James C
This is my latest project...

Youtube Video

Jos Jansen
Pooah...excellent choice James...!

Slavo Hazucha
Subscribing!😉 Model material looks decent so far, should be a nice build 👍

James C
Thanks guys 🙂

I enjoyed the Takom SMK build so much that I decided to make this the next project, and it will go well with the Koalitsiya as both are new vehicles.😉

It's a deceptively large unit, despite the unmanned turret and 3 man crew.

Ingo F
Good choice mate. Looks like you moving through the russian armour. 🙂

James C
Heh, it was just sitting conveniently near the top of my stack of Takom kits😉

It's been a nice kit to build so far, but I regret not purchasing replacement metal tracks for it. Thankfully, I've finished with them now, and hopefully they hold together for the rest of the build and paint process.

Ingo F
Are the kit tracks that bad?

James C
To be honest, I just hate these types of links, especially when they are not workable as I always have so much trouble with them.
Each link had five sprue attachment points which needed to be cleaned up which was overkill on Takom's part, with two more attachment points for the guide horns. They cleaned up easily enough, and assembling the guide horns onto the tracks wasn't a big deal either... just a time consuming and tedious process for 190 links total.

The biggest problem I had was that Takom decided to use a bathtub style lower hull with the sponsons molded in position which made mounting and wrapping the tracks (especially around the drive wheels) far more troublesome than it needed to be. Link and length tracks would have been a far better option or even single length rubber belt types instead. Also, as with my previous SMK build, Takom did not include poly-caps for the wheels, which again needlessly made the wheel and track assembly more complicated than it needed to be... but did include them for the main gun elevation assembly, turret mounted machine gun and both decoy launchers!

I chose not to go the aftermarket route with the tracks due to how very little of them you actually see once the side armour is installed (and to save a few $$$) but having put the time in on them now, I regret not having done so. While you see very little of them, the added strength of metal Friuls would have been worth every cent... and would have looked much tidier as well.

James C
I just need to assemble the rear slats and their mounting brackets, then do a little clean up and will be ready to shoot a coat of primer on it.

Chen Pan
Impressive work James! Congratulations for your another excellent Vehicle's coming. Takom's design of track is really uncomfortable. In contrast Zvezda does much better both in their new 1/35 and 1/72 products.

James C
Many thanks Chen. I am definitely curious about the Zvezda kit, and will probably pick it up in the very near future.

Not much progress to report other than I masked off the tracks and wheels to give it a coat of black Stynylrez primer, and am now ready to start adding a bit of colour.

Lode Schildermans
James, this build started promising and the outcome so far exceeds my expectations. Keep on going, mate

James C
Thanks Lode 🙂

James C
I've done the pre-shading, and got the first colour of the camouflage done now... but lost a bit of enthusiasm to continue. I'm still waiting on the aftermarket lights to arrive from BNA in Aussie-land. Presumably they are taking the scenic route via the North Pole.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Hang in there, James. I hope the lights arrive soon.
I am looking forward to your finished T-14. I wonder what kind of camouflage you are going for.

Jos Jansen
Beautiful pre-shading work 👍

James C
Thanks WhiteGlint & Jos 🙂

James C
Excluding the rear slats, I've finished the basic camouflage pattern and begun the finer detail painting. Not far off giving everything a coat of clear gloss ahead of applying the decals and a panel wash, but still deciding if I will paint and weather the slats separately or in position.

Lode Schildermans
Awesome camouflage, James. You made an excellent choice with this one. I'm looking forward to your well known subtle detailing. Keep up the pace

Murad ÖZER
indeed the camo looks great! 👍

James C
Thanks guys 🙂

I had been considering doing one of the hypothetical splinter schemes, but settled for this one instead. The only real paint scheme from the four options included was an all over parade ground green... which I'm not a big fan of. If I pick up the Zvezda kit, I may save the Voyager lights to use on that instead as well as paint it in one of the more modern looking splinter schemes from this Takom kit.

Jos Jansen
Beautiful paint work on that scheme, nice colors!

James C
Thanks Jos. I used the MIG acrylic paints called out in the paint guide: A.MIG-061 "Warm Sand-Yellow", A.MIG-0915 "Dark Green BS241" and A.MIG-0102 "Ochre Brown". The sand yellow was quite translucent and took several coats to gradually build up the colour depth, which is why I went a little overboard with the white pre-shading for the foundation. I'm pretty happy with how they all tied together in the end.

I got the slats installed yesterday... A very tight fit where the slots of the lower braces insert inside of the hull. I ended up having to trim and file them down slightly to get them to fit properly and seated all the way in. They drastically alter the entire look and shape of the model. With that done, I gave it a coat of clear gloss and applied the decals.

Next step will be a panel wash, then seal everything with a coat of Tamiya XF-86 flat clear.

Christian Kohl
Hello James! You turned out this tank extremely well. Great, clean work. Congratulations! 🙂

James C
Many thanks Christian. 🙂

I finished it off late yesterday and will take some pictures of the completed build later today if/when the sun comes out.

Ingo F
Camo looks great! 👍

James C
Thanks Ingo 🙂

James C
Until building this kit, I didn't really have an opinion on the T-14... either good or bad.
However, as I worked my way through the build, this thing grew on me with it's futuristic looking appearance, which is quite different from any previous Russian armour designs before it.

The kit itself was fantastic, and as long as time is taken to carefully remove the parts from the sprues and clean up the attachment points, the fit was superb. I don't recall using any filler on this whatsoever.
Takom also included some really nice photo-etch for the turret basket and engine grilles etc.
It was extremely thin, and care needs to be taken not to crease it when handling.
Another nice addition was the paint marking guide which included left, right, front, rear and top down views for the 3x hypothetical camouflage options in addition to the overall green scheme of the victory parade example on the box art.

My only gripes with the kit are with the tracks, as they are easily the weakest thing about it.
For the amount of work that's required to clean up, then assemble them, and to NOT be workable was extremely disappointing... as was the lack of poly-caps for the road and drive wheels etc.
I felt that these two issues really let down what was otherwise an extremely good kit.

However, I'd still highly recommend it... but would definitely recommend replacing the tracks with metal Friuls etc.

Anyway, thanks for following 🙂

Neuling
Super clean and beautiful work again. Photo 38 tells it all. Camouflage painting spot on! - Surprisingly the design of the turret shows several zones prone to catching oncoming projectiles ........

Ingo F
Turned out really great. Love that subtle weathering. 👍

James C
Thanks Neuling & Ingo 🙂

@ Nueling - Yeah, it's got some odd shapes and recesses for sure, but with the 3 man crew moved to the lower hull, the turret is pretty much expendable and doesn't require any heavy plate armour protection. I guess the designers were thinking of crew and base vehicle survivability above all else, so if the automated turret gets knocked out, the tank itself can just be driven away to have the damaged/destroyed turret quickly replaced.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
The Armata is definitely an interesting looking tank. Great work, James! 👍
Neuling is right, the camouflage is spot on. You can still see your pre-shading work underneath the green and brown.

Jos Jansen
Great work James, love your armor builds!

Rui S
Nice clean model. Very good work on that camo 👍

James C
Thanks WhiteGlint, Jos and Rui, I appreciate your comments 🙂

@ WhiteGlint - I actually lost most of the pre-shading work when I sprayed and built up the colour of the sand yellow unfortunately, but I was able to restore it a little by post-shading with Tamiya X-19 smoke on the more prominent joins, as well as hi-lites with Tamiya weathering pastels (Yellow and Green) The dirt/grime build up was done with assorted brown shades of MIG oil brushes.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
So it was post-shading. I feel kinda embarassed now 😳 😄

Mathieu
Splendid finish on that armor. You can be very proud of your work on it. Cheers

Thomas K.
very nice however! 😉

Whiskey Actual
I always want the kit even more after I see you put one together James! Very nicely done

James C
Thanks Mathieu, Thomas.. and Whiskey... Cheers guy's 🙂

@WhiteGlint - Nothing to be embarrassed about mate... I feel kind of honored that I was able to fool you in the first place lol! 😉👍

I posted this vid at the beginning of this build, but still find it a a pretty firm but fair evaluation of the tank itself...

Youtube Video

Murad ÖZER
Killer looking build mate.👍👍👍

Gerald
👍

James C
Thanks guys🙂

Tim Heimer
Nice! Love your work on the camo! Good looking piece for your collection!

James C
Thanks Tim 🙂

Nathan Dempsey
I somehow missed this one James. What a great finish. I like the look 🙂

Cortex
wow

James C
Thanks Nathan and Cortex 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
James, sorry to be a bit late to the shower of praise bit after a nice build gets finished😉 !

I totally agree with your choice - Russians love splinter on their (both airborne & ground vehicle) prototypes, but it hardly makes it into series production... Minecraft camo could be more likely, but doing a scratch one on this level of surface complexity could be... well yeah... So this is IMHO one of the best possible hypothetic/realistic variants.

And as usual (particularly with your Vietnam-era builds), you capture the essence of the era and the theatre - warm & arid, with soot & wear marks, but no rust, surfaces with color peeled off to polished steel and a bit of dry dirt - excellent choices to make it look every bit as it should/would! 👍

James C
Thanks mate 🙂

Mattias Björk
The build and painting looks awesome. I have the same tank(s) but from Revell instead. I'm have not come as long as you have with it. But I hope to get there. Need to get some new plastic spruces to rebuild the turrent as I messed that part up.

James C
Thanks Mattias 🙂

Richard Maxein
Very very nice model from the new russian "supertank". Well done job!

James C
Thanks Richard 🙂

David Wallace
Wow! Thats a stunner James.

James C
Thanks David 🙂

Rob Henderson
Love those colours and the subtle weathering! 🙂