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Яusso-Soviэt Forum: Cold War Soviet Armor
For discussions related to cold war era Russo-Soviet armor.
T-80U RPG or the Fear of Fear
RuloMxy
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District of Columbia, United States
Joined: March 05, 2009
KitMaker: 154 posts
Armorama: 137 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - 04:38 PM UTC
When the RPG T-80U was announced I was thrilled because of the level of detail shown in the 3D renderings. Soon after, this kit started being linked to the Xact kit; some people even suggesting that there were the same molds even after some photos started appearing of the RPG models. When this lie couldn't hold, then these people suggested that the 3D CAD models were the same.

I purchased the kit waiting to build it when photo-etch sets were available for this kit.



Now, some people started suggesting that the RPG kit was unbuildable. So in fear, I got out the Skif kits and decided that I may be better of using the pieces of the RPG kit on these kits.

RuloMxy
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District of Columbia, United States
Joined: March 05, 2009
KitMaker: 154 posts
Armorama: 137 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - 04:51 PM UTC
Luckily, I say some of the RPG T-80U builds on a Russian modeling forum and decided to give it a try. I followed the recommendations of the link below and found that it didn't take long to have the pieces for the upper hull in place.

T-80U RPG build Moxifans


There are two things that need to be considered: The first one there is flash on the piece where the air intakes are located. So careful filing needs to be done.



The second one is that the "locating bars" of the upper piece close to the turbine exhaust needs to filed by approximately 0.5mm in each side.

RuloMxy
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District of Columbia, United States
Joined: March 05, 2009
KitMaker: 154 posts
Armorama: 137 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - 05:08 PM UTC
There are two other complaints that people have brought:
The first one is that the plastic is brittle. I have not found no problem cutting and filing the parts if sharp blades and care used. If the plastic was very brittle, it will break when bend this way.


The second one is that the fenders don't fit. I have found that there is a little flash. Once taken out, the parts fit well.


If I can overcome the fear instilled in me :-)--
bison126
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Correze, France
Joined: June 10, 2004
KitMaker: 5,329 posts
Armorama: 5,204 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 01:23 AM UTC
Don't always believe what others say on the internet. The best experience is yours.
À friend recently built the same kit and was very happy with it.

Enjoy the next steps.
Olivier
M4A1Sherman
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New York, United States
Joined: May 02, 2013
KitMaker: 4,403 posts
Armorama: 4,078 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 02:37 AM UTC
Can it be that some people have an ax to grind..? Several of these negative rumors have already been dashed by Raul- "The proof is in the pudding"...

I think it will be interesting to see how Raul's build progresses!

Thank You, Raul!
Scarred
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 11, 2016
KitMaker: 1,792 posts
Armorama: 1,186 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 04:29 AM UTC
Some modelers think snap-tites are difficult. Keep posting picts and commentary.
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