Sovietwarplanes

It's not Soviet. It's not a Warplane. But I think this object deserves a little place here!

(http://s3.postimg.org/ib20p6jvn/174040_12522_30.jpg)

After finishing the MiG-3 I was looking for something totally different from the stuff I use to torture on my desk, and this is definitely the right one!
Zvezda's BMPT Terminator is a great model, although less sophisticated than Meng's. The box supplies two types of front reactive armor, but the surrounding elements (mudguard supports, hooks, headlights...) fit with the narrow type only.

(http://s10.postimg.org/wfjdlg5dl/150712_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

As most of the pictures on the web show the "wide" type, I chose the hard way...
I found the picture of photoetched mudguard supports for Meng kit and used it as a template for my last toy: a Silhouette cutting plotter.

(http://s29.postimg.org/i58ccnirr/150714_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s2.postimg.org/z9qxwnd09/150714_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s29.postimg.org/opb4izwsn/150714_007_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

They needed some trimming, but they worked!

(http://s21.postimg.org/5zht3pref/150912_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

Zvezda's Terminator "sits" too high on its tracks, but this proved an easy to correct flaw: I bent the wheel arms upwards while the glue dried.

(http://s4.postimg.org/pspnfoyct/150917_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s12.postimg.org/7c6fvqvm5/150917_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

This change of geometry doesn't affect the tracks' fitting because the front idler wheel's pin is eccentric and this allows proper tension adjustment.
I'll add pictures as soon as work progresses (or regresses...).

Hi Otto,
nice work indeed. The kit of Zvezda looks nice, I've read good reviews.  
I've completed a Terminator of Meng recently, it's even impressive in its engineriing of movable parts and has an excellent fit. The alternative front armour is not included into this kit, though.
The cutting plotter is very promising.  It has very few alternatives if one wants to make masks to paint Chinese tanks with pixel camouflage.
Regards
Massimo

Massimo, you made a Terminator? PICTURES! PICTURES!
The cutting plotter is an useful tool, and you can have it at the price of about ten blisters of photoetched details / decals / masks. I only made a test with painting masks for a long awaited project, and tried it on my penholder. Can you guess which project is it?  ;)

(http://s16.postimg.org/u9edeten9/20150601_144314.jpg)

Hi Otto,
yes, I'll take some pictures. It's a bit hard to move from its place because of the mine cleaning system protruding on the front that makes it a bit delicate.
4326... a Li-2?
Regards
Massimo

Don't endanger your Terminator Massimo, a picture taken in its place is enough.
A Li-2? Something slightly different...

(http://s15.postimg.org/iz5pu668r/Mi_G_21_PF_4326.jpg)

North vietnamense MiG-21s? The one with green patches looks particularly interesting.
Regards
Massimo

Hi Otto!

A terminator? Cool! Currently i am busy with a T-30, messerschmitt bf109E "wespen geswader" and the Yak-1.

The MiG-21 is a first production type. Trumpeter makes one. Very nice choice

Hello 4bogreen. T-30? The Soviet light tank or the US heavy tank?
It's a MiG-21 PF, and I have Eduard's 1/48 kit. It's good but, as almost all kits, it only has the main screw holes marked on its surfaces. It misses all the subtle rivets that fix the panels on the structure. I think they are almost invisible on painted aircraft, but on natural metal finishes they are worth to be reproduced. It will be the main challenge on this kit, but now the Terminator is on the bench!

Hi Otto, hi all,
here are two photos of my Terminator. As said it's a Meng kit, out of box. Sorry if they are not too clear, it is delicate so I didn't want to move it.
(http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/images/terminator1.jpg)
(http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/images/terminator2.jpg)
Now that I see, there are two things to fix: a small panel of the complex articulated hatch for grenade launcher operator (it's movable, I've already repositioned it into the right lowered position) and a thin bar on the mine layer, that is broken and needs to be realigned. Those bars were a major difficulty for their thinness, now I would have replaced them with metal rods.
Regards
Massimo

Your Terminator seems really good, Massimo! I planned to apply the same camouflage on mine  :-[, I hope it will come out as good as yours!
Which paints did you use? And did you use masks or Patafix or similar stuff to paint the patches?

Hi Otto,
I've utilized Tamiya and Gunze acrilic paints, and I've airbrushed the colors by free hand. Olive green is the base color, and it's identical to the color of the plastic.
There are optional rubber plates for the tracks included in the kit, but I've not utilized them to show the vehicle on the rough ground, and to save a lot of work of course.
I would love to make crews for my tanks, but only Tamiya and Academy include them into the kit. Crews found on separate boxes (as Dragon) not always have suitable positions for a turret's hatch without some surgery, besides a box would end after one or two tanks, so I should look for a lot of double boxes and have a lot of twin crews on different tanks, and this isn't good. Now I have a lot of kits still to build, and I prefer to complete some more of them. Anyway, my Terminator has openable hatches, should I find a suitable crew.
Regards
Massimo

Massimo, Zvezda and Valkyrie make modern Russian tank crews:
http://www.zvezda.org.ru/?lng=1&nav=1&p=5&set=3615
http://www.valkyrie.co.kr/
I think the BMPT has a sci-fi feature making it look better without humans on it. If the final outcome will be acceptable, I will place one of these figures beside it:
http://www.blackdog.cz/products/fig/f35102/1.jpg
The soldier's uniform has a pixel camouflage, but here the cutting plotter does not help!
Now the hull is almost completed. I used a tool for making holes in belts to open the half-hole in the side armor. Zvezda makes a version without it.

(http://s13.postimg.org/lx8dqws3b/151011_007_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s24.postimg.org/r60a29pth/151011_003_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

As no photoetched sets have been released so far, I decided to detail my Terminator with plasticard. I could have used the sets made by Eduard, E. T. or Tetramodel for Meng kit with minor adjustments but, as this is a "low profile" project to me, I will apply old style modeling to it.
I changed the kit's side grill armor with plastic strips. I tried to make them with the plotter, but strips cut from plasticard lack the extruded strips' stiffness. :'( I kept the kit's vertical supports to save the correct geometry. The picture shows the difference with the kit's lower grills, still in place.

(http://s14.postimg.org/o3zkpv5bl/151016_005_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

I am completely rebuilding the rear grills. I made jigs to cut and assemble them properly: a long and boring job!  :P

(http://s8.postimg.org/rqs6cvdyd/151018_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

Now I finished  the grills. I reproduced the rear ones folded, as they are stiffer and more suitable for a tank operating in open terrain. The new grills are not perfectly straight  :-[ but, at least, they are thinner than kit's ones!
I decided to assembly the hull halves with screws: this will allow placing the lower part on the base and stain it with mud and snow before installing the complex and delicate upper part and turret.

(http://s15.postimg.org/7w8keb5a3/151103_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s13.postimg.org/ri9t259lz/151103_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s17.postimg.org/7ggpkmwcf/151103_004_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s3.postimg.org/onv3xctw3/151103_005_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

Hi Otto,
your work looks very clean and well made. I usually prefer to work to make the kit's pieces thinner than to rebuild a such delicate frame.
Tankers of Zvezda have a bit too moved positions for me, as if they abandoned the tank to fight individually versus mujahiddeens. I don't make any ground for my tanks for space reasons, so I can't utilize easily a lot of the figures that can be found on commerce.
Recently I've utilized some russian tankers of ww2 with one piece suit to trasform them into Italian tankers for my Centauro. The helmets were for US tankers of Dragon, modified.
Regards
Massimo

Ciao Massimo
So you too are a Doktor Frankenstein! ;D
As a proud lazybone I always try to rectify model's parts, but it's not always the quickest way. On Roden's 1/32 Fokker Dr.I the horizontal stabilizer has a wrong recessed band in the middle, filling and sanding which I spent several evenings unsuccessfully. After I resolved building a new one, in two hours it was finished!

Hi Otto,
Frankenstein? Sort of... I was so many years ago. Recent kits are so superior to those to what I was accustomed that I don't dare to modify them if I am not obliged to.
A lot of years ago I made some extended conversions, for example I transformed a T-62 of Tamiya into a T-55 by scratchbuilding a new tower, cutting-and gluing the hull etc.  No resin pieces, it still didn't exist on the market. Nowadays, if one tries to make a scratchbuilding of such a thing, you can be sure that a new kit will be released before the work is end. Except for a HF-27, I hope.
Regards
Massimo

This is the current status of the Terminator. I am not completely sure if the sand patches are correct: they look more or less like this on some pictures and more green on other ones. I used Tamiya Buff, then brushed with oil green paint to make it more green. I will think about weathering after completing the tracks. I plan a snowy diorama and, looking at pictures, the tank doesn't appear very dirty and weathered.

(http://s8.postimg.org/l2njh68d1/160107_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s23.postimg.org/ls8zqu3ez/160107_004_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

(http://s23.postimg.org/dj6b3wogb/160107_005_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

Hi Otto,
the model looks very good. Colors are convincing, even if I can't be sure because of the different look of many photos.
For what I can read on the instructions of many kits of Meng (The T-90A) the lighter color can be both what they call 'egg green', a darker shade, both what they represent as a light beige-grey. I wonder if the colors are really so different; few photos seem to show the extreme shadows that they draw on the instructions sheets, while the most of them seem compatible with the color of our models.
It would be good to ask someone on Russian forums, it should be easy to answer for them.
Regards
Massimo

Nice looking vehicles!  I have to admit probably 20% of my kit stash is made up of tanks.  :)

I discovered that my Terminator had the two front wheels different from the others (censored). After gaining several centuries of purgatory, I made the new spokes with plasticard and my cutting plotter, then I glued them on one of the kit wheels after removing the material in excess.
(http://s33.postimg.org/jeq79d3b3/160210_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(http://s33.postimg.org/4mvlc9a0v/160211_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
After some refinement with putty and Mr.Surfacer, I made a silicone mould and reproduced four resin copies, to get two twin wheels. They are not perfect, but snow will be a perfect make-up!
(http://s33.postimg.org/ywg1pgyyn/160228_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(http://s33.postimg.org/nttiat98f/160228_009_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
The following picture shows two new wheels and one of the original ones.
(http://s33.postimg.org/onb60jlkv/160303_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
I made a small tree with copper wire and placed a resin stump with some Mininatur plants on the base. The snow is made with Tamiya paste, spreaded with Prochima Snow Effect fixed with hairspray.
(http://s33.postimg.org/mcmsurj0f/160411_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(http://s33.postimg.org/dm7suboxr/160501_004_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(http://s33.postimg.org/yrsexfkzj/160430_001_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
Pictures and movies of the tank show that, despite running fast, a layer of snow sticks almost exclusively on top surfaces of the rear. I reproduced it by spraying Prochima snow, filtered through a laboratory sieve and mixed with Gunze flat clear. I bought for this purpose a cheap (23 ?!) airbrush with 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 nozzles. To allow you making messes like this, it's mandatory having the tank directly above the nozzle. Warning! Use propanol, Tamiya, Gunze or other CLEAR thinners only. Supermarket alcohol will give you a beautiful pink snow!
(http://s33.postimg.org/baqzyvsov/160430_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(http://s33.postimg.org/61e21exof/160430_003_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)

Hi Otto,
looks a great work. Any modification to the wheels is very difficult because of their symmetry, but this seems well respected on your master.
The idea to spray Prochima snow with a cheap airbrush is interesting, I have to try it on some test model.
Regards
Massimo

The Terminator is terminated! ;D
I added a resin Russian soldier from Black Dog and a German Shepherd dog coming from a Tamiya box dedicated to farmyard animals. I am not a great figure painter, so I took advantage of Simon Antelmi's tips from his "Military Figures for Dioramas" (Static Model Manual N?11). I used the airbrush to paint the main surfaces of the figures, while the details are brush painted with acrilics and oils.
(https://s10.postimg.org/5egvhiabd/160603_002_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(https://s10.postimg.org/8mz073o5l/160807_006_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
This project gave me the chance to try several techniques, from scratch-building tiny parts to complex camouflage, from figures painting to making a tree. The tree is perhaps the weakest point of the diorama, as it lacks  the smallest branches. But, as a first attempt, i will not yield to temptations that could end in a mess and I will live with it.
(https://s9.postimg.org/ezkzq426n/160807_023_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(https://s10.postimg.org/thchvippl/160807_024_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(https://s10.postimg.org/dnuuz10ax/160807_030_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(https://s10.postimg.org/3jmj20ond/160807_032_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(https://s9.postimg.org/j4xtyp1xr/160807_034_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
(https://s9.postimg.org/iecrzol6n/160807_035_BMPT_Terminator.jpg)
My next job will probably be a WW1 biplane (my first love!), but I'll be back soon with Soviet flying stuff!

Hi Otto,
I like your diorama. The BMPT and the figures look extremely well painted.
The tree looks convincing, but it is positioned in such way to hide the other models from the front of the diorama.
Regards
Massimo

Thank you Massimo.
I chose the tree position after evaluating several options. This is the layout which allows all the elements to stay on a base small enough to fit with my shelf. It's an unorthodox diorama, where the main character (the tank) is not in the foreground: you have to look inside or behind to appreciate it. All in all, I quite like this.