Lancfan's T34/76 ***FINISHED***

[lancfan]

This model is of the T-34/76 preserved in the Armoured forces Museum at the Stefan Czarnecki military Academy, Poznan based on pictures of the full-size in the Topshots booklet for the T-34/76, modified from the Revell 1/76 scale kit and using Topshots decals for this very tank, a choice of subject which was made simply due to the fact that this was the only tank in the booklet with solid wheels.

Here is the obligatory box and sprue shot to start the ball rolling.


David.

[lancfan]

Although the Matchbox/Revell T34 is quite good in some areas it is equally bad in others, the wheels and tracks being to be honest, really quite awful, these were attended to first and although the wheels cannot be perfectly corrected they can be made to look much better. The full size solid wheels should be of shallow dished section but Matchbox rendered them as flat plates, this can be improved by using one of the gloppier colours in the Revell Aqua acrylic range to fill the rim in order to represent the dished effect. this is a wheel as kitted alongside both painted and unpainted corrected wheels.


The lower hull has now been assembled and is ready to be modified, this is shown with the improved wheel set fully painted and ready to be fitted, the plastic block in the background will become the new turret.


The changes needed to model the upgraded museum tank are underway.


David.

[Clashcityrocker]

Looking forward to see a turret come from that block of plastic.

Nigel

[BWP]

Although the Matchbox/Revell T34 is quite good in some areas it is equally bad in others

Well ... it's really not "quite good" in any area, it is at it's best "OK", and that doesn't cover very much at all, unfortunately. I'm hard-pressed to think of a reason for why you'd buy one, except maybe to cross-kit with an Airfix kit (although that's equally bad, really). The hull is the best part, replace the wheels using spares handily provided in the mostly-excellent Fujimi kit, and the turret from ... um. Well, I suppose the MB one will do, especially if you use it as a basis for some enhancement work with putty and plastic card. Sadly, that still leaves open the question of the tracks, which are equally awful in the MB, Airfix and Fujimi kits. There is no simple solution for that, unfortunately.

Well, actually there is a reason to get the MB kit. The diorama base (with accompanying Russian soldier) is quite nice.

[lancfan]

Bruce, it was in the stash, it is still easy to get hold of and is cheap. It is in my opinion much better than the Airfix kit but it has as many problems as the red box offering. We can only hope that Airfix pick the T-34 as a future 1/76 scale re-tool victim.


David.

[lancfan]

The turret has been shaped from the laminated block and the base ring and gun mantlet side shields have been fitted.


David.

[lancfan]

With the blank finished I now had to add the surface texture by coating the whole turret in liquid cement and dipping it in bicarbonate of soda, when this had dried I brushed the surplus away to reveal an even texture.


The furniture went on next to finish the turret.


David.

[jssel]

Interesting technique David. I have stipled brushed liquid cement before but not that. Good work here.

[lancfan]

Working from the Top shot images alone has presented a few problems, these pictures are very much 'uber close ups' they do not give any real positioning information and without more general establishing shots relative size is difficult to determine as I do not know that particular vehicle. Scale drawings do not help either as this is a modified machine that has been presented for museum display. I did find an image online that showed far more of the vehicle and this has helped me to properly (I hope) detail the hull sides.
I have removed the kit drop tanks, these will be replaced with tanks from the Airfix Matilda which are visually very close in size to the fuel tanks fitted to this machine. The handrails and the fuel tanks have now been glued down and the last fittings have been installed, the lower hull can now be painted and the wheels fitted.



David.

[splash]

Nice work on the turret, cheers for showing us how to do it.

Regards Splash

[lancfan]

Cheers Jeff, splash.

David.

[lancfan]

The hull and turret have now been painted, the turret gloss varnished and the decals applied, this has given me a few headaches as the Topshot pictures are 'flash-bleached' to the point that the original colour has been lost and the only other picture I was able to find was taken using available light and appears to be almost in darkness so if anyone has actually seen this tank and I have got it wrong then I apologise, this 'museum' seems to be just a garage for the college training aids and the vehicles seem to be simply closely parked rather than displayed.
This tank seems to be more original than normal museum exhibits and appears to show the patina of time quite markedly and to represent this I applied a base coat of Revell 42 Yellowish Olive followed by washes of R39 Dark Green, R78 Panzer Grey and then R86 Khaki Brown finishing off with a brushed coat of powdered pencil graphite. A coat of matt varnish will be next and the model will then be ready for final assembly.


David.

[Molly-new]

Excellent paint job, and the work on the turret is truly inspiring. Thanks for the demo of how to do it.

[lancfan]

Thanks Chip.


David.

[BlohmWolf]

Are you sure you can finish some of these projects in time? They all do look really nice, IIMA.