WG is doing a nice job by weathering and “seasoning” our tanks so they don’t look like plastic models, but here is masterpiece of wear and tear by JandersUF
warning – picture heavy post!
Example of how the ERA supports are built on the turret
Some of the detail and PE the kit comes with. Nice included wire cables as well. No aftermarket here.
The turret is a kit in its own right, >200 pieces !
If you work plastic enough, it can look like crumpled and rusted sheet metal. Thin it out from behind, then crumple it up.
Here you see some of the undercoat colors below the hairspray. And the fun blue fuel tank.
#macro shot of the chipping on the front of the beast. Hairspray is the best.
Chipped and rusty auxiliary tanks
These side-skirts are black rubber, so the chips are too!
#macro of rust
‘lil chips
worn and chipped wheel. sans rubber tire.
Finished project
1:35 scale T-55AMV, kit by Takom, built to represent an AU tank in Somalia.
Well worn, missing one fender, the other beat, broken and rusty… paint chipped, scratched, worn… perfect subject to build 🙂
One of my FAVORITE inspiration pictures, I took a lot of the fender and chipping detail ideas from this guy.
Front quarter shot. The tow cable hanging over the front right track is metal. The tracks are metal too (aftermarket by Masterclub). Honestly the closeup detail shots are better… lets get to them…
I love the barrel on this kit. Perfectly Molded. And my absolute favorite detail– the blue plastic tarp barrel-end cover! You can’t let sand and dust get in your tank barrel, can you?!
Inspiration photo for that detail…
Super close up of the blue cover. It is made of thin tissue paper and a white PVA glue, tied on with a thin thread and colored with a semi-gloss blue.
This fender stands out nicely on the finished model. I thinned the plastic out with files, then used a bit of model cement to make it pliable and bent it like the real one (which is basically sheet metal…)
12-o’clock high view. I tried to get dust collections in appropriate areas of the tank.
The manufacturer include this AWESOME detail– bearings for the hub, if you leave the hub cover off. Well of course I had to leave one off. I tried to show this as a recent failure, with still-glossy grease over the bearings, and some centripetal slingage out onto the wheel proper.
The side fenders in the real tank are made of rubber. So the underlayer needs to be a matte black for chipping, unlike other areas of the tank that was more metal grey / rust colored.
The exhaust for the engine comes out on the left rear side (high middle of picture).
**Zoom out, wide angle, remind the audience of the entirety of what they are seeing**
My favorite item of storage. Yes it says “Igloo” on top.
Detail of the cooler, extra ammo for the commander’s MG, and the rusted out auxiliary fuel tanks.
The blocks are ERA– Explosive Reactive Armor. Basically blocks of TNT that detonate when and incoming round strikes them, defeating the round before it can penetrate the actual armor of the tank…
I like the tow cable. And the spare tracks. I used a metal powder to polish the exposed surfaces of the tracks to give them a bit of glint.
More detail. Chips, worn surfaces, missing ERA block.
She looks even better from behind!
*ENHANCE* This cable was left over from an old Tamiya WW2 kit I had lying around.
Rusty fuel tanks and chipped rubber fenders. Trying to show two different textures here.
Rear of the turret. Some streaking grime.
🙂
The kit-included MG is excellent.
I like the worn high points on the storage boxes over the fenders.
Same thing here– worn high points, dust in the corners…
Extra fuel drum… it fell off the back of a truck, I swear.
A final real-life inspiration shot
Is this real life?
Accidental photo effects can be fun.
OK I really should get over this silly rusty fender.
