This is my build log for Dragon's rather lovely bedspring version of the T 34/85. I'm a sucker for shing stuff, so with all the PE included with the kit i had to get it one day. i will be building this for a small diorama of the battle of Berlin, so i also bought Tamiyas russian army assualt infantry set. you can't really beat 12 figures for £9.99 easily. I already have quite a bit of work to do, because my dio will show the T 34 advancing over a pile of rubble, at a fairly high gradient, so the suspension will have to be modified to allow for this. if anyone has any pictures of T 34's or similar tanks moving over very uneven ground i would be greatful as i would like to know how much the suspension would move in my situation. Due to the excellent detail of dragon's suspension system i only need to remove the spring detail and shorten it, everything else should work fine as it is.

Hey luke this looks promising

have you tried google for images of the tank steep climbing??
have alook on youtube aswell i cant remember what its called but i had some videos of ww2 tanks ( prototypes ) being tested on steep climbs and different terrain but i cant find the link anymore sorry =[

how are tamiyas russian figures??


tony

thanks for the suggestions. google didn't turn up much but i'll have a look on youtube later and see what i can find. The tamiya figures seem good, i will probably be building them on my diorama blog in the dioramas section (i will link it soon), although that may not be for a while as i am going away for two weeks on saturday. Anyway, the moulding on the figures looks fairly good and there seems to be a good selection of weapons and equipment to use. The heads aren't anything to shout about really, a bit average to be honest, but from tamiya i was hardly expecting Hornet quality detail. The selection of the different uniforms is also good, and i noticed that the fingers are separated not fused together to a flat paddle like they are in some styrene kits. i will try to go a bit more in depth when i get round to assembling them.

I hope you post a build in progress. I've always liked the bedspring armor on the T-34/85.

roger that. Would like to watch this one go together.

yeah the detail on the bedsprings is pretty impressive, and there is a lot more nice PE detail besides that. If i get a chance today i might start on the suspension before i go away.

here is the tank i will be modelling, number 230, seen in two photos (which appear to be shorty after the battle, indicating this on survived the war and was probably later scrapped. please correct me if i am wrong here.

(the same picture zoomed out a bit)

I have another good pic of 230 from the side but i cant find the original now so i will have to upload it again.

this is also a nice reference photo for my dio.

looks like going to be cool.

Will keep an eye on it.

That last photo is wow what a dang mess.

haha i said the exact same thing in my head .. ^^

Hi Luke,

nice plan! Please keep us informed.

I don't know how much you care about accuracy, but in case you'll be building the depicted tank, you should probably change the kit's roadwheels, since your "master" had the solid ones, not the spider-web ones, included in the kit!
(If in need, I can email you some more pics oft this one!)

Good luck

Volker

In 60 days the Allies bombed Berlin 90 times. Also Don't forget the Rusian's launched a massive bombardment on the centre of Berlin, OUCH

Looking forward to this one mate, have a Berlin dio on the go my self.

If you have photos of this vehicle, do please post them.

By the Berlin operations, T-34-85s were being built at Tagil with full-spline roadwheels, replacing the half-spline wheels used in 1944. Tanks from Sormovo and Omsk were usually delivered with stamped roadwheels, normally with perforated tyres (no inner ring). There are exceptions, of course, but those are general observations.

The DML kit represents a tank built at Tagil (UVZ) in mid 1945, within the usual quirks of DML T-34s. It needs a different turret for Sormovo, and offhand believe that the Omsk turrets different from Tgil turrets in early 1945. By the end of that year they had developed their own very unique 'composite' turret.

Cheers

Scott Fraser

Hi,

here we go: (at least I hope ;-) )





Hope this helps!?

V

Yes, fantastic. It's impossible to say where it was built without seeing the back end, but it has a UVZ style turret (flat side corners) and post-1942 stamped roadwheels. Wheels are in DML 6479, late Sormovo T-34-76.

The "bedsprings" were not bedsprings, BTW. Frames were cobbled together with angle-iron or tubing and wire screen was welded into place on the tanks. No one ever slept on them.

Thanks for posting these. I may have seen them before, and may be able to find out more information.

Cheers
Scott Fraser

I'm finally back from my 2 week holiday so i can get started on this build. thanks for all the pictures, those last two were the ones which i had saved but could not find the original link. In terms of accuracy, it would be nice to keep it as accurate as i can, but i'm not bothered enough to go changing the wheels or turret. very minor modifications of the kit parts is about as far as i'm prepared to go really. DML gives you a fairly large set of digits to mix up rather than 3 or 4 whole numbers, so perhaps it would be easier to just change the number? does anyone know of any other bedspring T 34's that were in berlin and fit DML's kit parts? There seem to be some in the background of the pictures. Also the last photo posted by Volker does not look like 230. it looks more like 253 or 258 to me...

Well, fortunately the Brandenburger Tor is visible in both photos, so one thing we can say for sure is, either the tank moved between photos or it's a different tank from the same unit.

http://www.amps-armor.org

agreed. I assume these photos were taken after the battle and the soviets had used the large open area to regroup thier armour? Unfortunately i broke my camera on holiday, (aparently taking photos of sand dunes in the wind isn't a good idea). Consequently i can't take any photos to post here at the moment, but i have now completed all the wheels and i am starting to work out how i am going to adapt the suspension.

here's and summary for today;
I finished the suspension, this involved cutting the pins off the suspension arms so that they could be positioned anywhere within the arc of movement. i used a configuration which will make more sense when the diorama groundwork is in place.



Next i completed the lower hull for now and started on the fenders. the instructions require you to remove the mouled on square fenders and replace them with rounded ones. i attempted to replicate battle damage on the kit fenders by thinning and heating them, but i was unsatisfied with the results so i decided to make my own. i cut the shapes out of tealight cups and glued them together with CA. i also cut some of the detail from the plastic parts and glued this on, and made some of my own for the very fine detail. I will wait until after the two hull sections are assembled before i attempt to glue these on.


While i still had the materials to hand, i cut off the kit rear mudguards and replaced them with more tealight cup.

I hope to do some milliput work to fill gaps tomorow and get the two hull sections and fenders in place. goodbye for now though.

Nice job on the fenders , Luke. I never thought of using tea lites for sorces of " sheetmetal " parts . It used to be so easy to use the lead from tooth-paste tubes. The ones made of plastic just don't glue the same. lol . Nice to see someone scratch building parts he needs . Jim

yeah it wasn't entirely my idea, i was googling for reference pics of t34 fenders and someone elses build log came up. Sometimes wine bottles have thick foil around the top, but this also seems to be dying out. I have already come to love the tea light method though because the material, (aluminium?), is more malliable than tin cans but not as easily bent or torn as pie dishes or other foils.

Hi Luke. I like what you´ve done with the tealight cups on the fenders. My missus goes through a fortune of these ... need to start saving some. Interesting thread so far.

Thanks Frank. I have been working on this build pretty much all day and will continue for a few more hours still but i have got quite a bit done. the engine grilles are now fitted and i have done a little more scratching. i am currently working on the detail for the front of the hull. pics tonight.

Are these uneven enough...?

This is a Soviet T-34/85 in Prague, May 1945.



The next one is a T-34/85 during the anti-tank obstacle test conducted in post -war Czechoslovakia.



HTH

-A-

Wow thanks Aleš! That first picture is almost exactly what the diorama will look like with the tank in the right position too!
So, i promised an update with pictures and here it is;
Firstly, i joined the two hull sections, attached the fenders and bent and bucked them a bit. It might seem a bit extreme but i was working from decent references so i'm confident it will look good when painted.


i also added a weld seam where the moulded one left a big gap.

Then i used more tea light foil to box of the two side intake grilles. The moulded hull is really designed for the solid plastic parts so with the PE ones you could just see into the hull and where the plastic part is supposed to be seated. anyway, the foil solved the problem.


The grilles themselves fitted without any problems, so i moved on to the main engine grille. This involves cutting out the moulded grille (labourious), and replacing it with the PE one which consists of a mesh and a frame to put over the top. Under this must go the PE louvres which are too big, so part of the plastic must first be removed to get a good fit.



After this i attached some of the plastic detail,(tracks, cleats, hatches etc.) and began work on the PE straps for the smoke canisters. The first one went together faultlessly but the second one broke at the bend and had to be gued back together with CA.

After i had sorted out that problem i worked on the side handles. This has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the build so far. I replaced the plastic handles with brass wire bent with pliers, and i'm really pleased wiht the results, (not least becuase nothing makes me smile quite like all that golden shininess.

This is really looking great so far. I love the tea light fenders. My wife has an arsenal of those very same candles stored throughout the house, surely she won't miss a few next time I need some worked-over fenders...

Very nice grab handles, as well. Much better looking than the factory-supplied items, I'm sure.

Keep it up, definitely looking forward to the next update.