Iosef´s last Tank, Meng 1:35 T-10M Heavy tank(IS-10)

[Scaleman]

Finally 6 days in I was able to Haggle a bit to get this this beauty. Ill start working on it right away. I dont have a layout yet for a base or dio, but that will come as the build goes. I plan to make it somewhat worn from the little info I have been able to read they were somewhat obsolete as soon as they came into service and more of a propaganda beast. There is a few Inbox rewievs of this so I will take some pictures of what you get in the box and focus more on the build and fit or lack of and the really nice details I can see as a first glance . For starters everything looks superbe top of the line by the looks of it, Meng continues to impress and push ahead to be the leading plastic model manufacturer. Im going to find some reference and start with the basic stuff like the lower hull and weels. 2 things people might not like about this kit is the 2 pice barrel and the billion part workable tracks Personally I dont have an issue with any of those but of cause a metal barrel wuld be nice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-10_tank

[ThomasBrown]

I had heard some good things about this kit. Surprises me to see the split two piece barrel. Will you use it or buy an after market barrel?

[TommyKillander]

Looks like a great kit!

Good luck with the build!


Tommy

[Scaleman]

I had heard some good things about this kit. Surprises me to see the split two piece barrel. Will you use it or buy an after market barrel?

I will still use the barrel, yes its a shame but by TET melting the plastic It shuld be fine after a few sweeps with the Ultimate sanders. The musslebreak is still one pice.

[Scaleman]

Looks like a great kit!

Good luck with the build!


Tommy

Thank you Tommy always apriciate your support, Im coming by your table and say hi too

[Scaleman]

So Iwe put most of the lower hull and tortionbars together, everything is fully workable so you can put some weights in your tank and pose it, Im going too look for something suitable like some lead strips. The road weels come in 2 female halfs, Wich is very unconventional, as we all know road weels always have a male and a female connection, and location pin. Anyway beeing careful this is not a problem for the average modeller, and I used revell contacta as I like to do on weels etc when I want a thicker glue. Everything else went smooth, I had to remove the location pins on the tow cable hooks Im going to place them later to align them with the upper hull. I like to check reference photos for details on upper hull and turret. Im startin to cut out the tracks and did a test run with the jig that comes with the kit, this was perfect just like the T-90, when you see all the tracks its kind of scary but once you start you will find that the tracks are perfectly molded with the injector pins on the conecting parts of the track wich are not that visible, leaving the pads without any sink marks etc. There is a inner pin and a outer pin, there is 87 on each side, you put them in the jig and just push them in with little effort. This will give you fully workable tracks, I wont glue mine untill later, but with gentle handeling the shuld be fine, they feel pretty solid. Im doing reserch for a little diorama, will post some ideas later, but as of now its cold war, berlin wall, as it was there most of them was stationed.

[Scaleman]

More progress.

The drive sprocket has 2 options, this one is for 4 of 5 of the decal/paint options.

Tracks are done, very smooth, there is about 4 extra pin rows so dont go crazy if you break some.


The 2 pice barrel glued together and the seam is gone without filler just some swipe with the sanders. But the barrel seems a bit short The test fit of upper and lower hull and turret is flawless.

I tried to catch the fine details with my camera, but to describe the cast parts have different texture, it seems like its hand sculpted both little pricks and marks, to describe it un generic, very well done.

Fuel barrels and smoke barrels, I have no idea how they fiered them off, been serching like crazy online, but I cant imagine they wuld venture out of the tank and set them off, vey strange. If someone knows pls tell.

Well this picture speaks for itself, you dont put the sprugates on that type of detail, this is also a issue on the barrel lids. Hoping there wont be too much more of that .

Tool boxes, got detail inside and very thin lids, you culd add detail, if you can find a picture of the inside.

[Dunhill2005]

This kit looks great!!!
I wish I had those tracks

[Scaleman]

Some more building a very slow progress, I have spent most of it cleaning up tiny parts and trying to keep them intact, Its a very fiddily kit but Im enjoying the build part so not a big issue for me. Everything fits so after taking your time with cleanup, theres not much of this .
More pictures and some heads up If and when you build this kit.


A little blurry but theese are the ammo cases, the little nub shuld be cut of completley and sanded flat, in the instructions it tells you to only take of the tip. The kit gives you 4 of theese you only need 3 the 2 on the turret sides shuld be cut of, the ones for the turret machinegun I do not know yet, the real thing looks a bit different.



Sorry for the blurr on theese, but they serve their purpouse, The fender sides ponted out by the tweezer, DONT try to glue them in afterwards, they have a little bit of a fit issue and its made worse by not gluing them in before assembeling upper and lower hull. I will work on theese some more with some CA glue and bending Its not a huge gap but I like to do something if I can.




Som of the details are on, What looks like a lid on the hull side needs a lid, scratch build or a unmarked PE lit, Ill get back to that later aswell in more detail. The barrels in the back are a bit wonky, you can glue them down straight but you still have to adjust them, they dont need to be perfect, unless you have a brand new tank, the reference pictures suggest theese must have been replaced from ware and tear quite often as the are mostly quite bent and beaten.

Few more details go on the hull and then Ill add all the PE, Im also working on the turret detail, to prepare for PE, I like to read ahead, and do as much PE at the same time as possible, a bit of painting is also requierd in the periscopes, unless you want the back of your periscopes to be the same colour as your tank.

[Scaleman]

All the Details and PE Is on and the tank is now primed waiting for further orders, while I finnish my F-16 build. I found some Tamiya figures form the old T-34 70´s kit that suprisingly fit wery well.




Guy pointing the machinegu didnt make the final cut.


I primed With Valejo olive drab caus I have run out of black primer, Im stull using up the Valejo primers, for things that wont need masking. But I have not had any problems with the olive drab such as the black valejo primer. More pics to come when its time to paint.

[Scaleman]

Here is the rest of the build pictures, Iwe been having some tecnical problems as my phone is fighting me and also with Photobucket so Iwe finally been able to get back to posting this. When you last saw this the T10 was in primer. I painted it with some Tamiya greens, and used hairspray tecnique for the cross, After some reserch I found different styles of the while markings and it was also put on a bit sloppy, so Iwe been trying to get the effect of worn runny sort of chalk paint. Anyway here is the rest of the pics.


Trumpeter boxart and cross not reaching all the way up.


The real tank with some different details, like no stowage box and what looks like extra water barrels above the fuel barrels and smoke barrels, but with the cross like the trumpeter boxart. I only found T-55´s with the full cross.



Started off with mixing white flat green and feild grey, and lighting it up on the top surfaces.




I masked off roughly as the paint will be scuffed wit a soft brush to chip it, and add highlights by brush painting some of the white chips, then filled in with oilpaints to create a hand painted and worn look that has been washed from rain etc. I spray the white lightly, and let it dry for maximum 15 min, then use a soft brush, this gives you full control, and you wont have to work up a sweat, Tamiya flat white has worked really well for me.


Focusing on the sharp edges, where the crew works, and areas that can get scraped, the small scratches are made with a tothpick.


All in gloss Im really happy with it cause I dont normally gloss but I think I got it now, It needs to be painted wet on the edge of dripping, practice makes perfect i guess.

The final weathering was made with some Artist oils washes filters and pigments.
The Final pictures will be up just after this.