. Yes, they were a real beggar.

 

John.

[FrancisGL]

Hi John,

Regardless, it doesn't look too bad, and it's also a smaller scale, certainly an improvement.
I already asked on one occasion about this, and you were one of those who kindly commented on the correct way to do it (it was for the T-62), and I complained about how difficult it was, and why it was not included in series in mold...
Cheers and TC
Francis. 👍

 

[ScanmanDan]

Looking super John.  Those hard lines look great, I chickened out and used lead wire as I just got so angry it stopped being fun.  My hats off to you 'cause they look neater.  Enjoying your build very much.

Dan

[Ernst]

As said before, these fuel lines look the part. Especially in 1:48. What was your consideration to use nickel silver wire? Just curious, I once built the esci t55 and I didn't even attempt to upgrade it but I keep seeing these modifications.

Cheers,

Ernst.

[Jasper dog]

Nice plumbing John, service boilers too??

 

Coming along really well. 

 

Cheers

Darryl 

[Bullbasket]

19 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Hi John,

Regardless, it doesn't look too bad, and it's also a smaller scale, certainly an improvement.
I already asked on one occasion about this, and you were one of those who kindly commented on the correct way to do it (it was for the T-62), and I complained about how difficult it was, and why it was not included in series in mold...
Cheers and TC
Francis. 👍

 

Thanks Francis. At least now with the Takom and Miniart Tirans, they have included moulded fuel lines.

19 hours ago, ScanmanDan said:

Looking super John.  Those hard lines look great, I chickened out and used lead wire as I just got so angry it stopped being fun.  My hats off to you 'cause they look neater.  Enjoying your build very much.

Dan

Thanks Dan. Yes, they only took me six attempts!!

19 hours ago, Ernst said:

As said before, these fuel lines look the part. Especially in 1:48. What was your consideration to use nickel silver wire? Just curious, I once built the esci t55 and I didn't even attempt to upgrade it but I keep seeing these modifications.

Cheers,

Ernst.

Thanks Ernst. The only reason that I used the nickel silver wire was because that was all I had to hand. It's good for making grab handles, but not so good for this type of job where you need 180 turns. When I get the chance, I'll order some brass wire in various sizes.

8 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Nice plumbing John, service boilers too??

 

Coming along really well. 

 

Cheers

Darryl 

Thanks Darryl. Don't get me started on plumbing. My nemesis!!

 

John.