¹⁄35

From 'Backyard Toy' to Soviet T34-85

The Gear Box

The refurbished gearbox was still to my ear noisy. It was much, much quieter and 40% more efficient than as originally supplied but I was concerned as to it drowning the actual engine sound. (I had obtained a digital engine sound unit that portrays the heavy diesel noise of the T34. This was made from a recording I took of a T34 running at Duxford). On talking to my friend John, the engineer who refurbished the gearbox he suggested mixing a ‘blended’ banana skin with silicon grease. When I had got up off of the floor from laughing he said “Try it”. I did. What a difference. Like a sewing machine now.

The Tracks

The tracks are very well detailed and to one of the correct patterns used from 1943 onwards. As with the Panther they were originally joined by a piece of 2-mm wire through the links and bent over at each end! Still not very scale. (The actual T34 track pin was on the inside, nearest the hull, formed into a flat rivet; the outer end of the pin was bare and not secured to the track and allowed to ‘float’. The track pins were prevented from accidentally leaving the track by the inclusion of a steel ‘wiper plate’ that was fixed to the tank’s hull just in front of the drive wheel. If a pin loosened as the tracks were moving it struck the wiper plate and was forced back home.)

Where could I obtain such an item? My friend John again came to the rescue. He suggested Mountain Bike spokes! (His son’s bike had given him the idea). Through various friends I contacted a firm in Manchester. They could not have been more helpful. I sent them an example and 3 days later back came 400 spokes at no charge! I could not believe my luck. The Works Manager whom I had been speaking to would not accept any payment, not even postage. I did find out however that he was a Whiskey drinker so up to Manchester went a very large bottle. What a nice guy.

The spokes were all cut to size (Sufficient to re-pin the Panther as well), the rivets flattened to the correct profile and now all ready to fit but, yes, nightmare time again! Although not as bad as the Panther the track pin holes still it appears are drilled freehand! I needed to ream out the holes ‘to true’ and to a size of 2.1mm. Reamers at that size are both expensive and weak. I obtained 50 2.1mm cheap drills for $40. Over 5 days and breaking over 35 drills I reamed and trued each link’s holes. Each non horned link was then drilled with 2 more holes (used to attach the snow grousers) and the tracks reassembled. The tracks are now totally flexible; contribute to extending the running time of the batteries and sag realistically!