T-80 AEV - Finished pics page 2

[zenrat]

I plan to try and build a T-80 AEV.
The Assault Engineer Vehicle was a specialist adaptation of the T-80 Main Battle Tank built for, and used exclusively by the PDRV Republican Guard.
It's purpose was to assault and breach defensive positions such as those found on the PDRV/Great Eastern Australia border.

I shall be starting with this 1/48 kit I got from a nice man here on the forum.

It's not a particularly complex kit, having rubber band tracks and an electric motor.  But this makes it perfect for whiffing.

[zenrat]

The Beginning.
T-80 AEV Start by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

And in about 45 minutes of work I got to this point.
T-80 AEV WIP 08-06-2019 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Unlike the Takom and Meng kits i've been building recently this one cannot be blamed for unnecessary parts breakdown.  All the detail you can see is moulded in place. 
T-80 AEV WIP 08-06-2019 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Now on a car model this would be an issue because I would have to carefully paint each item the appropriate colour.  However being a military vehicle most of them will be whatever shade of green or brown I choose for the exterior.
The replacement gun is a breech loading 280mm mortar.  Capable of firing a wide range of munitions including white phosphorus, anti personnel and nuclear demolition charges.

[Old Wombat]

... and nuclear demolition charges.

For when you really want them to pay attention to you knocking on the door.

Unlike the Takom and Meng kits i've been building recently this one cannot be blamed for unnecessary parts breakdown.  All the detail you can see is moulded in place. 

It's as much a scale thing as anything else. In 1/48, that level of detail is good; in 1/35, armour modellers prefer the hatches, etc., to have the appropriate gaps & the suspension to look reasonably accurate (even if it is hidden behind a skirt - kinda like girls back in the 1940's/50's ).

[zenrat]

Time.  It's a b**ch.

Here's where I finished up today.  I had hoped to get the road wheels on but as the astute observer will, ummmm, observe I had to re-engineer the mounting of the front sprockets after I lost a part to the great god PING!.  I also had to find one axle to replace the one that wasn't in the sealed bag and a second one to use instead of the supplied too long one that proved immune to my pincers (it was easier than looking for a hacksaw with a blade that didn't support Collingwood or Richmond* and then skinning my knuckles using the vice).

*ie one that wasn't missing any teeth.   

T-80 AEV WIP 08-06-2019 03 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

It's as much a scale thing as anything else. In 1/48, that level of detail is good; in 1/35, armour modellers prefer the hatches, etc., to have the appropriate gaps & the suspension to look reasonably accurate (even if it is hidden behind a skirt - kinda like girls back in the 1940's/50's ).

Maybe.  But the other 1/48 armour kits in my stash (Hobby Boss and Tamiya) have more separate parts and less moulded detail.  Having it all moulded in is great for a fast build like this one but not so good if you are doing a serious kit bash.
I would quite like to build a Stug type tank destroyer from the Kitech T-72 I got from the nice man at the same time as this one but cutting the hull down is going to be tricky with all that stuff moulded in place.

While putting this together I was musing what good tank country the Hay Plain is.  Victorian armoured forces could cross the Murray at Robinvale and then sweep North and East into New South Wales.

[rickshaw]

As the "nice man", I resemble that remark.  Good to see you finally getting 'round to using those kits.  1/48 is just not my scale.   

[Weaver]

... and nuclear demolition charges.

SFX: BANG!....pause.... <whooomph> (sound of a parachute opening)

Them (on the radio): "Missed! You missed us! Nah, nah na naaah nah! Can't even see where it landed!"

AEV Crew (on the radio): "Uh huh - look up and see if you can hear a ticking noise. Also, you just wouldn't believe how fast a gas-turbine-powered tank can go in reverse: exhibit A..."

[zenrat]

Spent the whole day at ComicCon so did nothing on this.
And I will do nothing tomorrow as I will be at Model Expo.

...Good to see you finally getting 'round to using those kits.  1/48 is just not my scale.   

I like it.  Big enough to weather* but small enough to not take up too much space.  I have been collecting Soviet Armour in this scale and it was time I built some more.

... and nuclear demolition charges.

SFX: BANG!....pause.... <whooomph> (sound of a parachute opening)

Them (on the radio): "Missed! You missed us! Nah, nah na naaah nah! Can't even see where it landed!"

AEV Crew (on the radio): "Uh huh - look up and see if you can hear a ticking noise. Also, you just wouldn't believe how fast a gas-turbine-powered tank can go in reverse: exhibit A..."

Although IIRC T-80s are NBC sealed so everything would be OK.

Does anyone know what the tubular thing across the back of the turret is in the box art?  A snorkel?

[Weaver]

Although IIRC T-80s are NBC sealed so as long as it got out of the blast zone it should be OK.

Does anyone know what the tubular thing across the back of the turret is in the box art?  A snorkel?

Yep, it's a snorkel. Note that, unlike Western ones, it is NOT big enough to provide a surface control position for the TC so he can direct the driver, nor to serve as an escape route if the vehicle gets bogged down or stalls on the bottom (which happens a lot). Russian tank crews have been known to mutiny rather than use these things, and when you consider the consequences of mutiny in the Soviet Army...    The way they persuaded them that it was kinda-safe(ish) was to make it standard operating procedure for any wading tank to be attached by cables front AND rear to the winches of recovery vehicles on both banks, so that if it got stuck/stalled/lost it could (almost) certainly be pulled out. Just about the only redeeming feature of these things is that they're small enough for every tank to carry it's own at all times, whereas the Western-style ones are on an supply truck somewhere, constantly trying to catch up with and/or find the tanks that need them.

[zenrat]

Thanks H.   Now I need to decide whether to leave it off.  Maybe the modifications made to the T-80 when retromodding it into the AEV mean is is unsuitable for deep wading?

I recently watched a French doco series (Age of Tanks?) where they interviewed a former WarPac tanker who talked about wading a river as the final test to qualify on armour.  He said it was fraught as they didn't know where they were in relation to the banks and not all the tanks (T-54s IIRC) were as watertight as they should have been.
The same doco had footage of the T-80 showing why it was nicknamed The Flying Tank.  A nickname which nearly sent me in a different direction with this whiff...

[zenrat]

Todays progress pics.

All small parts attached.  I have decided not to use the snorkel.  Mainly because the mould halves were misaligned and is has a step in it which will be a pig to sand.
T-80 AEV WIP 11-06-2019 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

And i've lowered her skirts.
T-80 AEV WIP 11-06-2019 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Since the pics i've primed everything and then done some preshading.
I also primed the rubber band tracks.  I'm not convinced it'll stay there...

[zenrat]

I put the base colour on this morning.  Six hours later it hadn't dried.
It wasn't too cold today (top of 15℃) but there has been an inch of rain and humidity is at 95% so that may have something to do with it.
The parts are now on top of a cupboard in the nice warm lounge room.  I'm hoping they have dried tomorrow so I can progress.

[zenrat]

And after approximately an hour on top of the cupboard its dried.  Which is nice.

Tomorrow, after painting I will be putting the parts into my dehydrator.

[NARSES2]

I put the base colour on this morning.  Six hours later it hadn't dried.
It wasn't too cold today (top of 15℃) but there has been an inch of rain and humidity is at 95% so that may have something to do with it.

I'm not surprised, the couple of times I've been in humidity at those levels I couldn't get dry either.

[zenrat]

Yes, but bear in mind that humidity was measured by my weather station which was on top of it's 6m post in the pouring rain.  It was prolly less humid in my shed.  But still dank.
No rain until 1730 today so my paint dried much better.

Close of play today it looked like this.  I started with DAK colours and then went free range.
Skirts are just blu tac-ed on for painting.
T-80 AEV WIP 13-06-2019 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
T-80 AEV WIP 13-06-2019 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

Looking good mate