Meng T-90 update 28/5/14

The build is now finished and last night I washed the model in warm water and washing up liquid (Fairy Liquid so that my hands stay soft lol) so it is now left to dry. When it is I can get some primer on it to start the painting process.

The build is quite an involved one even straight out of the box but to me the level of detail is very good. As with every kit there are areas you can improve and extra detail you could add but I'm quite happy with the kit as is. The only extra details I've added are mainly rivets here and there (where the fuel tank brackets sit and some on the ERA tiles on the front of the turret plus headlight cables on the hull front).

Meng T-90 build complete...ish

I've finally got the thing built all bar a couple of pieces that need sticking on so here's a couple of pics to show the model before painting;

The crew figure is by TANK and although I wanted the three figures in the set on my model this one is the only one that would fit (it still needs some work to make it fit properly), the head of the driver got in the way of the turret traverse so I glued the hatch shut. Bugger!
Fitting the wheels is something you can leave until last except for the drive sprockets as the side skirts get in the way. I JUST managed to get them on but they will stay there during painting now;

The fit of the smoke discharger unit on the right side of the turret is not clear so here's a pic where they should go;

I replaced the styrene snorkel tube on the back of the turret stowage bin with 5mm brass tube and added a weld bead from stretched sprue. I also added weld beads around the stowage boxes as they are quite prominent in photo's of the actual vehicle;

The next step is to give it a REALLY good wash as it's been sat around on a shelf for months then a coat of primer then hopefully get it painted and finished this year :o)

Meng T-90 build update 12/5/14

I've stuck some more bits on the turret and again the fit of parts is good although as well as using liquid glue to fix things in place I backed it up with cyano to give some strength to the joins, particularly where the Shtora devices are fixed to the turret sides. Also you have to be careful to get them aligned as they can droop leaving a dinstinctly 'cock-eyed' look, fortunately they are square on my model;

 

  

With the Shtora boxes fitted this tank just reminds me of 'Johnny-Five' from the film 'Short Circuit' :o)

 The outer lenses were painted with Vallejo red and the smaller dot in the middle with a black/red mix, maybe I should have used an orange/red mix for the outer lenses....oh well. Before painting the lenses needed some filing as they are fractionally too big for where they fit also the boxes needed filing too as there was quite a noticable gap when fitting parts G7 to G12.
Part A31 needed some material removing from the inside lip on one side as it would'nt sit over the clear lens properly.
The smoke dischargers could do with replacing as I don't think they are particulary good also it's worth noting that after I cleaned up the stowage bin, after checking photographic reference from Prime Portal there are actual weld beads around the bin where the kit parts join together so I shall add these at some point.
The snorkel tube will probably be replaced with 5mm dia brass tube too.

That's all for now folks!

Meng T-90 Update 5/5/14

YAY! I've finally made a start on the turret and it almost feels it has the same amount of parts as the hull (i.e LOTS). Anyway it's going together well, the only thing extra thing I've done is for the co-axial MG as the fit is quite sloppy. I drilled a hole in one side of some scrap 20 thou styrene sheet big enough for the gun to poke through and using some copper wire wrapped around a 0.6mm drill bit made the rubber 'o' ring seal that goes around the barrel. Yeah I know you can hardly see it but I know it's there :o)

Most of the sensors will be buttoned up except for a couple just for added interest;

The barrel....be careful putting it together as the fit is sloppy where the two halves join in the middle and can result in a wonky barrel. I'm not sure about using the kit one or swapping it for a metal one but at the time of writing the RB Model item is out of stock everywhere and I can only get one from Hong Kong via Hobby Easy (Orange Hobby item number G35-121). I'll have to think about it.

Meng T-90 update 3/5/14

I fixed the side skirts to the hull last night and I don't know whether it was me but the fit was'nt the best and I've been left with quite a large gap on the right side. Also there are gaps between the front mudguards and where they join the skirts;

Bugger! To fill the gaps I'll run a thin bead of Milliput into them and smooth it out with water, that way I won't destroy any surface detail which would happen using model filler. The skirts are securely fixed using liquid glue at first then cyano so the joints should'nt open up and crack the Milliput.
Other than that the fit of parts has been very good so far, MAYBE I'll get to make a start on the turret this weekend as the hull has felt never ending. Still I'm getting my monies worth with this kit :o)

Edit: D'OH!! Forget what I said about filling the gap along the top of the side skirts where it joins the hull, I've just looked at photo's of the real thing via a walkaround on Prime portal and there IS a gap. Luckily I checked before filling them in :o)
By the way here's a photo from Primeportal that shows the gap.