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So for my second build I've decided on the infamous Tamiya 1/35 T-62a
The faults and inaccuracies are well documented but the 2 that attract the most critisism are the turret and rear deck. The turret is too low for the version depicted in the kit and has the wrong profile around the gun.
First thing I did was to modify the rear deck which is too flat, there should be a noticeable slope to it so out with the scribing knife and the entire upper deck is removed from the hull and fenders. I also removed the moulded shovel but made a template to add later. Then a deep scribe was made where the deck starts to slope. The sides of the hull were then raised with plastic sheet to bring the turret deck up higher to accommodate the increased slope.

The first problem I encountered was because of the raised deck and the way I wanted to go the lip made by the glacis plate would be lost so it meant moving the deck back slightly and reproducing the lip. It also meant that the vision blocks needed raising but they needed to come off anyway to correct the cut out.

Not an easy job you've started. I wish you luck!

Thank you Olivier.
So next was the turret.
As said this is too low for a T-62 built in the later years, it's fine for an early production but not this one.
A 2mm plasticard ring was used to make it higher and the area around the gun was reprofiled using plasticard and filler. I also drilled the gunners sight and added a clear lens and a mantlet cover but it just didn't look right. Then I realised why.
I initially copied the kit one which has a moulded mantlet cover, this stops level with the sides of the mantlet and leaves too much of the gun base showing but the correct way is to extend the cover a little way up the barrel.
I modified it based on the DEF resin part for the Trumpy kit and added a cover band to the front of it. I really don't understand how Tamiya got the profile so wrong? I've seen it explained that they only had some grainy pictures to work from of a captured Syrian tank but the box art shows the correct profile and the correct cutout for the drivers periscopes so they did have access to the correct information?

....then Mr surfacer 1000 used to knock back the canvas texture a little.
The turret casting texture on the reference photos I'm using show one created by electric angle grinders by hand so to recreate this I used a curved no.22 model blade to scrape away at the plastic

Wow! You're putting some serious effort into that old thing. I really like the new mantlet cover, what did you use for it?

Philipp

Thank you Philipp.
Yes I'm doing a lot of work on it for the same reasons I did the Crab; it was cheap and needs modifications of varying degrees to flatten the steep modeling learning curve I am riding!
Zinc oxide surgical tape was used for the mantlet cover with a layer of thin cyanoacrylate to stiffen it up. I looked at various nylon and fabric weaves such as dress lining and old tent material which are all suitable but the tape won because it is self adhesive and comes on a small roll.

Philipp Gross wrote: ↑04 Jan 2022, 22:30 Wow! You're putting some serious effort into that old thing. I really like the new mantlet cover, what did you use for it?

Philipp

Yes you are. Great work and I also like the mantlet cover.

Shawn

Thanks for the comment Shawn.
A few more details added to the turret, bolts around the cover, mounting ring for the searchlight arm and upper mantlet plate. Searchlight and wiring added. ....and arm mechanism modified. I then discovered that the searchlight mount is way too close to the gun as the dogleg in the modified arm makes it impossible to fit, so old mounting points filled and new points added. I then moved the smaller light forward on the mount and added the wiring conduit and elbow which I made from thin aluminium and a piece of lead solder (man that was fiddly!).

Really great improvement on the turret. The efforts you put there are paying off.