Revell/Zvezda 1/35 T-14 Armata - Russian New Generation Tank

[Dave Ward]

Paul,
the Armata is a bit of a puzzle - the crew are all in the heavily armoured hull - sighting and observation is by electronic means - TV etc. The turret has the gun & autoloader internally & just acts as a mount for the electronics and remote weapon mg. How close in situational awareness works, with no-one able to physically see all round, I don't know. Depending on sensors seems to be a bit optimistic.............
Only a few have been manufactured, and I think this model is more of a pre-production example - its far too clean! You can see all sorts of extra gear being added externally, fording gear, and surely the obligatory Russian log?
As an aside it is rumoured that the 3 man crew have a toilet!
Dave

 

[scottie3158]

Paul,
the Armata is a bit of a puzzle - the crew are all in the heavily armoured hull - sighting and observation is by electronic means - TV etc. The turret has the gun & autoloader internally & just acts as a mount for the electronics and remote weapon mg. How close in situational awareness works, with no-one able to physically see all round, I don't know. Depending on sensors seems to be a bit optimistic.............
Only a few have been manufactured, and I think this model is more of a pre-production example - its far too clean! You can see all sorts of extra gear being added externally, fording gear, and surely the obligatory Russian log?
As an aside it is rumoured that the 3 man crew have a toilet!
Dave

Thanks for that Dave The Russians do like their autoloaders

 

[Jakko]

I don't know what the square recesses are either side of the mantlet are but they look like one hell of a shot trap.

Shot traps aren’t really a concern anymore, for two main reasons. One is that modern long-rod penetrators don’t bounce off the armour as much as traditional AP/APC/APCBC rounds did, exactly because they are so much longer than those relative to the diameter (like an arrow from a bow: that doesn’t usually glance off unless it hits at a very shallow angle).

The other is that modern armour is built up of angled plates inside the (more or less) vertical outer plates, suspended so they can absorb the impact and slow the penetrator through multiple plates rather than with one thick slab of steel. Look at the bit I circled in this photo of a … disassembled M1A2 Abrams:



That’s a stack of plates at about a 45° angle to the horizontal, hidden inside the armour face that’s bent outward here, but which on the real tank is sloped at something like 70°–80° to the horizontal. (The outer face is known as a “burster plate” because it protects the inner plates from explosive weapons that would blast them apart.)

I suspect that the stack of three plates lying on the engine deck is a similar piece of armour, but I can’t quite work out where it’s from.

 

[prichrd1]

I suspect that the stack of three plates lying on the engine deck is a similar piece of armour, but I can’t quite work out where it’s from.

Jakko,

This is a possibility??



Copyright to moddb.com.

It appears to be a piece of armour from the turret side.
HTH.

Paul.

 

[Dave Ward]

All the running gear masked, and the upper hull primed. After a few hours, I sprayed the lightest colour ( AK Pale Tan ) overall. I'll let this thoroughly dry overnight.
Next, I'll apply the first mask - which will keep the pale tan intact, then spray green. I've never had much success with J's Work masks - there's no real datum to work to in applying the masks, so I'm going to take the next stage carefully
Dave

 

[Jakko]

This is a possibility??

View attachment 363529

Copyright to moddb.com.

It appears to be a piece of armour from the turret side.

Ooh, good find! Yes, it does seem to be that. It also explains the round bits underneath it: some kind of stand-off for the plates.

 

[MikeC]

Dave,
Great work on the build. I am interested to see how you get on with the masks, I've had a couple for the Cheiftain kicking around for a couple of years now, model still in the build process.
Cheers,
Mike.

 

[JR]

Nice work on those tracks Dave, the fact that you were able to get them off complete is something I'd love to do. Si has the same technique.

 

[Dave Ward]

I decided to leave off the bar armour over the sprockets for now, as being too fragile to survive handling.
Masking - J's Models supply 2 x A4 sheets of what looks like Tamiya masking film, this is die cut & printed with the camo scheme - at least that's the theory
The turret sheet has a clearly marked outline - the hull sheet only has the turret opening as a datum.................
The sheets are supposed to be die cut, so you can peel each section off, but I think the cutters needed sharpening, as the cut hadn't gone through the mask, so, as you tried to remove one section, the whole lot lifted! After initially using a scalpel, I found that cutting the individual section out with a small pair of sharp scissors was the best way.............
I've applied the first mask, over the pale tan
Whilst I was doing this, I decided that I was going to brush paint the matt black sections next, they're pretty small, then, when they're masked, the biggest section - green - can be sprayed - this stops me from struggling with the largest parts of the mask.
These masks will work well on smooth surfaces, ie for aircraft, but for tanks, with cracks, lumps & bumps, I can see a lot of touch ups needed, and I'm wondering if it would be easier to brush paint the hard edges, then 'block in' with the air brush. I have another J's Works mask, for the T-90MS, and depending on how the Armata goes, it may, or may not be used!
Dave

 

[Jakko]

I had my doubts about masking hard-edged camouflage on tanks with tape etc. already, and this just seems to confirm them TBH, I think I’d spray first and then paint the hard edges, as I suspect doing the edges first and then filling in the blobs will lead to overspray you have to correct anyway too.

 

[Dave Ward]

After a really lazy weekend ( why do they make these TV remotes soooo heavy! ), I thought I'd better crack on.
I added the final mask, then sprayed overall with AK Russian Base.
After an hour, or so drying - crunch time - peeling off the masks....................
Overall, quite pleased, there are a few (!) ragged edges to touch up, and areas which need a lot of attention, where paint has crept in hollows, areas where a paper mask has no chance at all.
IF the mask was properly die-cut, then this would have been a fast process, but having to cut out the patches individually made it quite lengthy...............
I'm going to add the bar armour, vision prisms, guards etc next - parts which wouldn't survive masking ( at least mine! ), then finally touch the paint glitches - I want to essentially finish the lower hull before attacking the turret
I'll finish the turret before I pass my verdict on the masks!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

The bar armour - difficult, and you need a steady hand, it takes time as the brackets need to dry, before moving onto the next step....................
There are sixteen brackets per side! Top & bottom, added - 8 more middle brackets remaining.
After the brackets have dried - the bar armour, in two pieces, can be added
I don't think that they will stand a lot of handling - care needed!
Zvezda have tried to do the brackets individually to scale size, whilst this is accurate, it makes it tricky to assemble. It might have been easier to do the brackets in one run, alignment would have been much easier. The Zvezda MSTA-S ( loading gear ) also suffers from trying to reproduce too delicate parts in plastic - a real pig to assemble !
Dave
Dave

 

[minitnkr]

Coming on very well. PaulE

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Delicate but nicely done.

 

[adt70hk]

Dave

Very impressive.

Well done.

Andrew

 

[colin m]

Nice work Dave, it looks like a nicely detailed kit.

 

[Dave Ward]

The lower hull is complete ( apart from 2 spare track links on the backplate
I'll put this aside, and go onto the turret. The overall gloss spray & washes of the hull & turret will be done at the same time, so they are consistent
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

On to the turret....................
A lot of pieces - over engineered? It pays to take close attention to the instructions - some parts are very similar.
( splotch of paint is a test for coverage without primer )
The gun barrel - all 12 pieces - the fit is very good, so no scraping & filling of the long seams.
There are quite a few more parts to fit internally, before the top & bottom can be joined - some are clear, which will need some nifty masking for protection.
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Turret assembled - at least as far as I go before masking & painting
The parts fit well, but the thin edges need careful clean up, there are just feathers of flash that need removing. There are several clear parts that are totally invisible, and fiddly to fit - I'd leave them off if I was going to do this model again!
Most of the remaining parts are sensors, aerials, and the remote weapon mount, all of which would get in the way of the paper mask, so next stage is to prime...............
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

A really gloomy day, it's never really got light. Turret primed, and basecoated
All ready for mask part II
Dave