I built this over on BTS, but forgot to post the progress here.

This is a two stage build of the Border Model Apocalypse tank from the Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 game.



I never played the game; my only connection to it is that I know the actress who played Lt. Zofia in the game:

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She lives in our old building.

If you see this kit on sale - get it; it's a fun build and can be (mostly) built without glue. I glued together the assemblies that hold the road wheels, because they were a bit loose on my kit. The kit build bops along at a fun pace until you hit a screeching halt at steps 5 & 6, where you have to build the link and length tracks, of which there are many, many links. The tracks are supposed to be press fit, but there's enough tension on the tracks that they'll pop apart without gluing. I ended up gluing most of the links, leaving two ends unglued so that I could attach the tracks.

The tank comes with three red LEDs and a touch sensitive pad that works well. My plan was to build the kit OOB, then decide on the whif. So a Whif of a whif.

The first thing I removed was red hammer and sickle at the front. I also removed all the Cyrillic архангельский casting marks.

Finished OOB build:

I put some Tamiya extra thin thinner on the sanded down parts and pushed a thick foam backed sanding brick against the soften plastic. I replaced the searchlight red LED with a white one :



I really don't like the vertical blades on the original dozer blades. and I'm still deciding if I'm going to finish adding the blades.



The rear looks OK. The small fuel barrels will go:



top view:



Next up is the rebuild. A less cartoonish, more "realistic" version of this tank. Sadly, the location of the turret (plus the very thick plastic) makes articulating the tank by separating the front and rear an unviable (or at least for me - too much work) option.

Most of the work will go into the turret:
- The dual barrels will be converted into a single barrel - I'll measure and print a replacement mantle.
- The side missile launchers will be replaced
- the armored cheeks (with the smoke grenade launchers) will be closed up. The existing launchers look like small mortars.

Whiffywhif:

 I drew up a single gun mantlet and decided to do a quick, medium quality print in PLA to see if it would fit:



While the parts were printing, I took the turret from a Tamiya T-62 that I'll be cannibalizing for this build and put it on the tank:



I think the single gun looks better:




I wasn't impressed by the Apocalypse tank barrel - it's smaller and less apocalyptic than the T-62 barrel and the strange tube running along the top doesn't seem to do anything useful. The bore evacuator is tiny (if there is one). So I built an Aber T-72/T-90 barrel (with some mods). I also printed side cheeks in resin to cover the missile launchers. The mantle was reprinted in ABS and smoothed:





I skipped adding smoke grenade launchers. The ones in the kit seem too big and most Russian tanks burn oil when they need a smoke screen (as seen in Ukraine, when they're trying to unsuccessfully get away)

I decided to make the tank Georgian, since it doesn't look particularly Russian with the new turret. Here's the vehicle with decals, most of the weathering (it'll only have some light dust added) and the fender bits roughly in place. The fuel barrels are from the Tamiya T-62. Here's they're tacked in place where the kit's exhausts would have been. Barely visible on the other side are the spare flat fuel cells form the T-62.The tarp and some boxes are resin bits from Value Gear:



The new exhaust is in the lower right, with a deflector flap/IR protector:



Front with "აპოკალიფსი" (Apocalypse) in Georgian. 23-05 is the year and month I built this.
G-L14 is somewhat obscure - the G Haplogroup (Y chromosome) is an ancient Neolithic haplogroup (Ötzi the iceman was a member). Although it's still widespread throughout Europe in small percentages, Georgia has the highest percentage of men with the G haplogroup.



Finally, with the tracks added and in sunlight:

top view:


I don't know what the inset ball in front of the commander's hatch is for. I'm calling it an anti-drone gun.

front view:

The 12.7mm coaxial "plinking" gun is the barrel of the spare gun that came with the kit.
side view:


With the ODS soldier:


Most of the optics are covered with Tamiya Anti-Reflection Coating film.

Comparison with the OOB build:


This is a fun kit, especially if you can find it on sale (like I did). Easy, no stress construction and the part fit is almost perfect without glue (about 75% of my build is just pressed together). It's a good subject for further whiffing. The tank looks huge, but it's just slightly larger than a T-62 in the same scale.

Epic stuff Frank ...love the paint job 👌 
I am seriously thinking of building a similar machine but using M1 Abrams as the basis for the hull.
I even d/l ed a heap ofnpucs of this model for design ideas.
Here's a trick for ya to get that roughened cast steel look.
Just mix Tamiya blue putty and extra thin cement and dab it on the model..you'll get a lovely cast texture even with just one pass..works a treat and it won't bugger your plastic.

As there are no smoke launchers on the vehicle you could easily call the ball-like structure a 2"/50mm smoke grenade launcher, similar to that used in Israeli armour.

Cracker of a build! Still has a definite Russian/Ukrainian vibe in the shape & camo scheme.  

That looks great, and considerably more credible than the original. 

The pipes along the top of the original barrels look like the water-cooling pipes you see on things like the twin 130mm Russian naval gun turrets, so that was probably their inspiration. Makes zero sense on a tank though.

I'd love to know how power gets to the front track units' drive sprockets, given that they're right alongside the turret basket...

Agree, that looks SO much better than the OOB offering! Well done! 

Super job Frank, love your work 

That's a terrific job sir   

I like that a lot, even better that it's a kit I didn't know existed! 

Quote from: Wardukw on May 21, 2023, 04:10:20 PMJust mix Tamiya blue putty and extra thin cement and dab it on the model..you'll get a lovely cast texture even with just one pass..works a treat and it won't bugger your plastic.

I use something similar, a car filler putty and a thinner/degreasing agent (which also works as model cement), but the principle is the same. Another tip is to sand down the texture after it hardens, this will make it look a lot more like an actual casting and less like somebody stippled thinned putty on a model

Quote from: Jakko on May 22, 2023, 10:22:51 AM

Quote from: Wardukw on May 21, 2023, 04:10:20 PMJust mix Tamiya blue putty and extra thin cement and dab it on the model..you'll get a lovely cast texture even with just one pass..works a treat and it won't bugger your plastic.

I use something similar, a car filler putty and a thinner/degreasing agent (which also works as model cement), but the principle is the same. Another tip is to sand down the texture after it hardens, this will make it look a lot more like an actual casting and less like somebody stippled thinned putty on a model

Jakko mate ..yup on the sanding 
That's perfect if ya go to heavy .
If im doing russian armour and we know how bad their casting work is I'll do that 3 times ..sanding between layers so it gives ya the impression of heavy  bad castings .
Can't say I've ever used car bog for anything other than using it on the real things which I've used a crap load of it on em ..love working with the stuff just not the hours and hours of sanding required 🙃

Thanks, guys. Phill - I was going to use putty, but the plastic responded perfectly to the liquid cement and sanding sponge. I was ready to hit it with putty.

Harold - I think you're right about the guns. Maybe the tank has electric motors for the drives (like the Maus) and one big generator in the rear. Or some complicated transmission that dips under the turret basket.

I thought this kit was ridiculous when I first saw it (even if I know Aleksandra...) but it grew on me after seeing some online builds at Armorama. I wish they'd moved the turret some; it would have been fun to articulate the tank (and would have made more sense).

Awesome job.  I thought you had grafted on a late Russian turret, even cooler you just modified the kit one.

One of our club members built it OOB with the lights, Fun looking vehicle.

I also thought about it being articulated, just not much other reason for dual tracks.  I would think you could take a tube section ala turret ring size and mount that in the middle and then connect the front and rear sections to that.  Would need to mod the track runs a bit or they would probably interfere with each other.

I found this in the Whiffie nomination thread and agree it is well worth the nod.

Wonderful Color scheme !   Far away from the original box kit .

Very nice ! For sure it looks better with the single gun. Great job all around !

Thanks, guys!

Quote from: philp on May 22, 2023, 08:01:10 PMI also thought about it being articulated, just not much other reason for dual tracks.  I would think you could take a tube section ala turret ring size and mount that in the middle and then connect the front and rear sections to that.  Would need to mod the track runs a bit or they would probably interfere with each other.

It would need that - the turret ring is over the gap, so once you cut through the very thick body, you would need a strong attachment point to connect the two body parts. Maybe with two pipes, with the smaller inside the larger and acting as the turret ring.