@metalhead85 thanks bro, i have some mr surfacer coming this weekend so I’ll get to filling some of those gaps on the haul. Then on to painting and weathering.
Just an update, received some mr surfacer 500 in the mail today and put that to use filling some gaps between parts, primarily on the fenders, gun tube and the fuel drums. Here’s some pictures of the progress, hopefully I’ll get a primer coat on it tonight!
My only question i have is how much wear and tear would a soviet T-80 have before going into the fulda gap. I’m under the impression it would have minimal chipping prior to a major combat event but obviously if it had been on a live fire range it would see some elemental wear and tear. I’m thinking of doing a primer coat of black, followed by a brown oxide with aluminum on the the tool boxes. Then a regular coat of paint after spraying down with some hair spray.
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Soviet AFV paint was probably as hardy as ours was. I would minimize the chipping. If you look at photos of wargames and of the Czech invasion of 1968, the paint was in good shape.
@Stikpusher that’s interesting but then again i feel like the Czech invasion was very clean and cut at the end of the day. It wasn’t a slogging match. The T-80 would probably be a little dirty after an exercise and then being pressed into battle. Just from experience equipment gets dirty after 12 hours rolling but it’s always minimum, not until your a few days in a box like situation then it gets real dirty. Thank you for the photos because that helps, can’t believe the my didn’t have chipping issues
Yes, Operation Danube was a short notice, off the cuff operation. The Pact showed that from a standstill they could execute an invasion with minimal preparation. Of course it was mostly a permissive environment so massive preparations were not needed. But again, the Warsaw Pact, like us, kept their stuff in good running order. Paint that chips on AFVs would have to be of poor quality and not a good investment for any army, just due to the water and tear that military vehicles routinely endure. Even if you look at their stuff at the end of their annual war games like Zapad, it will be dirty and dusty, but not chipped. Yes I remember our tracks would usually be dirty by the end of the road march from the motor pool to whatever training area we would be using, Doubly so once you’re off the hardball and if there was or had been any recent rain… and it rains quite a bit in Germany!
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@Stikpusher I’ll keep that in mind, now they tell us that chipped paint, depending on the severity of it is a deadline fault. But this makes more sense, i think I’ll do a light dusting on the rubber mud guards for the tracks, then some stream and grime on the upper haul and turret.
Wow that seems pretty harsh Greg. I recall many a time being down at the motor pool with a wire brush in hand scrubbing off small areas of rust on our m113s in 85 and having to paint them, but they didn’t make that big a deal over it if they were small spots.
Love the pics Carlos, especially the T-64 - one of my all-time favourites. God, I miss my Cold War so!
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I hear ya Bryan. Yeah we were living in the shadow of nuclear annihilation, but that in turn led to stability in most of the world.
@metalhead85 so that’s the technical -10 tm definition when it comes to the severity of chipped paint, especially on the armor plating of a Stryker. Now do we actually deadline them for this, no, but the manual actually calls for it.
Also, i was able to get a primer coat and ore shading done today. Not bad and probably one of my better shading attempts. I will admit i did lose a tip to the sink drain today.
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Oh ok I see. The preshading looks good so far. Haven’t been able to follow along as I would like but did you settle on a color ?
Just looking at some of the photos posted here of the T-64s and man that tank really has a low silhouette doesn’t it?
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@metalhead85 yeah it does, it’s a continual trend amongst Russian equipment, but it does make it hard to lower the gun tube when firing over an IV line
T-64 to me, is such an interesting tank, and it did have an impact on NATO in the Central Region. Mind you, back then when I was a young soldier even Soviet/East German trucks looked sinister.
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Yeah me too lol
Greg what do you mean by IV line?
@metalhead85 an Intervisibility line in terrain, most Russian equipment has a difficult time just being able to barely peak the top of a terrain feature and lower its gun tube because they already are so low to the ground. They usually have to crest the terrain feature and expose themselves fully.
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New term to me. Thank for the explanation.
Ok that’s what I thought, they can’t depress their gun barrels low enough in that situation, never heard that term before- thank you.