Another awesome link and the thing about Trumpeter's T-90 cast turret tracks

I chanced upon Armourpro, a german armour modelling site, whilst trawling the net for information. The site has plenty of projects and beautiful pictures, always a good thing for people looking for inspiration. There are even some uncommon paper panzers like a Panzer IV with the Panther Schmalturm. I really like the beautifully rendered PAK 40/4 mounted on the venerable Steyr RSO in particular. Another site added in the links section!

Ever since the Trumpeter T-90 cast turret came out I've bumped into a few guys who's been looking at getting aftermarket replacements for the kit tracks. The thing is I've seen the kit ones and I think they're good enough, even comes with separate and hollow guide horns and a jig to make assembly easy. However I have again come across resources online where T-90s were also often seen with the older RMsh tracks used on the T-72 and late T-55 and T-62 tanks. I thought if anyone wants to replace what I would consider good kit tracks, might as well go further and take a look at these RMsh ones. They look good too!

Here's a link to armorama on the topic of them tracks which starts at page 3.

Some pictures of course

 

 

Evidently newer T-90s even the cast turret ones come with the new two pin tracks that is included in the kit, the same one that is in the Meng kit. The third picture here is the Indian Army's T-90 and it does use the newer tracks so there is no right or wrong with either choices here.


Of course it wouldn't be complete without the miniature versions of the subject!

 Istvan Zsoldos' excellent T-90

 Steve Shrimpton's awesome rendition

 

Vadim CSHelkonogov aka Navigator_111 T-90 early

I for one would be using the older rmsh tracks, makes the subject stand out more when sitting side by side with the T-90A.

Cheers!

Battle of France! Tamiya's Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf D early

Continuing with the workhorse series while keeping in with the French October theme, here's Tamiya's classic Panzer IV Ausf D built in the early configuration without additional bolted on armour, no engine grille on the roof of the engine compartment nor the distinctive tool box behind the commander's cupola of the later versions. It appears that this was how many Panzer IVs appear during the Battle of France in the summer of 1940. This tank sport the markings of the ghost division during the French campaign commanded by General Erwin Rommel.

It may not be the most accurate but it's what is included in the kit and this was an out of the box exercise. This is the first time pastel chalk is used. Here it is prior to weathering.

And this after the first go of the wash and waiting for the base.

Completed!

Vive la France!

All things in October should normally point to Germany but for some odd reason this year it's France! Meng has released their 1/35 FT-17, one of the most important early tanks and what many consider to be the ancestor of modern tanks. Here's the awesome box art!

It's one of the rare forays by the industry into WW I subjects, the previous FT-17 was by RPM many years ago. The tank was one of the first, if not the first, to utilise compartments that is still evident in tanks today, driver at the front, fighting compartment in the middle and engine at the back. At the time this was revolutionary, today we accept this as how most tanks are with the exception of the Israeli Merkava. It's a full interior kit and here are some pictures to get the pulse racing.

The FT-17 is a small two-man tank that was envisioned by the French to be used in swarms over the battlefield rather than a few massive tanks. At 1/35 scale it is again rather small so no excuses like not enough space to display it at home for this one. You can get yours today from the good guys in SG like Miniature Hobby, M Workshop. Links are the sidebar for any inquiries!

I always believed our subjects should not be confined to the pages of history and as such I will introduce a new link for a free Massively Multiplayer Online Game, World of Tanks. For those who model armour this is something that must be given a go. It has all the important things like various gun properties to individual armour thickness and plenty of other details, but it is very easy to get into as it doesn't bog you down in controls.

Most of the common modelling subjects are in the game with popular tanks ranging from 1920s (FT-17, T-26, Cruiser tanks, etc..) to 1950s (Centurion, M48 Patton, Leopard I, etc..), but there are some very interesting tanks that existed only in blueprints or at the prototype stage. These paper tanks include (German Entwicklung series, Soviet IS-7, American T110 series, British FV4202, etc...)

Of course being October as it is, it's about the French! The nation of the month for October is France, that means all French tanks get a 30% bonus for credit income! Here's the link for more information.

Some in-game screenshots too! Of course we keep it in subject, the FT-17!

The game is free, one only needs to register an account, download the client and have it automatically updated. Once that is done it's simply log in to your garage and pit your skills in the virtual battlefield. So you think you know your tanks? You can now prove it!

If you're lazy like me just scroll down for the links

World of Tanks
October Mission of the Month
Client

RPM Polish TKS 20mm Tankette

Here's the last project completed, RPM's Polish TKS with the 20mm autocannon. These tankettes were one of the first to go up against the might of the German Blitzkrieg at the dawn of the second world war. They are more like tank destroyers rather than tanks. The boxart is awesome too!

The instructions are not quite like what you would encounter in a Tamiya kit! As a tankette at 1/35 scale the subject is a rather small, here are some pictures along the build with stuff at the background for scale comparison.

This project marks the first time I tried camouflage because now I've got an airbrush I reckon it's much easier. Didn't turn out as I expected but not too bad! Here she is before and after weathering.

 

I thought the project was simple enough and decided to add a base to mark the occasion.

Enjoy!

Links and upcoming release

Links have been added here for easier access to the good guys that I visit from time to time. Seeing as this is a blog called revival for miniature modelling I thought at the very least I should make resources to be easily accessible. There are links to websites of hobby shops in Singapore and the rest are some well known sites for great reviews and other articles. For the stores it's still highly recommended to head down and have a chat with the awesomely bored people there. Do some good and make their day. they will be grateful for some company!

Trumpeter has finally released the long awaited 1/35 T-90 with cast turret! There's been two modern plastic T-90 kits in 1/35 scale, first by Zvezda and followed by Meng a few months ago, but these are T-90A kits with the new welded turrets. For those that are not familiar but do play games, the T-90 with cast turret makes an appearance in the Battlefield games all the way back from Battlefield 2 and as recently as Battlefield 3. People who wanted to model these has had to contend with resin aftermarket parts which are excellent but expensive!

The wait is almost over, here's a sneak preview

And this is how it looks in Battlefield 3!

Cheers!

Royal Thai Army M41 Light Tank (Tamiya M41)

This is Tamiya's vintage M41 light tank with the metal barrel from AFV Club's M41A3 and following some references off the internet one of the radio antenna on the turret is removed. It's a simple plain build with a clean finish depicting one of the tanks in the streets of Bangkok in 2006.

This is also my first use of airbrush, I mixed Tamiya's acrylic dark green and black in about 2:1 ratio to get the base coat. It's definitely a step up from what I've been using before. After the base coat the usual dark wash with oil paints and then light dry brushing and weathering on the tracks.

Fun quick build and I'm happy with the final results

It was meant to be test for the first airbrush use, I dare say it turned out better than expected.

Tamiya's vintage T-34/85

I've always wanted to do the workhorse of the armies of world war 2 and Tamiya's T-34/85 from the 70s/80s fit the bill, well actually HLJ was running these on discount that's why I picked one up rather than build something from stash.

There're a few firsts in this build, all part of my feeling my way back into the hobby properly this time, aftermarket tracks, oil paints, metal barrel and pigments (Tamiya weathering master).

I used AFV Club's T-34 500mm workable indy tracks which fit perfectly fine I might add. I dare say I agree with what I've read online mostly, having individual link tracks rather than the vinyl ones that comes standard with lots of kits does make a difference. I must confess I think I was too concerned with having the sprue links for each individual track link be sanded smooth which took some joy out of the build (THOSE DAMN TRACKS!) but it was unnecessary! Just a bit of sanding did the job and that's how I completed the set.

The metal barrel was something random I picked up and initially couldn't fit onto the mantlet properly, a bit of sanding did the trick and it does improve the overall look of the tank. More like I was too lazy to sand down the seams of the plastic barrel.

Oil paints were much better than the usual acrylic I use for washes (Yes I'm an idiot, and lazy). Got them off M Workshop just to try something different. The weathering master works wonders too when applied on top of the usual washes and dry brushing.

Here's the finished T-34/85

I still didn't have an airbrush at this point and the base coat was Tamiya's dark green spray paint on top of Mr Surfacer 500.

More to come!

Welcome! And the first project after the hiatus

It's been ages since I've done any scale modelling, my return from Australia in 2011 marking a return to the hobby as well. This blog will be dedicated to these projects as they come, sometimes there may even be others that are related (Such as 3D Modelling etc..).

Here's my first project after years keeping my hands off hobby knives, cement and paint. Tamiya's venerable M113ACAV without much tinkering at all.

I have never used airbrush for my earlier projects, this one was done as I was just getting back into the swing of things and was done with Tamiya's aerosol spray paint. Putting into effect the stuff I've learnt over the years (and forgot, naturally). The kit has been sitting in my stash for years as I was away in Australia and I seem to have lost the instructions for it. I managed to find some online from model-making.eu, it did the job!

I've done a few since then so there'll be a few more posts coming up for projects done post 2011!