Tankograd mini

[Old pro]

After moving home it’s time to refurbish the casualties of the move, there is nothing major just little bits and pieces that have gone astray, luckily I have a ton of spare parts to fix things.

this early BMPT only has a few bits missing, nothing too drastic.

the T 80s from trumpeter haven’t fared too badly, but they are quite robust models.

The T 14 and T 15 apart from a couple of antennas are ok, they were never completely assembled anyway, the protective green is from Mig Ammo, doesn’t look too bad in the photos but is quite dark in real life, not sure whether it needs lightening or not.

these have been painted in the new AK protective green, again it the photos it looks not too bad, a slightly different shade but still looks darker in real life and probably need a thin lighter coat?

This T 14 probably fared the worst, antenna’s broken or missing, mg broken, slat armour dropped off, it was done as a bit of fun based on a photoshopped picture, the only Syrian flag I could find was in the SModels decal set in their Russian vehicles, however they are really thick and look more like stickers than decals no matter how much decal solution you put on them!

 

i will just update this thread as I get round to finishing something!

[echen]

Very nice builds.

[sardaukar]

good stuff, I like seeing these builds and nice thread title.

[Stef N.]

Agree with t'others, a very nice collection.👍👏

[Model Mate]

A very interesting set of vehicles and good looking models. I’m not up to speed with modern stuff, and there are some real oddities here. Nice work!

[Old pro]

13 hours ago, Model Mate said:

A very interesting set of vehicles and good looking models. I’m not up to speed with modern stuff, and there are some real oddities here. Nice work!

Best say what they all are then 😳😂

from the top

1. BMPT prototype 

2. T 80B

3. T 80BV

4. T 14 Armata 

5. T 15 HIFV

6. 2S35 coalition 

7. 2S19 MSTA

8. BTR Bumerang 

9. Kurganets 25 IFV

10. T 14 in Syrian colours for fun.

seeing as most of them apart from the T 80s and BMPT (in an updated guise) are not in service yet, I’m not surprised.

[Old pro]

Things to do, when you have plenty of other things that should be done!

i figure that none of these are going to be released anytime soon, so I started playing, first with a BMPT to bring it up to modern in service standard,

luckily the new side armour can be sourced elsewhere with a bit of modifications, the top row has to be scratched as it is larger than the kit supplied part, I will cast it in resin, don’t fancy making 14 of them. Unfortunately all the rest of the changes will have to be scratched (at times like these I sometimes wish I had a 3D printer)

 

Although the T 90 is available in various marks, T 90, T 90A, T 90MS and SM, there is no in service T 90M, using the Zvezda T 90MS kit, it requires some new bits, but having only pictures to work from things require a little jiggling.

here checking the turret armour, the left side the plates are all the same size, except the front one which slopes down, the right side has two different sizes and different from the left! but think I have managed to get it.

 

Finally, although Zvezda have released the T 72B3 the current in service variant differs substantially from the kit and requires new armour for the turret, which I made using drawings and plan to cast in resin, forgot to measure them against the kit though before making!

here are plastic representative of the width of the armour (seen on the rear deck) luckily it all fits! The Hull is the Zvezda MS hull that gives you the new ERA side skirts and engine exhaust, the APU has to be cut away and replaced with a T 72 style bin at the rear and changes to the Glacis but should be the quicker of the Trio.

[sardaukar]

6 hours ago, Old pro said:

Things to do, when you have plenty of other things that should be done!

i figure that none of these are going to be released anytime soon, so I started playing, first with a BMPT to bring it up to modern in service standard,

luckily the new side armour can be sourced elsewhere with a bit of modifications, the top row has to be scratched as it is larger than the kit supplied part, I will cast it in resin, don’t fancy making 14 of them. Unfortunately all the rest of the changes will have to be scratched (at times like these I sometimes wish I had a 3D printer)

 

Although the T 90 is available in various marks, T 90, T 90A, T 90MS and SM, there is no in service T 90M, using the Zvezda T 90MS kit, it requires some new bits, but having only pictures to work from things require a little jiggling.

here checking the turret armour, the left side the plates are all the same size, except the front one which slopes down, the right side has two different sizes and different from the left! but think I have managed to get it.

 

Finally, although Zvezda have released the T 72B3 the current in service variant differs substantially from the kit and requires new armour for the turret, which I made using drawings and plan to cast in resin, forgot to measure them against the kit though before making!

here are plastic representative of the width of the armour (seen on the rear deck) luckily it all fits! The Hull is the Zvezda MS hull that gives you the new ERA side skirts and engine exhaust, the APU has to be cut away and replaced with a T 72 style bin at the rear and changes to the Glacis but should be the quicker of the Trio.

 

some great looking builds here, I'm especially interested in the BMPT as I have been wondering what it would take to covert the Zvezda kit to the version we saw in Ukraine.

[Old pro]

14 hours ago, sardaukar said:

 

some great looking builds here, I'm especially interested in the BMPT as I have been wondering what it would take to covert the Zvezda kit to the version we saw in Ukraine.

A lot more than I originally thought, first you need two T 90MS kits, one for the lower hull as it is a later type and different on the rear to a T 72/90 (although you also need it for an up to date T 72B3 and T 90A) the second kit is to get the correct number of ERA panels on the skirts, (luckily I picked them up whilst they were still cheap, although I noticed they were going cheap on modelsforsale.com site) the top row has to be scratched, apart from that, the new stowage bins have to be built, they main part though are the changes to the turret, the gun shroud, although fairly simple in shape has a lot of ventilation holes that I have not found a good way of doing yet, the biggest change is around the front of the turret, it has a totally different layout than the kit, 3 stowage bins that are a different size to the one depicted on the kit and some ERA panels that need adding. I might have to bite the bullet and draw them in Fusion and see if I can get them printed, there are a few places in town that will print projects, don’t know the cost though ( I have a whole set for an upgraded Warrior that I could get done at the same time)

Still for me that’s part of why I model, to try and work out how to do these things😂

[Old pro]

Tank production has been ramped up, the assembly lines are running (so far)

 

Decided to have a blitz, got too many hanging round!

so we’ll start with the T 64s,

first up what will be a T 64A mod 69

 

next a T 64A mod 75

 

next a T64B

 

Next a T 64BV

 

And of course I can’t miss out the T 64AV (or what will be)

 

Then come the T 72s.

first a T 72 ural

 

Next a T 72A

 

Next some Syrian Battered T 72s a Ural and 2 T 72AVs

 

because they are so battered they might need a bit of support from a BREM 1

 

on a different track is a T 80U of the Cypriot national guard

 

On a completely different track, I have decided to upgrade my Challengers sorting out the horrible commander’s sight from the kits (amongst other things)

 

now you know how messy my mind is!

Edited March 7, 2023 by Old pro
Missing photo

[echen]

Great collection there! Will watch progress with interest.

[Old pro]

Update on the Syrian T 72, finally getting somewhere, more ERA to add still got the sandbags and rubble to add.

[Old pro]

New project for the up coming new year, spent nearly 6 months (on and off) trying to convert a Trumpeter T 80 into a BVM, the more I progressed the more I realised how much I needed to change, that and the 10% success rate I was having on casting the turret armour correctly. So I have decided to bite the bullet, until now I have kept away from 3D printed vehicles as my only foray was for the SSmodel BMP 2M Berezhok and that had some issues, the printing was fine and nicely rendered no flaws at all, the problem was in the design, first it is slightly too long and details in the wrong place, as a stand alone model the size in not a problem but when it has to sit with other BMP 2s it’s noticeable, but I can use the parts to convert a Smodels BMP 2.

 

So whilst trawling the internet I came across this T 80BVM and Bit the bullet, It was cheap enough that at least I could use some parts, but happily things turned out fine, it scales out nicely and fits in with my other T 80s and saves me a lot of headaches.

the hull comes as one piece with the side skirts and bar armour printed in place

the hull is also printed hollow so no worries about pools of uncured resin, I would have preferred it if the soft bag era was separate but can’t have everything.

the turret is likewise one piece with everything in place, with the exception of the main gun, commander’s cupola and a few small bits, the hatches are either open or closed

for some reason I got 3 cupola’s?

the tracks and wheels are a separate one piece prints and nicely detailed.

lastly the rear bar armour and fittings.

overall I am impressed, after seeing some horrors that pass for 3D printing I was relieved this wasn’t one of them, most only show renders this seller showed the printed version but there is always the chance between what they show and what you get! There are a great many vehicles in 3D not done in plastic and some 3D that are way better than the plastic version and these day not as expensive and sometimes cheaper.

[sardaukar]

Interesting, I've been dabbling with 3D prints, where did you get the BVM? In general plastic is nice to work with, resin not so much.

[Old pro]

2 hours ago, sardaukar said:

Interesting, I've been dabbling with 3D prints, where did you get the BVM? In general plastic is nice to work with, resin not so much.

This is my second 3D print, wasn’t overly impressed with the first, unlike plastic kits there aren’t a lot of reviews out there, usually you find out pretty quick problems on plastic kits, or you can trust a company to be fairly accurate in size if not detail. 3D prints on the other hand you never know, especially if the seller only shows renders of the products, I got this one because they actually showed a printed kit so I took a chance from this seller

 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ssn=dunax_5087&store_name=3dhobbymaster&_oac=1&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197

Communication was good and it arrived in 12 days at this time of year, he has a lot of interesting vehicles not available in plastic. One thing to beware though is that he is just a seller from various designers, some good some mediocre but he always shows the models and if you know what you’re looking for the mediocre ones with the most errors are easy to spot.

personally I prefer to work with plastic but my BVM conversion was turning more resin than plastic anyway 😂

[sardaukar]

Thanks for the link, I always find the relationship between Ebay.com and Ebay.co.uk a bit weird, you might think you will get all results if you just include international search results on Ebay.co.uk but I think sellers have to list on both and they are pretty much different systems so you won't find on both quite often.

[Yg Models]

same as my expect, contour lines on 3d print kit.

it is too small to sand for me😖, so not interested in 1/72 3d print AFV.

[Old pro]

4 hours ago, sardaukar said:

Thanks for the link, I always find the relationship between Ebay.com and Ebay.co.uk a bit weird, you might think you will get all results if you just include international search results on Ebay.co.uk but I think sellers have to list on both and they are pretty much different systems so you won't find on both quite often.

Yeah that baffled me for ages, click on sellers other items in .co.uk and you get nothing but 10 pages on .com? I found them actually by using Google search and then shopping, I never got any results from searching eBay, only really bad ones and this shop

https://badger3d.co.uk

they make a few of their own, any that say “Badger sett studios” are apparently their own design, others can be found on cults3D a site (where if you have your own printer) you can download load files. Their own designs are supposed to be nice one piece prints, according to those that have them.

[Old pro]

4 hours ago, Yg Models said:

same as my expect, contour lines on 3d print kit.

it is too small to sand for me😖, so not interested in 1/72 3d print AFV.

Not sure what you mean? But the photos exaggerate the marks, a good undercoat will hide most of them, the only real problem ones are on the front rubber fender and they will be easy to eradicate, but you get what you pay for. The more expensive 3D Models don’t have the print contours but you are paying 2-3 times the price, I find these ones perfectly acceptable. Most cast resin models are moulds of 3D prints these days.

[Yg Models]

i know >95% of current resin kit are design, mould from 3D prototype. i accept this if in "big scale" kit, that the maker could sand those contour lines, repair the deform, sharper the edges, etc before cast the mould for actual resin kit. But this is difficult to be done on miniatures, 1/72 AFV, etc. Even the maker try to sand/repair 3d print prototype, it is too small to work on it, or broke during sand. This also the same problem i face in 3d print miniatures or 1/72 AFV.

 

i understand contour lines are related to price. pay higher could get less contour lines. that why i not interested in 1/72 3D print AFV even it prints a new AFV haven't published in injection / resin ver.

[Old pro]

I was specifically talking about 1/72 and smaller resin kits, OKB etc are all 3D designed and then cast from prints, even short run kit makers use 3D prints to make the moulds such as Ace and ARMORY and possibly others.

overall I’m not keen on resin products, sometimes difficult to work with or if there are faults difficult to correct but when you only model certain subjects the choice is limited, my fingers don’t like me scratch building anymore. Out of the 2 3D models I have bought, I was disappointed with the first but happier with this, it’s not flawless and has some errors that need correcting but given the months I’ve been trying to convert a plastic model into one of these. But each to his own, there is no right or wrong as long as you enjoy what your doing.

[Milan Mynar]

Nice collection.

[Old pro]

Just got hold of the T 90M from Zeus models, a very nicely printed model with no visible striations, not 100%perfect so I will keep on with my own conversion.

the tracks come as one piece and slot securely into the lower hull.

the upper hull fits on top (probably better once I clear all the attachment points up)

everything is just placed at the moment, I wanted to get an idea of how the fit was, so far there are no problems and fit is perfect.

everything just drops into place, once cleaned up will fit perfect.

The bar armour is also supplied.

the netting around the turret is supplied as PE.

there is the option to add the 4S22 soft ERA bags so often seen, as you can see all parts come crammed onto one plate, however removal is easy, there doesn’t seem to be nearly as many attachment points as other 3D printed kits, although you hav3 to be careful as there are items such as antenna hidden in between or under the main parts.

[sardaukar]

looks really nice, I think my printer could do this, just slight problem of getting the files. files are the new moulds.

[Old pro]

8 hours ago, sardaukar said:

looks really nice, I think my printer could do this, just slight problem of getting the files. files are the new moulds.

If you are lucky to get a proper file! The plate is 125mm X 105mm