T-80BV 6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade
When examining the few online pictures, it is immediately clear how different the colors are in different lighting conditions. This one is very brightly blue for example.
Here the blue seems more grayish, but the green is darker.
Here are all the colors quite warm in tone...
...whereas this picture shows the colors colder and more subdued.
I went for these colors in the end, because they seem more 'realistic', even in the sunny moment this picture was taken.
While firing up Primeportal.net to find some reference pictures, I found the Trumpeter kit to be quite detailed and accurate for the simple kit it really is. The parts breakdown looks simplified, but all the essentials for a 1/72 scale kit are present!
This is the kit in it's main components with only the hull glued together.
Adding bits and blobs the kits starts to look like an ERA-ed T-80 by now.
Set on the intended Trumpeter display base ground plate.
Here I started playing with the different color callouts in the Trumpeter and Revell instructions (Thanks Scalemates!) and came up with these colors mixed from Mr. Color Lacquers.
Judging them against these pictures, they might be a bit off, but I find them very close to the cover picture colors.
So, off to the spray booth it is! The finished subassemblies are gradually receiving their paint. Final color separation will be masked when assembled.
The tracks with their outer road wheels are just one slide molded part and beautifully executed! Looking at pictures new tracks are coated in gloss black. Strange to see, but nonetheless accurate. These tanks were well kept and parade ready, so no overly weathering needed/wanted.
after a little creative masking the wheel hubs look quite colorful and even a bit cartoonish.
The separate inner road wheels have a better defined wheel rim, which makes masking a breeze...
In the pictures side panels with Russian flags can be seen. Trumpeter gives these as decals, but not the panels themselves. A couple of minutes cutting plastic card et voilá! The IR light cover decal came from a generic Modelcollect decal sheet.
I wanted the tank to sit in an industrial rail yard, ready to be loaded onto a wagon. This is why I painted up the base plastic sheet to be different types of asphalt. Some more weathering is needed on the lighter part as I want that to look older than the darker fresh patch.
The kit also doesn't come with the distinctive glacis mud flaps. These are fabricated from the plastic sheets dividing prosciutto in its packaging.
While having a Modelcollect box open, I found the T-72 lights in it to look far better than the trumpeter lumps (lights AND cages) and decided to choose those instead. On their part these parts decided to go on an adventure in my carpet. Took an afternoon of persuasion to ask them back onto my desk...
Still not happy with the Modelcollect cages, I ordered this Hauler set designed for the Revell kit. I'll use these headlight cages and footsteps.
In the pictures the unditching log is left off, so I crafted some brackets for that beam to sit on. Straps are yet to be made.
Finally ‘finished’ the hull... Only thing to add after painting are the headlight cages.
The final dry fit before a coat of primer tomorrow.
Primer is on!
Nooks and crannies everywhere
Finally, I masked off the green and brown. Now on to the blue grey.
Here we go!
Quite blue...
This is after an afternoon plucking off the Mr. Masking Sol R...
Looks like alien skin rash...
Turret still to do.
These are the tracks that I painted up separately. I had pictures of the left side, but had to resort to different painting guides from different manufacturers for the right side color demarcations.
And of course, after painting, I had a good look at this picture to find out the colors are wrong...
Knowing that I had to alter the first, fifth and sixth road wheel, I cut out a template to mask any of the wheels by either flipping or covering the circular openings.
Here the tracks and fenders are mated to the hull.
The moment I dreaded most after having to deal with the masking fluid remains on the hull was masking the turret. I used Magic Putty instead and spread it out to a very thin sheet and prodded the edges into shape with a toothpick.
Since the edges where very thin and well defined and actually spraying against the masked edge (using very thin lacquer paints) a very sharp demarcation can be achieved.
This is the turret after all the bells and whistles are attached and after a semigloss coat.
The same Tamiya X-35 semigloss is sprayed on the hull after decalling.
The vehicle is ‘done’! Now it’s time to add some minor details to the groundwork.
Like a patch of summer grass to the rear.
Right in time to head off to the club meeting.
Komentáře
34 15 April 2021, 01:47
Mirko RömerThis first picture is amazing - as is the whole project! Would be a cool thing to place it next to a Berlin Brigade Chieftain...
15 April 2021, 20:19
Patrick HagelsteinThanks Mirko! That's actually a good idea. The new Takom Chieftain combi kit should be nice and that comes with the Berlin urban camouflage scheme.
16 April 2021, 23:10
Patrick HagelsteinWelcome aboard Ingo! Hopefully tonight or tomorrow night I have some time to build and upload some new pictures.
21 April 2021, 14:05
Patrick HagelsteinThey actually remained there quite a while indeed, come to think about it...
27 April 2021, 16:05
Patrick HagelsteinIt surely did Łukasz! I was bound by a deadline to bring it in for the model club meeting last Friday. Only back home, I saw I left off the spent cases chute for the machine gun mount. :-/ That'll be added when I bring it back home. I'll also post some better pictures then.
10 May 2021, 14:48
Patrick HagelsteinThanks Simon! This parade vehicle was harder to do than a dirty exercise version, because I had to fully restrain my weathering while in the meantime preventing it looking toylike. Sadly it got some damage while moving. Maybe an opportunity to apply an ever so subtle wash to bring out some more details and dirty up the groundwork a bit. The rail yard pictures show some litter scattered over the place.
10 February 2022, 20:28
