T-72M1 Tamiya

Supposed to be a quick and easy build with a not extremely detailed, but overall nice end-result. I hope this kit will give me an excellent opportunity to improve my paining and weathering skills. It seems to be the usual Tamiya quality with nice surprise of the flexible tubes for the extra fuel tanks.

.Lower hull, wheels and suspension are all nicely done, easy to assemble.

The upper hull fits perfectly

The photo-etched grills are also nice touch. The traditional black nylon grills are also familiar to probably most of us.

The barrell is the usual 2-piece solution. Great fit, again. However, the turret...

Although the cast iron is nicely moulded, the lower and upper part of the turret doesn't fit well. It required plenty of sanding and the end result is still questionable. Luckily, a large toolbox will sit on top of this side of the turret that will cover up most of it.

It is gaining the shape of a T-72 as the turret and the wheels are being dry-fitted.

Primer on. (Tamya light gray from can.)

Pre-shading with black.

Base colour on the hull...

...and on the turret.

Rubber parts painted.

Extra fuel tanks in place. Loved those tubes.

Final assembly with the tracks on.

Turret number painted. I wanted to create the impression of hasty application therefore the numbers are not perfectly aligned.

AA machine gun and its extra ammo boxes are added. I have made a schoolboy error with the smoke grenade launchers as I didn't glue them in the right place. As I couldn't fix this properly I have decided to cover them with camo net later.

Let' start weathering...

Oils 1.

Oils 2.

And the camo net from AK. Now, let's add some pigments and more washes.

Playing a bit as no army or unit have been decided for this model. Originally I wanted to build a vehicle of the Hungarian People's Army, but I haven't received the decals yet. This is a Russian built tank (please note that versions of this vehicles were built by other countries, such as Poland or Czechoslovakia), so I guess this could be a tank from the Afghan war. I don't aim to build a historically 100% accurate model, but something believable.

Overall, I am quite happy with the final outcome.

For more photos of the final model please see the gallery.