UNLOVED BUT EFFECTIVE- SYRIAN 'FURY'

[HERMAN BIX]

Yes I was unpleasantly surprised when I realised it was a late ERA version. I even took the time to phone the supplier in NSW to check that the one I was buying was the one in the picture.............the lady assured me it was, and I promptly got the ERA version which was NOT in the picture.
Oh well, nothing I cant overcome, just means more work and I may need to vary the build away from my chosen picture above & go with the different vehicle. One things for sure, there is no shortage of pictorial material to choose from.
I could even use bits of the ERA kit to chuck on any 'ersatz' RPG protection system I can dream up!
(if anyone really needs a T72 ERA kit I might make your day)

Home today...................I thought i was never to be driving thousands of Kms around this big burnt land again, but here I am again back in the drilling support sector
My poor old (insert slang name for Gluteus Maximus) is as tough as a breeding Sows teat

As the welcoming committee was absent (all at dance) I was able to clean up, get a/several drinks into me after none for a week, and hook into this knocked around Syrian T72.
I've found out that these have similar issues when removing guards that the H/L King Tigers do. That being there is a section of armour that goes missing due to the models manufacturing process, which only shows when its cut.
I have loads and loads of clean up & profiling to do but I reckon it will be well worth it once the final form is exposed.
Intent is to make sub-guards out of either alloy or brass shim material and try to emboss the stiffening ribs into it to get the look of the picture.
or, remove both sides & leave nothing behind on either so I can run insanely amok with some form of locally-made uparmored system.
Again, there is a plethora of pictorial material for the Syrian theatre that has almost every AFV beaten half to death & wearing some form of home made added on armour.
I've not seen a 16th T72 with no guards on it, none I've found yet at least

Here I go again

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[RiskyR]

Pff that is going to take some time to make it look good!
Can't wait to see the progress, it's different from the usual tanks which I like!

[HERMAN BIX]

Thanks Mr Risky, your have that right, lots to clean up . As I like my Tanks rough, I have learnt that to do so takes a lot more work than leaving them intact & new looking . But the scope of enjoyment is huge !!

[HERMAN BIX]

Today will be about outside with the 4" grinder & getting the rest of the unnecessary plastic away from the hull edges, and perhaps the rear plate too.
Many of these Syrian tanks of all versions have steel plates welded to them all over the place, and as the rear plate is a good target for urban RPG teams, they also focus on upgrading this area as well.
The upper glacis plate may also get the added plate idea that will cover all the mounting points for the unwanted ERA blocks, which will only leave the turret points to be filled in. Thankfully this T72 though an ERA does not have the anti radiation material molded on the turret to add further insult to injury, lots of filling but thats not the end of the world
Im surprised that there is no aftermarket engine grille mesh available yet, these late T-series things have been out for a while now & even the ZTZ-99 has a really good PE mesh kit. I assume as the gearbox's are right underneath & would be noisy ??

If the mood takes me I may try to open the rearmost engine vent flaps & bung some mesh and replacement flaps onto it.

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[tankme]

I used the Trumpeter mesh kit being sold at Torro. https://www.torro-shop.de/T-72-T-90-bra ... ive-grille

[HERMAN BIX]

I used the Trumpeter mesh kit being sold at Torro. https://www.torro-shop.de/T-72-T-90-bra ... ive-grille

DAMN I wish I'd asked out loud while my T90 was on the bench
Thanks for the link Mr Tankme, I shall get the brass ball rolling..................should only take 3 years to get to me

[HERMAN BIX]

I got the glacis edge infill on and shaped.
Not a lot to look at but it took a bit of mucking around to get it into shape.
Once a bit of Mr Surfacer 1200 goes over it then paint then plenty of combat detritus you should barely notice it

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[B_Man]

Nice work on the clean up. That guard looked like it was chewed off by a dog.

[HERMAN BIX]

Nice work on the clean up. That guard looked like it was chewed off by a dog.

Weeeell it kind of was!!.................I did get a bit cranky at it and lost my lollies getting the stuff to release without fighting me, so I did resort to hacking in the end.
Alls well that ends well & its beginning to take shape. The missing right side fuel tanks etc exposing the sub-guard & braces is the next mission, but I will go over the turret and its parts to get any filling taken care of so the fill is fully set before I am ready to hook into that section.
I'm in 2 minds now as to really going crazy on some slat and spent shell casing add-on armour that is seen throughout this theatre, but robust material is the driving factor.
I really need some .22Win Mag cases and/or .22 Hornet to get me the scale look I would need, but those are unavailable as reloading brass unless I can locate a body that shoots that size & get a heap of spent cases .........

[HERMAN BIX]

Bit more progress..............
I worked on clearing the rear plate of the molded on shapes and fitted a series of extra sections of armour on & around the fittings & protrusions.
Was a bit of free-styling really, just chucking them on where space allowed.
The rear areas on most Syrian tanks were uparmoured in some degree by the looks of the videos & detail shots, as were the the rest of each tank.
Anything to provide battlefield survival I expect. Plus the seem to do a lot of flat out travelling down really narrow alley ways full of debris so no wonder the things are munted.
I did end up opening the very rear vents on the engine deck & using some spare PzIII mesh to fill in the space.
Plan to make some rough looking covers for them open at the appropriate angle & fixed in place.
A mission today out to a local chain hardware shop(Bunnings for the locals)to seek out some suitable mesh that I can use for side/skirt RPG protection.
The stuff I have is too fine for what Ive seen, and I was lucky enough to stumble across some builders brick ventilation panels that had very heavy mesh in the structure.
The shape and weight of weave seemed close enough so I got 3 of them. Should be enough to do what I need, just got to invent a way of securing it.

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