Just started this last night and it looks like it is going to be a great kit. The road wheel clean up takes a while. Almost every tire has 4 large nubs to get off as well as sanding the seam. A few of the tire were not in perfect register so the seams were more pronounced.
Check the hull to see if it warps a little. If so, skip to #4 on the sheet and fit/glue part G1 before installing the suspension arms. This will pull the hull back in shape and won’t twist the arms out of alignment that will likely result in a road wheel floater. Fortunately I was able to get G1 in and adjust the arms before the glue set.




Here is the road wheels all chunked up.

Hey Marc. I built dragon Kronoe Sormovo kit a while back....wasnt too happy. pretty out-dated moldings (by dragon standards)- thick sprue connections, poor fit, warped parts...that sort of thing.
good luck and I hope yours turns out better than mine!

Progress has been slow but I managed to get some time at the bench. Jon, I am not familiar with the kit you referred to and with this one only be 2 years old I was hoping it would be OK. It’s not bad but not without its problems. Overall the fit is pretty good but the sprue gates are gigantic in places. The hatch on the rear deck didn’t very well at all. A little banding and fixing the radius of 2 of the corners and it’s a lot better. The mud guards, front and rear, were not meant to be removed so there was a little fidgeting and filling of openings needed to get things to looks right. Lots of thinning of the fenders from the under side so they could be bent and dinged.

The kit comes with the photo instructions that, until now, I had only heard about. Not to crazy about them. Anyone planning on this kit needs to be careful when it comes to mounting the gun and mantlet. There is no mention of the parts needed that mount the gun inside the turret.

The bulk of the building is done and now it’s done to adding the fiddly bits before moving on to to paint. It will be in a distressed winter camo.

Hey Marc-
T-34 is looking good! I like these Dragon T-34's.

They aren't faultless- but when you get the bug- they are a ton of fun.

What paint scheme are you going with?

Steve

Thanks Steve. I have to agree... they do get fun. Right now I am working on a shot out headlight. I think it is going to turn out sweet. The scheme is going to be a hairspray peeled whitewash... and dirt... lots of dirt.

Marc-
Whitewash and mud- nice! Look forward to seeing it come together.

I am working on the Dragon T-34/76 model 1943 with Cupola right now. I think it is the best one yet.

Steve

I’ve gotten to the point of getting the base coats down. Of course as soon as I did that I found a few things that I needed to chisel off to be replaced by PE later. Next will be the hairspray and white. I just need to remember to restrain myself and not over do the peeling since it is so cool when it starts to happens it’s hard to stop.

I made reflectors with a bulbs for the headlights, wired them and Vacuformed new lens. The 2 on the left are the vacs and one will be shot out. Scale Hardware brass nuts are glued to punched disks for washers on the extra tracks and the cables ends were wrapped with fine wire.

Very nice work mate

Hello
The kit looks very nice and I like the colour You have used.
Will You please inform me which colour You have used for painting the kit

Regards
Johnny

I'm liking that shattered headlamp!

Nick, Johnny, Terrry... thanks guys.

Johnny that is Model Master enamel Russina Topsdie Green (for aircraft) lightened with a little light gray and a drop or 2 of yellow.

I am managing to get bench time in between all the partying, food and drink. Here it is painted , hair sprayed and peeled. MIG pigments all the has been done so far. I will seal all that and get some pin washes in ans some dry brushing.

Oh Yeah!
that looks excellent Marc!
Both the mud and the whitewash over green- great effect you have achieved.

Steve

Unsurprisingly, excellent work. But your front idler wheel rims look black in the pic- they should be worn steel as they are not "rubberized" and would come in contact with the tracks- dunno if they are painted black or it is just the mud though

Nice effect. God job so far looking to forward to seeing finished model. Nice to see someone build something non german.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Jon this is my 1st t-34 and it was hard to tell in pics online. The Dragon sheet has them with a rubber tire so that's what I did. Easy fix and thanks for pointing it out.

Oh crap! I was wrong! after a bit of research i found that they WERE in fact rubberized! dragons instructions were right- I was wrong. I hope to God that it isnt too late! I feel terrible now. So sorry Marc!

Seriuosly, no worries Jon, I hadn't tried to fix anything yet. And If I had, still would have been no worries

Except for 1 or 2 little fiddly bits (can't find the PE fret with the tow cable brackets... how do you lose and entrie fret???) this ones is ready for the shelf. This is the heaviest mud application I’ve done to date. It is done with Mig pigments and the technique described on his DVD. It will eventually be on a base. But I am going to need a lot more pigments.

Terrific work and blog Marc. You achieved a really good result with the hairspray technique.

Thanks for stopping by and the comments Pat.

Marc-
the tracks look great- you work fast too.

I predict more T-34's in your future

Steve

Thnaks Steve. Yup I got lots of year end bench time. And I believe your prediction just might be correct.

Very impressive results (and remarkably swift ones, since you seem to have accomplished it all in about ten days)!

Wow,wonderfull T-34...very,very real.Great winterwash!!