1/72 T90A

[RichBuilds]

Hi folks. My first go at modern Russian armour so I'm going for the classic T90A in my usual scale of 1/72. There'll be a dio too once I've thought of something.

On with the build.

The kit. Revell Russian Battle Tank T-90A. I'll be building it as 20th Guards Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade, Volgorad, North Caucasus Military District, Russia, 2010 (It sez ere...)



There's lots of little bits... Nice and clean, good plastic, great detail. Some of the pieces are very delicate...



There were a few pin marks but no-where where it matters:



My plan was to build it oob and then see if it needed any further detailing. I'm definitely no expert, but it looks pretty good to me:





Things were progressing swimmingly and I had just received delivery of my Russian colours when I was struck by my old nemisis, the carpet monster!

Each of the wheels is made up of two halves, and Mr C. Monster got one of the front facing plates.

Fortunately, I've done a bit of casting and knocked up a quick plasticard frame. I cast 4 copies on two sides. The pieces are two sided so my plan was to sand down a front and back 1/2 and glue them together. Thinking about it after the event, I could have cast it stood up and saved myself a bit of work. I was a bit worried about the state of my resin as I'd not used it in over a year though and wondered if it might be too brittle to pull out of the mold...





The RTV doesn't take too long to cure to the point where you can remove the masters. I let it finish curing over night.



My worries about the resin were unfounded and I got a couple of good casts but failed to fill under the rims of the back 1/2's...



Oh well, nothing wrong with the molds so I tried again. I think I wasted more resin than I used because it's hard to work with small amounts.

I ended up with 2 front and backs I could (a spare in case I mess us the first one). I sanded the backs down using Ultimate sanders...



Lots of sanding and dry fitting later, I got 2 halves of a front halve of a wheel which I glued together with thick CA to help gap fill around the edge.

I stuck it on the end of the row of wheels so it wasn't surrounded on both sides by real wheels to be compared against



All that's left to do is to assemble the tracks. These are the first solid tracks that you soften in warm water and wrap round the wheels I've tried. This could end disastrously...

[Kingdan]

Nice rich like the quick thinking the wheel looks bang on


Dan

[RichBuilds]

After days of poor weather (I undercoat outside) and working during daylight it took a while to get the painting started. I still had to attach the tracks, they come in 4 pieces and allegedly bend in hot water. Messed up the first one a bit while I got the hang of it...



Undercoat is poundland primer.



Here's my weapons of choice for the base colours.



First a black preshade.



Then a post war russian green base coat.



My H&S Ultra was a bit spitty with the light grey, fortunately I could clean up the edges with the black...





Lighter for scale...





Next up, decals (I've already gloss varnished where they'll go) & chipping...

[TommyKillander]

Looks awesome !

Great job with the roadwheel


Tommy

[Sturm]

Wonderful! Looks like a nice kit.

[PrivateMansoor]

Looking very nice. Youve set the standard for 1/72 armour. Ill be doing a T 54 soon. Will be following your work for inspiration.

[modelingaddict82]

Absolutely fanstastic build and now i have another kit to add to my wants lol

[Timplastic]

Nice work rich
Well done on the casting you saved your self a big problem there

[sneakyseafox]

sweet paint job on something that small

[RichBuilds]

Update:

Decals on!


Chopping using vallejo german black brown and a sponge:



Gloss coat & Lamp Black + Burnt Umbra oil wash:



Cleaning off most of the wash:



Matt coat and tidy up some details and done till I can get the dio sorted...

[TheSmoo]

lovely detail and painting and weathering on such a tiny kit, looking forwards to your dio

Terry

[martin57]

nice work rich sore this on the hang out last night