Tamiya's T34, former shelf queen WIP

Well, progress. I finished the assembly, mostly OOB Tamiya but some more Maquette parts, and shot primer, Krylon red oxide. After one day, a coat of Krylon "camo green", kind of a medium green sold with hunters and such in mind. Another day to dry, then a heavy wash of Vallejo german medium green darkened with a touch of black. Aften a couple of hours, I started to scrub the wash away in the flat and "touchable" areas, leaving it in the shadowed and concealed parts of the tank. Then, I used a bit of lighter fluid on a q-tip and scrubbed the high'traffic areas to bring up a little bit of the red oxide, and edged those areas with the original vallejo green, which is a bit lighter than the Krylon sprayed on as the first green coat.

Sorry for not having any shots of the process, just now got a camera to work. So, enough of the talk, here's the pics, sort of. I can't seem to get this camera to consistently focus on the work instead of the background. Hmmm.....

I think I've heard something similar, just couldn't remember the color. I don't want to show something in primer that should be green, or use the wrong color. I'm digging through my resources, including articles on builds, and have found some definite contradictions........  seems like red oxide is a bit over-used, IMO. I have an earlier tank in about the same state of build as this one started in and I want to show the rear cooling louvre cover slightly open on both. I'm leaning towards the exterion green for this area now, since the louvres themselves would be visible from the outside, through the screens.

Also, the tank I'm building is meant to be a factory re-build, common in the later part of the war, in which usable hulls and turrets are combined to get a servicable vehicle, even though they may not be exactly "matched", as far as production dates and/or places go. I have acouple of pics of vehicles that are identified as such, and since I'm using a variety of kit  parts anyway, it was a natural.

Anyway, back from CO, maybe get some bench time in here in a bit, plus gotta scare up another camera......

  Quite innovative Russ. 

 A good way to recycle an old favorite.

I've heard stories & seen pictures of russian tanks coming out of the Stalingrad factories and heading straight into the battle with only red primer for a finish.

I'm not certain on Soviet armor specs but have read that a yellow-oxide primer was used but unsure if it was a standard or if it varied from factory to factory. If you can get get Treadwell aka william_carls attention, I'm sure he would be able to provide a more definitive answer.

Thanks, Bill. I'm looking forward to the painting part myself. BTW, anyone know if the Sovs used primer, and if so, what color? I've seen a few models that the builder used red oxide on, but still curious.......

A real FrankenT34 project! I love it! You hardly notice the stitches. Seriously, a very nice job cobbling this one together, ought to look great with some paint and weathering when the time comes.

A couple more pics today........good camera decided to die today, so forgive the lousy pics.

Turret is ready for texturing, all the biys and pieces are on. I built up the nose around the mantlet, due to the poor fit of the Maquette parts, and replaced the barrel with a Jordi Rubio parts that was in the stash. Other bits are from an old Tamiya kit and the Maquette kit. Grab handles are .020" welding wire. I filled in the front roof ventilator hole and cut the rear out for the dual ventilators characteristic of the earlier "composite" turret. A couple of old Sherman HVSS return rollers were set into the holes, and the Tamiya cover added. Welds are plastic rod. Fuel cans are from a Tamiya kit, with the mount straps sharpened up a bit. Smoke pots (or more fuel cans?) are Maquette. Front and rear hull pieces are about all that remain on this one.

Off to Colorado for some vacation time, celebrate passing my Somm 1 test, cool off too.

Thanks for looking!

I've got a pic of two air outlet covers, one for this model and one for a T34/76 that's in the same state of completion (read: started and abandoned several years ago). I like the all-PE example better, but will probably go ahead and use the other one as well. Still studying for the test.........

All brass:

And screen embossed into the existing framework:

Work, study and upcoming trip, away from Texas heat, all pretty much taking lots of modeling time these days, but still plugging away.

And talk about spare parts models, in digging around for parts for these two, I figured out that I have almost enough for another T34......if I can find one of those Dragon or Tamiya kits of the big pressed turret, I'm golden!

<~~~lurking... I'm going to build a T-34 mashup tank for the Imagination GB.. so.. lurking I am..

Thanks all.

I did the engine deck cooling air outlet screens today, using the old On the Mark pieces and some metal mesh I had laying around, and that was it. I'll get some more pics up as I get some more progress made. 

Thanks for watching!

RBaer, first off its great to see work being done to a shelf queen!!  I've got a few of those on the shelf that I keep thinking I will dust off....well you know how that goes!

Secondly, I love what your doing...combining different hull, wheels and turret to come up with something you can't buy off the shelf!!  I'm going to be doing something very similar with some T-34 parts I've been collecting.  I'm sure your work will inspire me (and others!) to do get going!

Keep those WIP posts coming, I'm eager to see how this turns out!

If thats the reak old Tamiya,I built that kit in the 80's as one of my first models,probably blew it up with firecrackers.Yours looks like a nice project,should come out real good.

Good luck on your test.

Tracks are friuls, my favorite for anything with "dead" track.

I've got a lot of studying to do the next few day for my Somm 1 test, so progress may be a tad slow on this one, but it's good therapy. Yeah, that's it, yeah......

Going to town on this old guy. I like what you've done to it so far. Are those tracks indies? The sag looks great on them, so I assume they are and I know the kit comes with one-piece.