if I thought I was mad doing the Wespe with a load of add-on PE and tracks, I am now starting this… full interior T54-2 1949… I hope to be able to do it justice, some of the other interior builds I have seen is what are driving me on…
so far I have just opened the box and panicked… need to label all the sprues I guess before starting
all marked up ready to go (apart from the 10 sprues of tracks, 8 of wheels and 6 of shells)… noted the interior paint colours and ordered the few I was missing
broke it out tonight and started with the engine… first page done (21 left)
Looking good so far Robert. I’ll be watching this one. I have a few of Miniarts kits with interiors myself.
One question: what do you mean by all marked up ?
Been watching builds for a long time, am I the only person to paint the small parts before assembling them?
Not exactly small parts, but for example, the engine has 4 main parts, and I assemble the main parts, paint them, then glue them together at the end.
I think it depends on what parts and where they are located. I generally don’t paint before assembly, as I said it depends.
I painted a lot of the engine in my T-54-3 assembly before construction. Was probably as waste of time though, most of it isn’t visible when done
Great start on the engine. 
Don’t know if you done one of these before but in case you have not some friendly advice. Build the lower hull tub before you begin to assemble the suspension and running gear. Unless they have changed their instructions they would have you build the suspension and running gear first. The problem lies with the belly pan which is flexible/flimsy making it hard to get all the pieces true and in proper alignment. Building the lower hull makes for a more solid platform helping to ensure the alignment of the suspension and running gear parts. These kits build up very nicely but they are fiddly and tedious and will test your patience at times. Good luck.
I agree 100% with this advice. He also gave it to me when I made mine and it made construction a breeze! The hull floor is very flimsy but once glued to the hull sides it is rock solid
I’ll definitely remember this when I tackle mine. Thanks guys
Adding to this tip, I also used the firewall rear panel and front two panels to square everything up and make it firm. I didn’t glue in the upper glacis till later though, I just used it to help tape everything square
I had forgotten that I did that on mine as well. Thanks for adding that as it does indeed help to ensure everything is squared up properly.
had seen this before as well, will look at that…thank you
I put small pieces of tape on each sprue and then right the sprue letters in sharpie - makes them easier to find than looking for a small tab with a same-coloured letter on it…
Oh ok that’s what I thought but wasn’t sure. Thanks!
got the suspension rods in, floor plan not too flimsy but added the crew floor and PE rod covers(?) which firmed it up more… all looks OK
the modular nature is taking shape. I am adding parts with same colour to main bits, then will paint other parts on the sprue before attaching… so need to work out how to pay 8,345 shells (or however many)…
the air pump(?) pipes broke in to multiple parts but are attached and hopefully wont be too visible
I don’t fully close my build, only barely close, and not glue some part completely completely so I can open and them. The engine, transmission, roof, turret and under under turret floor can be on or off, pretty much like how they remove them in real life.
progress…all still dry fitted. So far so good, just a couple of breaks but they are OK once in situ… really need to start painting - going to prime all grey, airbursh the large parts (sides/bulkheads/engine/floor) an dthen brush paint the detail…
Robert - lovely work! 'Don’t quite know how I missed this - I normally watch the Cold War section like a hawk. An iconic Sov vehicle so am very interested in how it all comes out. Full interiors are my worst nightmares but I’ll tag along and just observe.
Keep at it.
