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.

Meng T-90 update

I got a fair bit done last night on the T-90 although I could'nt decide on whether to mount the rear fuel tanks later on. That decision was made for me when cleaning up the four brackets that fit on the rear hull as I broke one;

In the instructions Meng show that you just cut off the bracket if you don't want the fuel tanks mounted however it's not that straightforward as you need to add some bolt heads in the corners of the square plate. Oddly Meng have represented these bolts as raised lines so these need to be removed top and bottom then bolt heads added from styrene sheet using a hexagonal punch and die set;

The headlights were a bit fiddly to put together and the guards would probably look better made from wire but I used the kit ones;

One thing to note (which I did'nt first time around) is the orientation of the etch screens on the rear engine deck. If you look carefully the spacing is slightly wider on the top row , something which I got wrong on the right screen but managed to lift and re-glue it last night;

That's it for now, hopefully I'll get some more done over the weekend as there is a public holiday here in the UK on monday.

So where was I regarding the Meng T-90?

Ahhhhh yes aaaaaaaand we're back! :o)
The T-90 build stalled sometime in November when I lost my modelling mojo so I gave the hobby a rest and did other stuff for awhile (mainly playing guitar).
Anyway after seeing some great stuff on my other modelling friends Facebook pages, slooooowly the fingers have started itching to stick plastic bits together again and the first job is to pick up where I left off with the T-90;

So the upper hull has been glued on and just for this there are an amazing amount of parts, fortunately the fit is good although some of them are VERY tricky to clean up without breaking them specifically the fuel lines, front mud guard springs etc. Take note about the small lights on the rear hull (parts C41,C49 on the left, C40,C50 on the right) as the placement for the left ones in the instructions is wrong, they attach to the rear hull and not the fender as shown;

Well it's good to be back at the bench and hopefully I'll make some progress on this kit.

This looks interesting?

This MIGHT just get me building again;

Bronco's Jeep with Brit Paratroopers. There's just something about this I really like, I can't explain it but my fingers are starting to itch to make a start on it. We'll see eh? Hopefully it will lift the Modellers Block I have at the moment. 

Loss of mojo...

Well here we go again, since the Telford show I have completely lost my desire to stick plastic bits together so I apologise to those following the build of the T-90.
It WILL come back sooner or later as something sparks off the interest one way or another but at the moment....nada, zero, zip.
Meantime I'm playing my guitar more as it's good for the soul :o)