Sardaukar's tank, AFV and wheelie thing factory

[badger]

48 minutes ago, sardaukar said:

Ive been playing around with the mantlet from the PST kit, I dont like the angle of the Revell mantlet (too steep).

 

I've been looking at this and think I'll try casting up some of the Ammo T-54 mantlets as its a separate part, rather than faffing around with the blackdog one.  

[sardaukar]

On 08/10/2021 at 21:58, badger said:

 

I've been looking at this and think I'll try casting up some of the Ammo T-54 mantlets as its a separate part, rather than faffing around with the blackdog one.  

 

I did some test fitting with the Ammo mantlet and it is quite a bit wider than the space in the trumpeter turret, could maybe be made to work with some filing.

[sardaukar]

Hello peeps.

 

I managed to get some more time on the Tiran 5 this week and I'm pleased with progress so far.

 

 

The OMSh tracks from the Ammo kit are now on, this didnt go too badly and I think it may have been a single link less than fitting them to the Ammo T-54, I did not use the Ammo jig. The ammo kit has a ton of spare links which I used on the turret etc.

 

The top hull is now attached, Im still working on the headlights and guard and trying to replicate the changes the IDF made. I made a bit of a mess filling the holes for the headlight guard, to be cleaned up. Tow cables still to come.

 

I'm quite pleased with the turret so far, I went with the mantlet from the PST kit. I'm largely basing the build on the Tamiya Tiran 5 instructions which has the commanders hatch reversed, removing the Trumpeter's command hatch and putting it back on in reverse was a bit tricky and Im surprised it worked as well as it did, I did have the hatch from the PST kit to use as a spare.

 

All the white turret furniture parts are from the ACE Tiran sprue, which needed major clean up and some adjustment to fit properly. 

 

That's the Zedval barrel, I wanted it to be sitting almost flat, however the play in the turret ring and the weight of the barrel drag the front down, although I have a few ideas on how to fix this.

 

The green jerry cans are of course from the Italeri T-55 kit (I got a few of these kits when they were 10 quid at Jadlam)

 

Scratch built copper wiring and micro strip detailing.

 

Now for the turret, I am thinking about improving the two antennas, will it be washing up brush hairs or something else....

 

But the main question is how many browning machine guns will it get and how to mount them, and where will they come from.  I still fancy having the coax .50 cal and two .30 cals, one for the loader and one for the commander, the ones from the ACE Tiran sprue dont look too sharp, but it does have mounts which maybe useable. I do have some resin ones, or maybe another kit.

 

I am missing fire extinguishers, anyone know a good source? 

 

Cheers and thanks for looking in.

[badger]

9 hours ago, sardaukar said:

 

I did some test fitting with the Ammo mantlet and it is quite a bit wider than the space in the trumpeter turret, could maybe be made to work with some filing.

I'll give it a try - just waiting on some RTV rubber to arrive as my silicone putty keeps leaving small dimples in the mould (presumably from excess silicone that is trapped).

 

Great progress on the Tiran - loving how this has come together as it's exactly my kind of kitbash build.

 

As to the fire extinguishers I think these are also in the Italeri kit. I seem to remember having something that looked like them left over when I built mine.

As for machine guns- do you have the Academy 2 1/2 6x6 US truck kit as this c9mes with a weapons set with some 30cals and 50cals?

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/academy-13402-us-2-1-2-ton-6x6-cargo-truck-and-accessories--146992

 

An idea to balance the turret - could you fix some weights to the inside rear? Old fishing weights or a car tyre balancing weight would be ideal

 

Overall a great job 

 

Ben

[sardaukar]

53 minutes ago, badger said:

Great progress on the Tiran - loving how this has come together as it's exactly my kind of kitbash build.

Thanks, it does remind me of putting together space marines from a bunch of different boxes to get the look, pose or loadout I wanted.

54 minutes ago, badger said:

As to the fire extinguishers I think these are also in the Italeri kit. I seem to remember having something that looked like them left over when I built mine.

Ah I see them now, part number 3 and there are 4 of them, well spotted, thanks.

58 minutes ago, badger said:

As for machine guns- do you have the Academy 2 1/2 6x6 US truck kit as this c9mes with a weapons set with some 30cals and 50cals?

This is a kit I don't have...yet, thanks for the tip.

1 hour ago, badger said:

An idea to balance the turret - could you fix some weights to the inside rear? Old fishing weights or a car tyre balancing weight would be ideal

I was thinking a piece of shim under the turret front, or use the weight idea and hide it in the turret basket for a bit more leverage. I haven't talked about storage yet and it might look a bit sparse to leave the turret basket empty anyway.

 

Cheers and thanks for the advice.

[sardaukar]

Not much new to post yet.

 

My Tiran 5 does have fire extinguishers now courtesy of the Italeri T-55 kit.

 

Today is payday. So I ended up ordering one of the academy 2 & 1/2 6x6 truck kits from kingkit however around 6 other kits sneaked in there including the more modern 2 & 1/2 truck and the HEMTT from Academy, some IBG British armour and a surprise bargain of the Dragon Tarawa M4A2 Sherman for £9.50 (this must've been a pricing error but they seem to have honoured it).

 

I cracked open my Italeri Magach 6 (A Tiranised M60? ) which has the same machine gun loadout as I am planning for the Tiran 5 all I will say is that kit has some serious failings, it has the same wheel issues as the Esci T-62, the jacketed barrel on the box art is not actually included in the kit even though there is a choice of two barrels. But as for the machine guns the .30 cals are fairly basic and barely recognisable as such and have no ammo boxes despite the ammo boxes being present on the box art. so the Magach kit didnt get raided for its brownings after all. I do still have a plan to build a Magach out of it and a Revell M60 kit. So I'll wait and see what the brownings in the academy deuce and a half kit are like.

 

On the T-54/55 front I may take a break after the Tirans and build something else, however after looking at the miniart Croatian T-55A kit instructions on scalemates I went and bought Star Decals 1/72 Cro-Army T-55 decals set, the Croatians had some cool camo's and who doesn't want a coat of arms on a tank?

[badger]

On 14/10/2021 at 11:13, sardaukar said:

Thanks, it does remind me of putting together space marines from a bunch of different boxes to get the look, pose or loadout I wanted.

Been doing this myself this week as I've been building some for the new edition of Kill Team 

 

Glad it was the fire extinguishers on the Italeri sprue - wonder if they plan on releasing a Tiran?

 

Sounds like a fair haul you have on the way. Thats a very good price for the Dragon Sherman - they've been going for silly money on ebay.

Tetra model works do an etch set for the Hemtt (it's actually for a different version) that gives the grille over the front. I can dig it out of the stash if you are interested and send some photo?

 

With regards to the Esci M60 - the blackdog Magach conversion will fit this (it doesn't fit the Revell kit unless you trim the underside of the turret!) and provides new wheels and tracks.

OKB Grigorov do a replacement set of hard plastic running gear and tracks for the Italeri kit - it was pretty cheap although sadly I think he has stopped posting to the UK.

Alternatively your plan of kitbashing it onto a Revell one sounds good. 

 

The Croatian markings are very cool. Miniart do a Croatian T-55 kit in 1/35 and you can download the instructions from their website. As far as I understand it some were Soviet built, others were Czech or Polish. 

There's a thread here that explains how you can identify the variant by the ID number

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/balkan-marina-t-55-qs-t129729.html

 

If the tank you want to build has the newer style of track the Revell kit would be the better starting point as it has the option of Soviet or Czech engine decks. If you need the older tracks go with Trumpeter and if need be I can send you a set of the Czech deck which can be made to fit with a bit of work.

 

All the best 

Ben

[badger]

7 minutes ago, badger said:

With regards to the Esci M60 - the blackdog Magach conversion will fit this (it doesn't fit the Revell kit unless you trim the underside of the turret!) and provides new wheels and tracks.

Scratch that - the Blackdog set only gives the outer wheels and Merkava style tracks - it doesn't give the inner wheels or suspension mounts you'd need to correct the Italeri kit

[sardaukar]

8 hours ago, badger said:

Been doing this myself this week as I've been building some for the new edition of Kill Team 

Primaris or firstborn? I have to say but the introduction of Primaris put me off the hobby and are indirectly responsible for me getting into scale modelling. I got into 40k a few years back after a gap of about 20 years, within a few years I built up a marine collection my teenage self could only dream of, then Primaris happened. I disliked the lore being used to justify a whole new range of models which would make your older ones look crap, now if they had just started making the normal marines bigger it would have been better. The shift to monopose sculpts also annoyed me.

Anyway with lockdown I was feeling the urge to do something with my hands again and refound scale modelling, no one is ever going to retcon my tank collection out of history and no one owns the IP for history either. Anyway rant over . Although I am quite tempted to paint a few marines with my airbrush that I never had in the space marine days.

[badger]

10 minutes ago, sardaukar said:

Primaris or firstborn? I have to say but the introduction of Primaris put me off the hobby and are indirectly responsible for me getting into scale modelling. I got into 40k a few years back after a gap of about 20 years, within a few years I built up a marine collection my teenage self could only dream of, then Primaris happened. I disliked the lore being used to justify a whole new range of models which would make your older ones look crap, now if they had just started making the normal marines bigger it would have been better. The shift to monopose sculpts also annoyed me.

Anyway with lockdown I was feeling the urge to do something with my hands again and refound scale modelling, no one is ever going to retcon my tank collection out of history and no one owns the IP for history either. Anyway rant over . Although I am quite tempted to paint a few marines with my airbrush that I never had in the space marine days.

Sad to say they're Primaris. I subscribed to the Conquest partwork mag a couple of years ago as I wanted the Death Guard.

I'm not over much for the Primaris myself having been a Dark Angels player for the last 25+ years. 

 

I cant abide the size discrepancy so have no intention of using them in any of my "proper" marine armies. Kill Team has meant I finally have a use for them as I can model them as some of the Primaris only chapters and actually get to game with them.

 

I got into GW years ago when I ran out of 1/72 armour to build (this was the early 90s and the only real options were matchbox, airfix and hasegawa).

I still dabble in it from time to time when I fancy a break from "real" subjects

[sardaukar]

9 hours ago, badger said:

Thats a very good price for the Dragon Sherman - they've been going for silly money on ebay.

Tetra model works do an etch set for the Hemtt (it's actually for a different version) that gives the grille over the front. I can dig it out of the stash if you are interested and send some photo?

 

Yeah I get the feeling someone made a typo in the listing price. 

 

I was able to see the photoetch pics online but thanks for the offer. I don't have a plan for this kit yet, Id love to build a guntruck based on the Hemtt at some point. In fact that might be what happens to the M35

 

I think that is the rumour that Italeri or whoever they bought the T-55 molds from were planning, lets hope so.

 

Thanks for the tips on the magach one for the future.

 

I need to do more research on Croatian T-55s but I was wondering if I could use the italeri kit as a base for it as I haven't attempted a build with it yet. And there is still that enigma to finish.

[sardaukar]

Hello

 

I started this post to proclaim I'd finished the main build only to realise I havent added the tow cables yet.  There is nothing like putting a few pics online to spot flaws. Other than that I think everything else is done except filling those two storage bins with interesting stuff, I have a few bits and bobs coming from ebay.

 

 

Since last I modified the Revell headlights which you cant really see now and created the IDF headlight guard and cover out of the heavily modified Revell part and some plasticard.

 

I redid the linkage between the barrel and the IR searchlight which didnt look right.

 

I glued a small square of plasticard under the front of the turret which offsets the forward tilt due to the weight of the gun.

 

A couple of hairs from my washing up brush as antenna again.

 

But the biggest part was the 3 Brownings, the .50 cal came from the accessory set below which I'd originally dismissed as being too modern, although the ammo box was from the ace kit. The two .30 cals I found in my aftermarket stash, they are resin from an ebay shop called scalefiend, they actually have very good detail. The machine gun mounts were a combination of the ace kit parts and scratch built.

 

I think I will paint it before adding the bin stowage

 

cheers and thanks for looking.

 

 

[sardaukar]

Tow cables now on and ready for painting.

 

Family photo with the still unfinished older brother the Tiran 4.

 

Cheers

 

[sardaukar]

Hello folks

 

Finishing off the Tirans has stalled somewhat, both tanks are now base coated in IDF sand grey 73 from Vallejo model air. I was looking to do decals next however Im not happy with the ones I have, as far as I know no one does 1/72 Tiran Decals I was hoping to use some other decals however they all seem to be designed for IDF tanks with more surface area, magach, merkava isherman etc.

 

Ive ordered some more decals including a sheet of 1/87 decals which may work better...I hope.

 

In the meantime we have the boyband photo below, those PST tracks on the Tiran 4 look really shonky now, compared with the Ammo tracks on the Tiran 5. More paint and pigments!!!

 

 

I'm taking a bit of a break from the T-54/55 line and have started a Takom Chieftain Mk.5. I've no idea around accuracy however I will say it is a very nice kit so far. I plan to make it a Kuwaiti Mk. 5k from the Martyrs Brigade which was a major part of Chieftains Combat service life and I love the back to the wall combat history of the Brigades performance at the Battle of the Bridges during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.

 

 

The Chieftain comes with an FV432 no plans for that yet.

 

Cheers

 

Sardaukar (or Calum)

 

[Bullbasket]

12 hours ago, sardaukar said:

Finishing off the Tirans has stalled somewhat, both tanks are now base coated in IDF sand grey 73 from Vallejo model air. I was looking to do decals next however Im not happy with the ones I have, as far as I know no one does 1/72 Tiran Decals I was hoping to use some other decals however they all seem to be designed for IDF tanks with more surface area, magach, merkava isherman etc.

 

Hi Calum. Try contacting Peddinghaus Decals. He will custom make decals for you if you supply him with any relevant photos, profiles or drawings. He's done it for me a few times and, if memory serves right, charged me 15 euros plus postage.

He also does several IDF sets which may contain some markings which would be of use to you. Have a look here; https://www.peddinghaus-decals.de/decals-for-tanks-and-vehicles/?view_mode=default&listing_sort=&listing_count=96  There are loads to scroll through though

The Tirans look great BTW.

 

John.

 

[sardaukar]

42 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

Hi Calum. Try contacting Peddinghaus Decals. He will custom make decals for you if you supply him with any relevant photos, profiles or drawings. He's done it for me a few times and, if memory serves right, charged me 15 euros plus postage.

He also does several IDF sets which may contain some markings which would be of use to you. Have a look here; https://www.peddinghaus-decals.de/decals-for-tanks-and-vehicles/?view_mode=default&listing_sort=&listing_count=96  There are loads to scroll through though

The Tirans look great BTW.

 

John.

 

Hi John

 

Thanks for the tip, it's actually peddinghaus decals I have although the generic IDF numbers are too large for where I want to put them so I went for the 1/87 set. I'll see how they are , and I will keep the custom decals in mind for future projects. Like an SLA tiran.

 

Cheers

 

Calum

[badger]

Great progress and they look good together.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Vallejo paints - wasn't aware they had done a set of IDF colours.

 

The Takom Chieftain looks a fantastic kit - be following this as it's my all time favourite tank!

 

Hope the decals work out for you when they arrive 

 

All the best

Ben

[sardaukar]

54 minutes ago, badger said:

Great progress and they look good together.

Thanks Ben

55 minutes ago, badger said:

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Vallejo paints - wasn't aware they had done a set of IDF colours.

Hmm which version of sand grey 🤔

 

The chieftain is a good looking tank, no doubt about that.

[sardaukar]

Hi Folks

 

It has been a while, but time to resurrect this thread and at least finish of something I started here.

 

My Tiran 5 has some decals and weathering on it now, still a way to go some some basic pics for now.

 

 

Cheers

 

Calum

[Yg Models]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:05 AM, sardaukar said:

But first I thought Id share what is on my shelf(s) of doom. This includes all models that are in a finished construction state waiting to get paint applied or at some point in the painting progress.

 

i like the first two tank on right hand side of first photo? what is their name?

 

 

I choose AFV from "appearance", no specific country or army is my favorite😛

 

 

i see you get the "Morser KARL- Geraet 040/041 Late chassis", not buy its "German Rail Trabsporter", "Munitionsschlepper Pz.Kpfw. IV" too?😬

 

 

btw, the Ammo's T-54B just same as the takom ver.

and the M1114 i chose is out of stock.😂

Edited July 29, 2022 by Yg Models

[sardaukar]

8 minutes ago, Yg Models said:

 

i like the first two tank on right hand side of first photo? what is their name?

 

 

I choose AFV from "appearance", no specific country or army is my favorite😛

 

 

btw, the Ammo's T-54B just same as the takom ver.

and the M1114 i chose is out of stock.😂

 

The below? the two on the right are an ESCI/Italeri British Valentine and a Hasegawa British Crusader. The Valentine can be difficult to find these days as Italeri have not reissued it for a few years. The Crusader has been issued by Hasegawa and Revell both not so easy to find however S-models do a very nice crusader (for a quick build kit) in a few boxings. IBG also have several Crusader based kits.

 

 

A link to my S-models crusader.

 

 

[sardaukar]

26 minutes ago, Yg Models said:

i see you get the "Morser KARL- Geraet 040/041 Late chassis", not buy its "German Rail Trabsporter", "Munitionsschlepper Pz.Kpfw. IV" too?😬

 

The Morser Karl is big enough on its own and its one of the few Girls und Panzer 'tanks' I am missing from my collection.

 

26 minutes ago, Yg Models said:

I choose AFV from "appearance", no specific country or army is my favorite😛

 

Ugly tanks need love too 

 

27 minutes ago, Yg Models said:

btw, the Ammo's T-54B just same as the takom ver.

 

Yeah I have the Takom T-54B and Transporter kit in the stash, I do have a soft spot for tank Transporter kits especially when they come with a tank, although never actually built one yet.

[echen]

@sardaukar. I like your WWII collection, the type I mainly build myself.

Your Tiran 5 is progressing very well too.

[sardaukar]

8 minutes ago, echen said:

@sardaukar. I like your WWII collection, the type I mainly build myself.

Your Tiran 5 is progressing very well too.

 

Hi Echen, my collection is all over the place these days. Thanks for the comments on the Tiran 5 I haven't touched it in almost 6 months now, I need to get it finished and in RFI.

 

Cheers

[sardaukar]

Hello

 

Having finished off some group builds I want to try and get some models actually called done my shelf of doom contains models in all states of completeness many with paint on.

 

I had finally got the decals on my Tiran 5, using some suitable ones from generic sets of peddinghaus.

 

Additional weathering has been done but what was really holding me up was filling the two storage 'hammocks' with interesting stuff and actually getting it painted.

 

Anyway I settled on some bits.

 

 

 

Most of the bits are from various ebay sources, Reddog mainly I think. The two ammo cans are from the a set of modern military equipment from T-Model.

 

I got them painted up with a combination of Vallejo Model Color paints and citadel paints.

 

And I think I can pretty much call the Tiran 5 done.