Newbie paint question for T-34

Hi, Tim!
I'm no expert on Soviet armor, but I've heard that you really can't go wrong painting 'em! In WWII, the Soviets were painting (or not!) their vehicles with anything available, mixing pigments with water, kerosene, gasoline, even engine oil. So you can imagine the mad variety of greens you could get!

The Tamiya enamel or acrylic Dark Green XF-61 is a good place to start.

I haven't gotten the latest issue of FSM yet (takes a month for my copy to reach Japan!), but I understand there's a good story about a T-34 build. You might want to check and see what the painting recommendations are there.

Happy modeling!

Tim - I agree with Brian .... as with many armoured vehicles, if you line them up they'll all appear to be slightly different in colour.

My choice for the base coat would also be Tamiya's XF-61. By the time you've finished weathering it, it will appear to be a different colour anyway.

Thanks guys. Yes, FSM had a good article about building a tank in a weekend (T-34) they used a Tamyia spray can dark green. Hope this wasn't to dumb a question.

No such thing as a dumb question, Tim!
Just glad it was a question I could help ya answer.

Well, maybe asking Shermanfreak what his favorite armored vehicle is might be a little dumb, but...

Is your kit #35049? The one with extra glacis armor and alternate steel wheels and square gas tanks? Your post compelled me to pull it down off the shelf and give it a good look. Might have to give it the FSM weekend treatment, too!

J-Hulk,
Yes it is. I am going with the rubber wheels. I have been reading D. Glantz Battle for Leningrad and I am going to go for a tank in that region. The Kirov version(not sure about spelling)

Try painting it natural metal--with plenty of rust. Later in the war when T-34s were rolling off the line, they were being sent into the field unpainted. It wasn't until the crews got them that they finally got some color on 'em. I built one some years back and sprayed it steel. It was definitely different, and offered some contrast with all the other green Russian armor.
Gip Winecoff

I saw a T34 (/85) that the Soviets, who are now Russians, had restored. For interior color they used white in the turret (olive green main gun) and gloss gray, like Testors out of the can gloss gray, for inside of the hull. In case you want to paint inside a bit also.
I would hazzard a guess that with its big hatch an T34/76 might have been gray throughout.... might even have been prevelent in other Soviet armor of the time, but I wouldn't know for sure.

Ron.