Tamiya T-62

[Olivier Carneau]

Very nice job indeed.

[Swiftnbold]

Progression is slow as I try to figure out what to do and um and err. I picked up a PE kit from Eduard for it, at a bit over £8 for 3 frets it seemed like a no-brainer to save a ton of miniature fabrication and a lesson in working with PE. My initial thoughts are it's fine for things like the screw downs on the lid of the stowage boxes but a bit 2 dimensional for the handles on them and the fuel cells where rounded bar is used but it'll save me a helluva job on the turret detail.
Anyway at the moment I'm focusing on the drivers area, scratch built the periscopes, reprofiled the cutaway, added the splash guard, hatch catch and the washer pipework. Also scratched the water vessel.
The kit has a flat driver's hatch but the full size is slightly domed to increase the height inside when battened down which I am trying to reproduce with plastic sheet and Milliput, the hatch also sits above the level of the hull and is flame cut unlike that on the kit.
Plenty of lessons being learned on this!

[Olivier Carneau]

Very nice job on the episcopes washers!

[Swiftnbold]

Thank you again Olivier.
Drivers hatch is done, storage box brackets done and shovel painted.
Is there too much wear on the shovel?:

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[Philipp Gross]

The amount of effort you put into this old bucket is breathtaking!

The light cage is a piece of art, no need to worry about it

Philipp

[Swiftnbold]

Thanks Phillipp, it's all a learning experience, sometimes I curse it but mostly I enjoy it.
I wasn't intending on going so far but having damaged the kit tracks I had to replace them, I opted for Miniart which meant I needed their wheel set too and seeing the quality and detail in those parts kinda committed me to make the best I could of this old kit.

[Swiftnbold]

I had to remove the raised detail on the rear stowage box because I wanted to add the edge trim (it was too close to the edge) so I did the usual wire-in-a-scribed-line method but it left the detail too sharp so as an experiment to soften it I used adhesive metal foil (the type they sell in DIY stores)and burnished it, scuffed it with a scouring pad and finished with Mr Surfacer.
I'm happy with the effect but I still need to be more accurate with my scribing!

Burnished

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Scoured

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I

Mr Surfacer 1000

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Edge trim added

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[Milan Mynar]

Your accessories look very nice.

[Swiftnbold]

Thank you Milan,
I am still experimenting with the technique to find the one I will adopt, pieces of alloy sheet and wire is effective but it takes so much time and patience.

[Bryan Krueger]

Wow. That's some impressive amount of work put into a vintage kit. Great job on all your scratch building.