So far so good, nice little kit. Biggest issues so far - slightly warped upper hull and not-so-great fit on the turret pieces (a seam remains on the rear, I'll live with it), and awful, awful link and length tracks. Aside from that it's spectacular for 20$.

I just applied a base of Russian green, the final scheme will be a heavily worn winter wash. As you can see, I've started experimenting with the wash on the bottom of the hull - I'm using a coat of undiluted white gouache rubbed off with a scrub pad or a damp sponge. There is still a lot of detail work to do on the exterior, just need to let the paint cure first.

I left out some of the drivetrain bits (where are the radiators?) and didn't bother painting some areas. As you can see, very little is visible through the hatches. I glued the hull on permanently because it wouldn't fit otherwise. The rust is Sophisticated Finishes. The rough paint was achieved by blasting undiluted Model Master Russian Green through my single action. Aside from that, I added weld detail to the front of the hull, textured the turret with liquid cement, and added the turret casting seam.

Yes, I know the rounds are mounted backwards on one side of the interior. And yes, I took some liberties with some of the colours for effect. I'm not a rivet counter by any means.

















Oh goody, 20 road wheels to paint by hand.

Hello Jason,That is really coming along nicely,I like the greasy looking engine,the dirty interior looks convincing,and I love the spent shells all over the place.My Hobby Boss T-34/85 didn't come close................nice work !!!! Too bad so much of the inside gets closed up.

i have the /85 in the stash.....haven't built up the courage to build it yet! Please dont get angry at me for asking lots of pesky questions!
1. How did you replicate the turret seam?
2. What is wrong with the tracks?
3. what other problems did you encounter with this kit?
4. Do you use enamel or acrylic paint (model master RUssian green was used obviously)

Thanks in advance, your model is looking really, really good!

No problem Jon,

1. The seam is a bit of round Evergreen styrene, which is pretty soft once you saturate it with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. It was carefully glued into place, then covered with cement. I used a no. 11 to score it and squish it onto the turret surface. Takes a few passes with the cement to get it flat enough.
2. The tracks do not go together well, they don't click together like a good set of link tracks, and there are ejector pin marks on every link. Now that I'm putting them on, I find that they are not lining up properly! I followed the instructions exactly and it looks like there is a flub on the link count - on top of this, the T34 uses two types of links (flat and with a guide horn) so I can't just glue in another link to fill the gap, the pattern of flat-guide-flat is messed up and you can't glue a flat next to a flat or a guide next to a guide because the mating sections are different.
3. Other problems are mainly fit of some parts, and the presence of a lot of flash and mould lines. Takes time to put together. Some locating holes are too small and need drilling, dry fit everything.
4. The green is Model Master acrylic.

So far I'm done with everything but the running gear, I'm trying to fix the tracks before I throw on some mud, which will mask the stupid tracks. I'll post pics later when it's done.

PS The gouache works very well, I found the best method was to use a cotton swab soaked with rubbing alcohol to rub it off on the wear areas. Water will dissolve the paint totally, alcohol lifts it in a more controlled manner.

I didn't use the kit tracks,I was able to get WWII Productions resin replacement tracks at the time,they just click together and are workable,however I think they are unavailble now,but those kit tracks were bad.One trouble spot with assembly was the sloping rear plate,careful prefitting needed to make sure it mates up with the lower rear chassis.

hope this helps a little-it makes a nice model,wish Tamiya would do 1/48 34/85

It's done! This is weathering to the extreme! Then again, Soviets were never known for taking care of their vehicles...

I'll likely touch up the mud a bit for more depth, a little drybrushing will help. I put it on thicker than I originally wanted, just to cover those awful tracks.

First up the whitewash before weathering:


And the final product - filtered with burnt sienna and black oil washes, then finished off with a variety of pigments. All rusty bits are genuine rust, courtesy of Sophisticated Finishes. Mud is a mix of burnt umber artist's pigment and plaster, with some mottled burn sienna and black wash, finished with Future.

Great job with the whitewash! Those tracks are tricky to get used to. It still looks the part. Congrats, Greg