Curious to see what the commanders hatch looks like , I’m using the hatch from the Tamiya kit on my T-62 and it’s lacks all of the internal detail such as the grab handle and lock open and closed handles as well as the mechanism itself
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That kit looks like it has it all, maybe except for a metal tow cable. I’m interested in how well the rest of it builds up, looks great so far.
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Thanks Angel and great that your keeping tabs on the build.
And thanks @Stickframe Nick, I do like PE as well, but I think this is one of those kits where it may not be needed as much with detail thats offered, only real let down that I have seen is the lack of real cable for the recovery roped which I will probably add.
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Hi Sean, the hatch build is not close yet, but have taken some images of the instructions to give you an idea.
The loaders hatch ….
And commanders hatch …
Both look very nicely detailed and the parts are well scaled without any clunky looking bits.
And thanks Russ for checking in @rfbaer 
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Fuel lines are on, and again, nice detail over all of them including the unions etc.
LH sponson next
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Those fuel lines do look great !
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Much easier to clean up and less fragile than MiniArt’s. Just one more reason RFM gets my vote over MiniArt. Just hope they keep cranking out all the variants.
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Those fuel lines look amazing! This is exemplary for OOB.
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Thanks Matt, it really is a nice kit, RFM are definitely top tier kits for detailing, going on the ones I’ve built to date ….
And the LHS sponson is pretty much done. Mostly stowage boxes, but they look good and and the detailing again shows through really nicely
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I’ve never built an RFM kit but the detail looks nice. are those bin catches moulded on or multi part?
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Moulded on mate, but they have great raised stand out detail on them. You should try the RFM Cr2 if you ever decide to try one, it’s a lovely kit with zero issues.
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I’ve got the Tamiya desertised Challenger so I think the RFM kit would be the way to go for a bog standard version.
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Hull work is pretty much done now. All that’s left is the tracks to assemble, the anti ditch log to fit, the cables to add and the idler assembly once tracks are complete…..
Have added all sponson stowage/assemblies and the extra fuel drums and rear pair of engine/tx decks plus the upper protection skirts for the stowage ….
Now hull is almost there, will make a start on the turret
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The details are very nice. I agree and also hope RFM put out more versions in the future.
Very nice work. Looking forward to seeing the turret come together.
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Turret time ……
3D mantlet …..
Lovely details on this, but be warned anyone who has this kit, it is super fragile …. When I was carefully taking off the blocks, I split the mantlet in 2 places, so stopped and coated the inside of it with super glue to try and reinforce it.
Once that was done, the block removal and clean up went fine.
And state of play of the turret - barrel fitted and awaiting mantlet and then I can get the MBSGD fitted.
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That mantlet cover is suhweeet!
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And it’s even nicer fitted 
……..
Got some of the nice detailed parts onto the turret.
Should look pretty interesting once the defence system is fitted.
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Bit more turret detailing done.
Hatches on, (Comd just dry fit as I lost a vision block somewhere and need to find a spare) defence pods on and connectors on one side. Still a fair more bit of work to do.
Getting there slowly
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Made some good progress on the turret today. All that’s left to do is the MG and the main search light.
Now all the APS is fitted, it does look pretty neat compared to a standard T55.
Once the last few bits are done, it will be track assembly time ….
Not sure on the final colour …. I was thinking just plain green, but the paint call out does have a nice 3 tone cam which has an unusual light blue/colour…..
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