Ukrainian T-64BM Bulat (Trumpeter, 1/35)

[TeeELL]

My word FM, I admire your patience with the little disk dodabs. That is looking rather good, rather good indeed, impressive stuff.

[ShaunW]

Great patience with those PE discs and, although many have since disappeared from our admiring view, the turret looks excellent. Impressive stuff.

[flakmonkey]

Just caught up on this. Looks a great model. What are those 125 discy things?

David

They are the fixtures that hold the backing material for the ERA in place. They are quite a prominent feature on the real thing.

Having had a new addition to the household in the form of a Belgian long eared bunny, I awoke the other morning to find that this potential tasty dinner had knocked off the entire model from the bench to the floor.

Much searching and superglue later, all was well.

He is going to be delicious with carrots and leeks simmered slowly in some red wine. Maybe a few potatoes, too. Suffice to say I am not bonding with this feckless creature who belongs to a species that my parents called "food" which is exactly what you get when you taste just like chicken. Dave the legendary Cat (PBUH) was a true modelling companion, an incomparable and ever companionable feline hurricane of grayness who truly understood the plight of the lonely toy maker.

This cotton tailed fool is nothing but a hindrance. I shall be taking steps. With a fortunate culinary side product. Sadly, said bunny is the protege of the Tall Vegetarian Wife, and so, gentle reader, I have my work cut out here. Guile is the key. After all, it's a well known fact that 75% of fatal accidents happen in the home.

"Accidents".

I shall say no more in a public forum.

On the subject of a model I am building, I have completed the lower hull detailing and have even found the time to add a semi scratch built "cope cage" protecting the gunner's thermal imager, as per my sources. Really just a piece of random left over PE from goodness alone knows what kit, with a couple of "tubular steel" supports formed from 0.7mm silver solder.



As I went about reattaching the various parts dislodged by my future meal, I decided to replace one of the spaced armour cells with a battle damaged cell, made from Litho plate.

Gentlemen of a certain age will remember Litho plate fondly as the weapon of choice for almost everything, and I still have a healthy stash of the stuff which I somehow acquired from a former employer in the printing industry. I did the panel as if it had taken a hit from something like a 30mm HE, not a penetrating hit, but enough to leave a dent. It's just a little bit of character.

The Internet will tell you that this kit IS UNBUILDABLE because the vinyl exhaust diffusers refuse to conform to the external fuel tanks, and one poor internet modeler actually had to CUT the vinyl to get the tanks to fit.

I must have a different model to the ones sold to THE INTERNET because mine fitted a treat. I'd say it was one of the highlights of the kit, to be honest. A tiny little piece of realism that makes a world of difference. Be patient, be methodical, it works perfectly.



I have succumbed to temptation and gone ever so slightly out of the box, and have invested in a set of Meng modern Russian tank crew. These, of course, are functionally identical to modern Ukrainian tank crew, with very similar uniforms and the "bunch of bananas" head gear.

I have chosen a commander figure, who is seated quite casually on the rear deck of the turret in a pose that one might call LIKE A BOSS.

The sculpting is excellent and the pose is very natural, and he is a nice addition to the model. He shall be receiving a set of goggles from an Academy M113 kit as I do not like painting eyes. My figures always look like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. It's the eyes.



I have finally decided on a camo scheme, and it shall be the 3 colour (yellow grey, medium light green, NATO Black) disruptive scheme of a National Guard unit from the early days of Putin's insane war of aggression I mean special operation against a friendly neighbour.

Ukraine's National Guard fought heroically and very effectively against a numerically superior force in the early days of the conflict, inflicting heavy losses upon the opposing force whilst holding valuable ground against all odds, and so this shall be my own very small tribute to those courageous warriors.

Slava Ukraini.

[Clashcityrocker]

Build is looking good. Salivating at the thought of rabbit stew and I should have kept some litho plates back when I was a printer

Nigel

[flakmonkey]

Thanks for looking in.

I have completed the main painting and applied the decals, and I am now ready to ove along to detail painting, flat coating, weathering, and all the little finishing jobs.



The camo colurs are from the recommendations in the excellent PDF file available on the Mig Ammo website, "Ukrainian Conflict Colours". The ones I used for this scheme are Medium light green and yellow grey, both from the Ammo range, and Vallejo NATO black. I think they are an excellent match for these early war disruptive National Guard schemes. The blue and yellow for the national ident panels are also from the Ammo range and again match perfectly.

I have also painted the commander figure in the tan/ green/ red brown three colour UAF pattern. The figure itself, from Meng, is excellent, and the set of modern Russian tank crew figures is very good value at around £12 or so. They will, of course, be suitable for the crews belonging to many of the nations which use Soviet era armour. It includes two standing commander figures, one seated commander figure, and two torsos for a driver and/ or gunner, along with mounting plinths for them. There should be enough figures there for two models at least.

[JamesPerrin]

The scheme is very reptilian and makes the model stand out.

[flakmonkey]

The scheme is very reptilian and makes the model stand out.

I think those colours work extremely well on these tanks.

I have now completed the weathering and detail painting and have just a few little fiddly jobs left to do.







One of the jobs still unfinished is to attach the optics, which are clear parts.

These are have an anti laser coating and I thought I would try something new on this. Usually it's a case of choose a colour, or fiddle with mylar film, which I dislike intensely. Then I came across this...



It really does do what it says on the tin, and depending on your viewing angle is any colour you like, really. I have given the back face of all the optics a coat and I am impressed with the results so far.

The other job is to get the unditching beam attached. Not looking forward to that.

I think I should finish this quite shortly.

[B4en]

That's some fine looking camo Flak.

[ShaunW]

That really is looking the part now. I really like rabbit and as it lies somewhere between chicken and pork, it's good as it comes or in stews, stir fries, and possibly even curries although I haven't tried it in the latter.

[flakmonkey]

Thanks as always for looking.

I think we shall call this done now, as all of the final bits and pieces have been finished off. The commander has received his ubiquitous blue duct tape arm band (made of painted tissue paper as I had no 1/35 scale duct tape), the scratch built Milliput tarpaulin rolls have been stuck in place, the periscopes and optics all in place, and the unditching beam has been fitted. I know that many modelers make a stunning job of making the unditching beam look just like a real log with all kinds of wood shades, but in reality they are generally painted black or are camo colour.

















Overall a totally fuss free build, if rather on the expensive side as a kit, despite a very high (1000+) parts count and an unusually large amount of PE to deal with. The only fault I can find with it is the instruction sheet error that omits one track link from the drive sprocket end of the lower run; and easy fix. A solid 9 out of 10 to Trumpeter for this one.

[TeeELL]

That is a very fine, very impressive piece of work FM.

[Clashcityrocker]

9 out of 10 for Trumpeter, but 10 out of 10 for your build

Nigel

[David Silver]

Superb work FM.

[B4en]

That's a very fine build and finish Flak. Congrats!

[beany]

Wow, just wow - stunning looking build mate.