No mojo? Build a T-34!

[rfbaer]

My fault for committing to too much and trying to meet deadlines, but I just couldn’t scrape up the enthusiasm to continue with the AFV Club Sho’t or Revell Leo I’m currently working on. My modeling time is too precious to spend on something I’m not jazzed about, so both were carefully put aside and my stash contemplated, because I WANTED to model.

It took about two minutes to realize I had a bunch of T-34 stuff, both partial and complete Tamiya kits and a fair amount of AM, left from my last T-34 frenzy. I even had some old Maquette and Arsenal stuff. It’s been several years since I’ve built one, so it was a no-brainer. Mojo was there, and since I’m no T-34 expert, I’m not terribly troubled by how many rivets it needs.

I decided on a T-34/85 with a mine roller, using Tamiya, Maquette, Dragon and various AM, and the Arsenal PT-3 mine roller, just cuz it’s a neat looking combo and would give me something to use a CMD turret on, or a Dragon turret. I even have some metal tracks.

After three or four hours I have the basic hull together and have tested both turrets, leaning towards the resin “composite” turret.

I know there are much better starting points but I had all this (and more) in the stash, and I’m having fun. I may get a Tamiya SU-122 going alongside this, just so I can wallow in it.

[bwilt]

Nice to see you starting something else

That’s more or less why I still enjoy building all kinds of stuff, I don’t care about 100 % accurate builds

[Tank_1812]

Off to a good start.

[rfbaer]

I’m not obsessing over details here but I am trying to build a model that will not look out of place in my display case and still have fun.

So far, so good.

More stuff stuck on last night, and I got a start on making the prominent casting seam on the turret. It’s still needs blending and texturing. I’m going to save the resin turret for a Korean War build, something to go with a dozer Sherman I now have all the parts for.

[Keith_Ranson]

You can never go wrong with A T-34, Since there are still some of Them running..

[rfbaer]

More bits, using various kit parts that seem to work best. I’ve also added some PE since I have a bunch, and not used PE where it doesn’t really improve on the plastic parts.

One boo boo: I wrapped a bit of wine foil around the base of the gun tube to keep it straight and centered in the mantlet hole while the glue set and now I can’t get it out. Oops. I may just end up using a resin mantlet, TBD.

Also begun is the mine roller attachment. It’s a bit crude but oddly has some nice weld beads.

[PT-76]

I had also thought about combining several kits into one, but seeing your work makes it look amazing.

[rfbaer]

I find it to be more fun than building oob, but that’s me. Plus, when I’m done, I have something uniquely mine.

[rfbaer]

Zipping right along here. The mine roller is just test fitted, once it’s on it’s going to be a hard model to move around.

[rfbaer]

Ready for paint. Compared to some other builds I’ve done, this one has gone amazingly fast.

Stowage is Value Gear. I thought I’d add some since pics of T-34s taken later in the war show a fair amount.

IMG_4987 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Ivan says hi.

IMG_4988 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4986 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4985 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4984 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

[bwilt]

That was fast indeed.. looks great!

Love that driver’s face!

[rfbaer]

That’s what happens when I don’t count rivets…..

[rfbaer]

And what happens when I don’t want to paint, or can’t due to wind and/or cold weather:

More parts from the stash of forgotten AM and partial kits…..

[rfbaer]

I’ve already pulled the mine roller adapter off. I was comparing it to pics, then to a Verlinden adapter I have on a similar build I did several years ago and it’s not very good. So, I’m going to cut the detail parts off and out of it and do it right. Yee ha!

[rfbaer]

New mount is done. My mojo is healthy, as long as I don’t paint or work on an AFV Club kit.

As this progresses I’ll start a new thread.

IMG_4991 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4992 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4993 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I copied an old Verlinden part and am using Miniart pieces for the actual roller attachment since I’m going to use the Miniart roller kit.

[bwilt]

Big difference to the old attachment! I have that old attachment lying around as well, left over from my weird Merkava…

I always thought that attachment looked weird, now I can see why..

[rfbaer]

That looks like a Chinese knock-off of the Tamiya kit. Later Merks have the attachments to mount a roller on the hull, no adapter needed.

I bought a Magach kit years ago, that same brand, and it was a poor quality copy of Academy‘s kit, lots of flash and soft details, exact same sprue layouts.

[bwilt]

This one was an exact copy of the Tamiya one, end reslt of the two together was nice…

But back to your build…

[rfbaer]

It’s in a box, waiting for paint while I work on the Magach.

[rfbaer]

I painted it. Actually, painted, added turret markings and started detail painting, but I don’t like the turret markings so I’m going to re-do them. I think they’re too high.