Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Marc780
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Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by Marc780 »

After moving last year a lot of my tanks had to go as there was no room for them anymore... I only kept the Panther G from my collection. I thought I was done with the hobby actually until HL came out with the T90. Then I thought about it for a year, because what I really wanted was a T55 or at least a T72... and the Hooben T55 & T72 was far more expensive then I thought was worth it. So I waited til I saw someone's used T90 that they just didn't want anymore (It cost me $135 shipped) and got it.

The T90 comes with a pretty much authentic camo scheme right out of the box. But the Russians stopped doing camo from the factory as of 2013. The paint job on their tanks depends on the area where the tank will be deployed. T90's going to the north and other forest areas just get a solid coat of good old Soviet armor green. Those going to the deserts in the south get a tan/light yellow paint described as "khaki". The tank then gets camo scheme used by other tanks in the area, whether green over tan or the other way round (sometimes with black edge as well, sometimes not). There is not much variation in Russian armor camouflage when they even bother to apply it at all. But the camo job from the HL factory is really pretty authentic and not too much wrong with it actually.
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Factory paint scheme

Even so I decided to go for a solid green, which of course presents challenges of its own. Fortunately even with a solid color, the tank's so big it's not difficult to really make it pop, using the tried and true drybrushing and wash techniques, along with dark and white undercoats before the main green is applied. I am still searching for the magic formula, and I am still nowhere near that yet - these photos are ones i took mostly just to look for flaws - but I learn something every time I paint. I have been building armor models since the 1970's and even now, I am still far from the results I really want! But that's what the hobby is all about after all.

Russian armor green is at least one shade lighter then US olive drab. In my opinion armor on lightly used or peace-time Russian armor would be even lighter yet just from fading. Kits like the excellent AK interactive Russian green acrylic paint set even seem to take this into account: top surfaces are recommended to be lighter then side panels and the set has several shades of green. However the directions (the pictures on the box and the youtube videos) are counter-intuitive. If you follow the examples they would have you paint lighter shades over darker ones, the opposite of what you probably ought to do. Also the primer included in such kits is going to spray much too thin to cover even molded plastic let alone any previous finish. If you use spray can primer, which I always do, even grey primer might be too dark. If you use white primer you can't go wrong.

One annoying thing about this model is the battery would not fit in its compartment. People pointed out that I should just turn the battery sideways and this had worked on their tank, but of course I had already tried this... The recess was just too small. Perhaps minor differences in the battery dimensions from the vendors are to blame? Regardless of the reason the battery wouldn't fit so I ground away some of the plastic per the photo; really the only solution.
Image
Last edited by Marc780 on Sat Nov 11, 2017 10:02 am, edited 4 times in total.
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c.rainford73
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by c.rainford73 »

So much better looking now IMHO I really like the effect you have achieved with the paint modulation and the green colored Russian tank is always tops in my book!
Tanks alot.... :wave:
Marc780
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by Marc780 »

It was a tough decision whether to just do a repaint of the original scheme, or find some new one the Russians or their allies are using somewhere in the world! But the standard camo scheme is just khaki tan and the green and that's about the only choice. The only other one i considered was solid yellow as used by India ,and some other nations but then the issue becomes finding the right shade of yellow.
Now the fun part will be, adding back all the stuff that broke off, one of the side plates, the MG and all that, I think i might just paint it to appear as new, since of course tanks get refitted with new parts all the time IRL, anyway.
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wibblywobbly
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by wibblywobbly »

A man after my own heart, they look way better in green IMHO. Well done that man! :thumbup:
Attachments
IMG_20161214_200125.jpg
IMG_20161214_201206.jpg
Tiger 1 Late
Panther G
King Tiger
M36 B1
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c.rainford73
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by c.rainford73 »

wibblywobbly wrote:A man after my own heart, they look way better in green IMHO. Well done that man! Image
Wow that's one beautiful tank Mr Wibbly
Tanks alot.... :wave:
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c.rainford73
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by c.rainford73 »

Wibbly are those applique armour plates on the sides? Such a cool look for sure
Tanks alot.... :wave:
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Both are excellent examples of what can be done with patience, and a paint pot. :thumbup: I also appreciate descriptions of techniques and colours involved, which are useful for those of us who might be less adept, or experienced, in the daubing department :) :thumbup:
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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HERMAN BIX
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by HERMAN BIX »

Brilliant work Mr 780
If its ok, I would like to move this into the modern section above so it gets dedicated exposure.
HL JAGDPANTHER,HL TIGER 1,HL PzIII MUNITIONSCHLEPPER, HL KT OCTOPUS,HL PANTHER ZU-FUSS,HL STuG III,HL T34/85 BEDSPRING,
HL PZIV MALTA,MATORRO JAGDTIGER,HL F05 TIGER,TAMIYA KT,HL PANTHERDOZER,HL EARLY PANTHER G,TAIGEN/RAMINATOR T34/76,
HL AN-BRI-RAM SU-85
Marc780
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by Marc780 »

HERMAN BIX wrote:Brilliant work Mr 780
If its ok, I would like to move this into the modern section above so it gets dedicated exposure.
sure why not? I'll add in more images later, the fuel drums are still getting painted and weathered, the IR sensors (or whatever those devices are that have the red lens, on the turret) need to be painted so I'll have to research how those look IRL. And Its getting a new gearbox, and metal wheels next; it'll be fun painting and weathering the wheels and adding the metal suspension arms. I'm half-tempted to just go all the way and get the metal tracks too. But those seem to be hit or miss, on some tanks, like me T-34 and Pzkfw III, they work flawlessly but on others, like my Tiger 1 and King Tiger, you can barely drive it 50 feet before they are throwing the heavy tracks. The plastic tracks are much more trouble-free, not to mention a whole lot lighter.
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Re: Heng Long T-90 repaint in Russian armor green

Post by Marc780 »

I did some more work on the details, painted the tracks and reinforced the hull. I think the plastic is too thin and the hull flexes quite a lot. I know when you attach the top with the screws it all makes for a whole assembly that's more then rigid enough, but I'm planning to glue in some magnets to hold the hull on... and the lower hull needs to be rigid on its own - since I'm adding metal wheels as soon as they arrive from the slow boat from China.

Image
I painted the tracks with flat paints in rattle can. First I painted a base of primer in flat black, then a pass or two with brown, then dark green, just spot painting and not trying to get the whole tracks but about a third of them each time - until I had a nice over-all finish of indeterminate color.

I was looking for a scheme to paint the tank commander I bought and this is one scheme of how their camo is supposed to look. I did not paint these guys, and they are in 1/35 scale! but if anybody is looking for a reference this one comes close.
Image
I tried to paint my guy and just couldn't get the effect... so I painted him in green jacket. He looks very bad so I'm not posting an images!
Last edited by Marc780 on Tue Oct 31, 2017 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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