Hi guys
Some in-progress images of my first T34 build. Its the old Italeri/ Zvezda kit with engine from maquette.
Comments, tips and critic welcome.







For more images and details see HERE

Great work Frank and a well written article. Good to see these old kits being built,- I have a Zvezda T34 in my own stash

Very nice job, Frank. My first model and first T-34 after come back in modeling was also Zvezda´s T-34. In fact the same type you are building and I know there are some issues, while putting it together. But it wasn´t that bad and I got it cheap from other modeler.

Looks pretty respectable to me considering it's an old kit. If you do a good paint job, people won't notice the soft details of the engine at all.

Fine looking work so far. And I agree the write up atthe link is wlel done too. Looking ofrward to the next update.

Nice work, good job Frank.

Thanks very much for your very kind comments again guys.
As said, this is a work in progress. A lot of the etch work is going on at the moment and then its time to break out the paints for the engine. I´ll post more updates later.

Love it Frank, superbly built, photographed and described. Great work and looking forward to seeing more.

James

Great Stuff Frank!
T-34 is one of my favorite subjects. I also like the idea of doing something useful with aftermarket stuff that has been left behind by advances in technology.

Guys- if you haven't followed Franks link above you should- well done article with nice pictures!

This is going to be interesting to watch come together.

Thanks Frank! Steve

Would you mind a couple of observations? The base of the PTK-5 periscopic sight was bolted to the turret, never welded. Tamiya messed this up and, of course, the error has been copied ever since.

On the rear plate for a -76 with two small hinges (as on your model) there should be five bolts along the angled outer edges (a feature of tanks from Factory 174 and ChTZ). Factory 183 made Model 42's will always have three hinges and four bolts but the pattern will be different; spacing will be the same as if there were five bolts but the center bolt is "missing".

What a shame most of what you've done will be invisible when all's said and done.
Nicely done so far!

Mark

This is super. Building an old kit is every bit as fun as a new one, may be more so

Wish I had seen this a few weeks ago; my little SU-122 had the grille replaced with brass, and like you I wanted to make sure there was at least something visible through it, but I couldn't find a clear enough picture to let me improvise something - yet there is nothing so clear as your photo of some white resin bits! In the end my engine was made of old scraps of track and wheels and rods and stuff.

On this subject: "T34s with a complete set of Ural-style all-metal road wheels are exceedingly rare, if they existed at all, as there is no conclusive photographic evidence."

How about this: http://wio.ru/tank/t-34gal.htm - see 3rd photo down. If compared to 8th row down where the front wheel only is tyred, I think it is conclusive that the 3rd photo down is all steel - note the rim thickness. There are a couple of other photos in Squadron's T-34 In Action too.

I think I can answer this one. STZ was the only manufacturer of the T-34 to make common use of full sets of the "all steel" wheels (they actually had a few rubber grommets or rings that cushioned the outer rim. The Soviet references refer to these as "internally dampened" and were similar in design to the wheels used on KV tanks). The third photo down is an STZ made tank.
So far I have seen only a total of three photographs of non-STZ T-34s with full sets of the "internally dampened" wheels and one of them featured an obvious testbed tank. This is out of literally thousands of reference photos.
Of course Factory 174 issued a large number of tanks with the rubber tired wheel on the front station only so it isn't too hard to imagine what would happen if that front wheel failed and there were few of the same type to replace it.
The short answer here being that it did happen but it was indeed extremely rare, in fact the rarest of rare T-34 variations.

Firstly thanks guys ... always appreciate the kind comments and support. I have a few more steps made ... but need to photograph and document them. I havent had time this week with work ... and I have a lot of things to finish up before my 4 week holidays, starting next friday (hoping to get a lot done then).


Mark, Im really glad you joined in ... and please yes ... all help is appreciated. Im not really a rivet-orientated modeller ... but do like to get things that Im aware of ... or made aware of, right ... but wont loose sleep over some small details. Scott Fraser has helped me a lot to get started.


I have the bolts and welds ... got carried away when making the welds , but I´ll remove that again.


Thanks ... wasn´t aware of this. I will be adding the Armorscale large fuel tanks, so the Italeri bolts will be removed so all will match the resin ones to be added later. I will increase this to five.


I know ... but Im enjoying this build, and learning as I go along about the details ... which is one of the reasons behind this build.


I got this info from Scott ... and that was good enough for me. I don´t have the background knowledge on the details, which is why its great that you guys who know about the T34 join in on the thread. Don´t be shy ... feel free to offer as much info as you want. The things that can be adjusted easily will be .. others might not ... but Im sure there plenty who are interested. Cheers.

Hello again chaps.
Ive made some more progress with the T34. Feel free to comment, offer tips and/or critic.
The full thread can be seen on The Assembly, with more images and notes.

Frank,

Been following your build with interest since your first posting back in June. Your doing an outstanding job with this old Italeri / Zvezda kit. I really like your photo-etch work and attention to detail. I also like the combination of wheels used and the track sag. Looking forward to seeing how the texture on the turret comes out looking after the painting and weathering.

Personally I don't know much about the T-34's but yours looks fine to me. I have a few Dragon and Cyber-Hobby kits along with a few referance books in the stash but it will be a while till I can get to them. Won't be forgetting your build when I do mine. Thanks for posting and sharing.

-Eddy

Oldie but goodie

impressive work so far

Thanks Eddy and Yvan. Much appreciated.



Hi Eddy. This was the exact same for me. I have 5 different T34 kits and a load of reference, so I had to start somewhere. I knew very little about the T34 ... can´t say Im an expert now either ... but thanks to all the help and support Im getting here, thats slowly changing. I´ve had this Italeri kit for 7 or 8 years, and bought some updates to modernise it, but Dragon have blown it out of the water in recent years. But Ive been inspired by so many great builds of these older T34s over the years, I really wanted to attempt it and take the route that those before me did. Glad you guys like it.

Hi Frank,

Wonderful build so far, I've never built a 34 myself......someday!

There is just something about a unpainted AFV model, the more varied the materials used the better they look.

All the best,
Ryan

Thanks very much Ryan. Appreciated.
Hopefully this gives you the urge to tackle a T34. Some of the newer Dragon models can be built OOB and are as good as this ... without the extra effort and headaches.

The T34 build is now complete. Time to break out the airbrush. Comments and critic welcome as usual!
More images and notes can be found on The Assembly
The full thread can be seen Here

I seem to have missed this one up to now... Great build! I have one of those Zvezda Kits in my stash as well, waiting for a similar treatment... Keep it up!

Cheerio!

Thanks very much Stefan. Glad you caught the thread, and hopefully it gives you the push needed for your own kit!

This is fabulous stuff - I LOVE T34's. I'm building about 4 or 5 at the moment (lost count). Mainly Dragon and a Zvezda one like yours but with the mine roller, but I have half-built the new T34-85 from AFV club and it's a good kit with plenty of detail. No indy track links are included though, but have ordered a set through eBay. Those track links you're using - I bought a few sets of these years ago for about £5 per set. Are they still available? I absolutely LOVE what you've done to the Zvezda kit. Oh, a wee tip - I don't know if anybody's tried this before.....I had a brainwave to get the casting texture on my T34 turret, and I tried some Tippex correction fluid and it worked a treat. Brush on a thin coat, leave to dry and put on another thicker coat, leave to dry again and sand lightly - the effect is amazing, but probably more akin to some of the rougher T34-85 turrets.

Fantastic looking build there, really crisp and well presented.

Thanks for sharing

Stuart

Hey Frank, good to see it about to enter the paint booth.

Are you going to paint with tracks attached, and are you applying a primer coat?

Ryan