Hi guys, tonight i got to start on the new Dragon T34/85 with bedspring armor im building it straight oob and im going to try do a bit of a build thread on it, it wont be anywhere near as good as some of the other excellent articles being done but it will be a little better than some finished images and a "what a beauty of a kit" statement or at least i hope so.

Well for about 2 hours work tonight i managed to get through steps 1,2,3,and 5, i skipped step 4 which consists of the front and back plates of the lower hull so i could get the wheels on and setting up for the night

Step 1, preparing the wheels,
now the wheels look really great but i have one small gripe and that is the road wheels have four heavy connection points to each wheel and these are a bit of a pain but it is only a small gripe.





Step 2, this is the suspension boxes and small plates that glue to the bolted ring of the drive wheel housing.





Steps 3 and 5, this consists of the suspension arms and the wheels. i didnt get pics of the suspension arms for some reason but there are no issues with them except the usual cleanup and they fit very well after the image below was taken i took 2 straight edged sanding boards and slotted it between the road wheels so they will set up straight by morning.





hopefully more progress tommorrow.

Good clean start Ron...............I can't wait to see the PE bedsprings on this one! :-)

Vinnie

Ron- It looks like your having alot of fun ! I got my kit about 2 weeks ago. Nice kit looking in the box . I,m working on my Trumpeter 1/32nd MiG-19S (F-6 ) right now, so when it,s done I,ll start on my -85 UTZ. Cheers-

Rob-

MiG-17

Ive been contemplating a T34 for some time. I think this might be the one!!

Thanks for the support guys, VInnie im so sure about the clean part i see others build pics and wonder what they do with all the extra glue they must save by being so neat :-) i am also looking forward the the pe bedsprings i havent done much pe and this will be a good learning experience.

Well when i woke this AM there was snow on the ground so no work for me for the rest of the week the kid is out of school for snow days and the missus is working nights till weekend so shes in bed (see's an hard working RN) so this can only mean one thing,, Bench time,

So to continue from last night i went back to step 4 which was the front, and rear hull plates and tow hooks this went without a hitch and then onto step 6.

Step 4, rear plate with tow hooks (seams still to be removed i find it easier on some things to do it on the vehicle). The pics dont show too well but there are some nice weld beads on this and the front plate.


Step 6. now this step suprised me a little mainly because i wasnt
expecting it, this requires that you cut of the front fenders and replace them with another plastic set,, now replacing them with a PE set i could understand but in a kit of this caliber this just struck me as a little odd, no biggie the surgury went as planned and all look well in the recovery room.






Now at this point before i moved onto step 7 which is the tracks and then onto the upper hull with the PE grills and louver vents i wanted to check the fit of the upper hull to the lower and im glad i did because i would have been in trouble.
Here you see problem 1 the new fenders dont sit right on the lower hull


And here is the effects of that, point 1 as been fixed but see how point 2 doesnt sit correctly


This also throws out the fitting of the rear section


To fix this i sanded down these areas


And also had to sand down these areas to help the rear hull fit right


And thin the rear upper plate a tad here


And now i have this and all looks well




next up will be the tracks hopefully in the next day or two.

Off and running Ron, good work on the fenders and subsequent sanding/surgery to get the patient into the recovery room.

Looking good!

I knew this kit had some issues after having read the review on the PMMS site. I didn't know about the fenders and the hulls, but about a dimensional problem with the PE grilles...

Ron-- whom did you obtain the bedspring T-34? I am having a tough time finding someone with stock on hand. Nice job....
thanks
DJ

Excellent Ron. In progress shots and fore-warnings are gold. Great help to anyone wanting to build this model and gives us all a chance to drool over thedetails! Good photographs as well.
Looking forward to the next stages already!!

thanks very much for bringing us this build report, i have been tempted by this variant.

and a huge thank you for taking the time to point out the flaws.

an excellent job so far

vlad

Alpenflage a member of this site has the kit. If it's not on the website shoot him an email through the contacts

http://www.alpenflage-hobbies.com/catalog/index.php

Thanks for the comments guys the support is welcome,.
As far as the bad fitting hull goes it is possibly the replacement fenders that are the culprit, i havent heard of any issues prior to to this with the fit but this is the first version that requires them to be changed that i am aware of. But all in all its not that bad, its just something to be aware of and may need a little adjusting.
Hi James yes the engine intake pe grills are too big for there intended use but the kit ones are fine so this is not really a big deal, so far i have enjoyed this build and im not even at the good part yet :-) i have started the tracks and got one side on and am beggining work on some of the deck pe, having only used pe a couple of times i am looking forward to the challenge, way i see it is if i am going to fall flat on my face it might as well be in front of everyone.
Hi DJ, this kit was a prize for Amom contest (Thanks again Vinnie) so i coudnt say where to get one but Alan may have you sorted.

Here's a pic of the PE.

Ron,
are your roadwheels glued on,or can you slide them off? This is how I do track,I leave the wheels removeable,so As I fit the track ,I can slide them off with the track wrapped around.

Hi Carl,
nope i build everything before painting, tracks, wheels, tools, the lot, the only exception to this is stowage this is painted off but weathered on the vehicle with everything else, i know this isnt the easiest or probably not the best either but its the only way that works for me.

Last update for the day, and finishes up all steps from 1 through 7, Nothing to report except everything went nicely and looks great .

Step 7, The tracks. i simply laid out two long runs then using a small brush and testors liquid cement put the tip of the brush in the center of the track and let it pull the glue. After giving the two pieces of track about 30 minutes i simply fed the track around and glued it on the wheels.




Cutting out and replacing the engine deck intake with the PE set. Be careful to only cut the center of the plastic grill out leaving the frame then sand it flush this may sound obvious but for a crazy moment there,,,






Fitting the PE louvers


PE fender support brackets


The four smaller intake vents these are the ones the PE grills are too big for but as said they look nice by themselves.


Well wrapping up step 7 and i am very happy with the way it looks and cant wait to continue on.



Thanks for looking and feel free to comment in any way.

Thanks for showing us all this, especially as I have my own T-34/85 project in my plan box. But I'll wait until I see how yours turns out until I go on with mine! Mine, for the record is a plain vanilla North Korean T-34/85.

For the record, the so-called "bedspring armor" was not actually made from bedsprings, but were mesh armor pieces specially made by the Soviets for the purpose of counteracting Panzerfaust rockets.

Ron- It,s looking good. Thank you for sharing the build with the rest of us !! Cheers-

Rob-

MiG-17

fantastic looking kit. And I must say the regular updates and good quality photos make it seem like we're all there building it with you.

Brilliant job

Des

Ron, excellent build-review. We should have more of these on this site. Looks like a great kit to build, so much in fact, I want to start mine

DJ, if you are having trouble finding one of these kits, I have them in stock. Either PM me here on Armorama, or click on my banner below for ordering.

Now where did I put that Russian green paint ??.......

Cheers !!

Robert

Thanks for the interest guys this is my first real attempt at this after seeing some of the other great build reviews i figured i would give it a shot and so far i am enjoying it.

Does all of that engine PE come with the kit or was it extra??

Very nice Ron - anxious to see the finished work of art! I'm in TN too - East TN - what part do you hail from?

Please keep the thread going, so we can see the final product!

Hi Ron

I enjoy your step by step thread. Last weekend I finished my own T 34/85, which ended up as a wreck and is intended to be shown on a diorama. Unfortunately in the moment I´m not allowed to publish any pics, cause of a contest I`m taking part with it

Maybe you won`t be happy with the thing I`ll tell you now. In my mind Dragon made a mistake with the fender replacement. The sharp edged front fenders were introduced in production of late spring ´44. I think the bedspring armor wasn`t used before that. The bedspring armor was intended to protect against hollowsharge projectiles like from the german panzerfaust, best used in battles in big german cities.
So I think the on-molded fenders were the right for a "bedspring T 34". But nevertheless you are showing highclass modelling, keep on

Nico

Hi Alan

Everything which is shown so far, is in the kit. I don´t think Ron added something at this point

regards Nico