Revell/Zvezda 1/35 T-14 Armata - Russian New Generation Tank

[Dave Ward]

Now that they're assembled, it's clear which tracks belong to which side, it was only when the individual parts were loose, you could have problems!
So far this is proving to be very well engineered - some of the sprue attachments are quite large & need careful clean up, but the fit ( so far ) is very good..........
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Lower hull essentially finished - tracks added & held in place by the outer wheels etc
I don't think I'd make tracks the same way again - in one piece, too fiddly - 2 or 3 pieces would be better. ( I have the T-90MS in the stash, with similar running gear, so I know now ). The large side skirts cover a lot of the tracks, so not much will be seen, the idler not at all...............
I can now put the lower hull aside & move on to the upper deck & more interesting bits
Dave
Dave

[Guest]

Always the least fun part of AFV modelling, if you ask me, the suspension … But it looks like it came out alright

[Dave Ward]

A belated update - my wireless router decided yesterday afternoon that it had reached the end of it's life. I've managed to replace it pretty quickly ( and not that expensively :tongue-out3: ), and I'm now back in touch with the outside world. Due to not being distracted by the computer, progress was pretty good
Lots of bits added to the upper decking, and upper & lower hull united
Those skirts hide a lot! The plastic mesh grille worked far better than I expected - better then PE, as it's actually woven mesh like the real part. There are still a few parts to add to the hull - all the clear parts & guards for the lights, prisms etc, but I'm going to leave them off until I've sprayed the camo. ( eases the masking ).
Dave

[scottie3158]

Dave,
Nice work so far. I don't know what the square recesses are either side of the mantlet are but they look like one hell of a shot trap.

[Dave Ward]

Paul,
the Armata is a bit of a puzzle - the crew are all in the heavily armoured hull - sighting and observation is by electronic means - TV etc. The turret has the gun & autoloader internally & just acts as a mount for the electronics and remote weapon mg. How close in situational awareness works, with no-one able to physically see all round, I don't know. Depending on sensors seems to be a bit optimistic.............
Only a few have been manufactured, and I think this model is more of a pre-production example - its far too clean! You can see all sorts of extra gear being added externally, fording gear, and surely the obligatory Russian log?
As an aside it is rumoured that the 3 man crew have a toilet!
Dave

[scottie3158]

Paul,
the Armata is a bit of a puzzle - the crew are all in the heavily armoured hull - sighting and observation is by electronic means - TV etc. The turret has the gun & autoloader internally & just acts as a mount for the electronics and remote weapon mg. How close in situational awareness works, with no-one able to physically see all round, I don't know. Depending on sensors seems to be a bit optimistic.............
Only a few have been manufactured, and I think this model is more of a pre-production example - its far too clean! You can see all sorts of extra gear being added externally, fording gear, and surely the obligatory Russian log?
As an aside it is rumoured that the 3 man crew have a toilet!
Dave

Thanks for that Dave The Russians do like their autoloaders

[Guest]

I don't know what the square recesses are either side of the mantlet are but they look like one hell of a shot trap.

Shot traps aren’t really a concern anymore, for two main reasons. One is that modern long-rod penetrators don’t bounce off the armour as much as traditional AP/APC/APCBC rounds did, exactly because they are so much longer than those relative to the diameter (like an arrow from a bow: that doesn’t usually glance off unless it hits at a very shallow angle).

The other is that modern armour is built up of angled plates inside the (more or less) vertical outer plates, suspended so they can absorb the impact and slow the penetrator through multiple plates rather than with one thick slab of steel. Look at the bit I circled in this photo of a … disassembled M1A2 Abrams:

[ATTACH]363528[/ATTACH]

That’s a stack of plates at about a 45° angle to the horizontal, hidden inside the armour face that’s bent outward here, but which on the real tank is sloped at something like 70°–80° to the horizontal. (The outer face is known as a “burster plate” because it protects the inner plates from explosive weapons that would blast them apart.)

I suspect that the stack of three plates lying on the engine deck is a similar piece of armour, but I can’t quite work out where it’s from.

[prichrd1]

I suspect that the stack of three plates lying on the engine deck is a similar piece of armour, but I can’t quite work out where it’s from.

Jakko,

This is a possibility??



Copyright to moddb.com.

It appears to be a piece of armour from the turret side.
HTH.

Paul.
:smiling2:

[Dave Ward]

All the running gear masked, and the upper hull primed. After a few hours, I sprayed the lightest colour ( AK Pale Tan ) overall. I'll let this thoroughly dry overnight.
Next, I'll apply the first mask - which will keep the pale tan intact, then spray green. I've never had much success with J's Work masks - there's no real datum to work to in applying the masks, so I'm going to take the next stage carefully
Dave

[Guest]

This is a possibility??

[ATTACH]363529[/ATTACH]

Copyright to moddb.com.

It appears to be a piece of armour from the turret side.

Ooh, good find! Yes, it does seem to be that. It also explains the round bits underneath it: some kind of stand-off for the plates.

[Guest]

Dave,
Great work on the build. I am interested to see how you get on with the masks, I've had a couple for the Cheiftain kicking around for a couple of years now, model still in the build process.
Cheers,
Mike.

[JR]

Nice work on those tracks Dave, the fact that you were able to get them off complete is something I'd love to do. Si has the same technique.

[Dave Ward]

I decided to leave off the bar armour over the sprockets for now, as being too fragile to survive handling.
Masking - J's Models supply 2 x A4 sheets of what looks like Tamiya masking film, this is die cut & printed with the camo scheme - at least that's the theory
The turret sheet has a clearly marked outline - the hull sheet only has the turret opening as a datum.................
The sheets are supposed to be die cut, so you can peel each section off, but I think the cutters needed sharpening, as the cut hadn't gone through the mask, so, as you tried to remove one section, the whole lot lifted! After initially using a scalpel, I found that cutting the individual section out with a small pair of sharp scissors was the best way.............
I've applied the first mask, over the pale tan
Whilst I was doing this, I decided that I was going to brush paint the matt black sections next, they're pretty small, then, when they're masked, the biggest section - green - can be sprayed - this stops me from struggling with the largest parts of the mask.
These masks will work well on smooth surfaces, ie for aircraft, but for tanks, with cracks, lumps & bumps, I can see a lot of touch ups needed, and I'm wondering if it would be easier to brush paint the hard edges, then 'block in' with the air brush. I have another J's Works mask, for the T-90MS, and depending on how the Armata goes, it may, or may not be used!
Dave

[Guest]

I had my doubts about masking hard-edged camouflage on tanks with tape etc. already, and this just seems to confirm them TBH, I think I’d spray first and then paint the hard edges, as I suspect doing the edges first and then filling in the blobs will lead to overspray you have to correct anyway too.