I wanted to do something quick while buried in other projects and the Trumpeter T-34/85 m44 was ideal for that.... but of course i can't leave it alone and decided to dress up this kit with some scratch building and donor parts. It will represent a post war vehicle serving in Bosnia...
Everything painted JA GReen is the Trumpeter kit (although the turret grab handles had to be replaced due to being the fin type... )


I used the Dragon DS tracks as I ruined the beautifully detailed trumpy vinyl tracks being to short... I snapped them trying to stretch them...If only they were two links longer they would of been perfect (and better looking than the DS)!


the Browning mount was fun to scratch as well as all the othersmall aditionals...

next up will be painting and weathering...
Dr3W

Dr3W,

I like it! Looks like a fun project. I also have a post war T-34/85 project to put together for the Braille Battlefield Campaign. How is the Trumpy kit to put together? Any pitfalls?

Waiting to see some paint on this machine. Thanks for sharing your builds.

-Eddy

BTW would you possible be interested in joining in on the fun with other braille scalers? Come over and check it out . . . Braille Battlefield Campaign. Sure would be nice to have you join us for a little build action!!! Here's a link to the rules just in case your interested. Hope to see you there!!!

[quote]Dr3W,

I like it! Looks like a fun project. I also have a post war T-34/85 project to put together for the Braille Battlefield Campaign. How is the Trumpy kit to put together? Any pitfalls?

Waiting to see some paint on this machine. Thanks for sharing your builds.

-Eddy

Hey Eddy, the Trumpeter kits are pretty decent, just had to so some minor work to sharpen it up... as you saw in the photos, I used Dragon's engine grill as well as replacing the grab handles with brass, especislly the turret ones as they ere represented by fins..... The trumpy tracks i think are far superior to dragons but short by two links,,,, oh well here' are some shots with the base coat...


dR3W

Here are some shots after the paint job, Russian green followed by a 'spray can three tone' camo job, and 'repainted' a solid green, using an Iwatta and Tamiya acrylics! Then I did some oil washes and Mig pigments applied dry and wet!




This was a really fun build and was really a blast to weather and detail!

Andrew,

Looks terrific! I'll be putting together a Vietnamese T34/85 model 1969 soon and am hoping that mine will turn out looking at least half as good as your does. I just like the look of those T-55 wheels on these older tanks. Great job on the weathering!

-Eddy

Thanks Eddy! This was a fun one to paint as the Eastern block T's are painted all kinds of colors... so the choices are plenty! I love the diversity of the eras and arenas that this vehicle has been involved in.... screams to the ingenious initial design and to the armies that upgraded them as well as the civi lumber and recovery companies that still use them today some 70 years later!
Looking forward to your build!

dR3W

Hi Andrew, congratulations on your build.
Good luck on the next one.

P.A.

cool work on yet another T34 I bet this is an easier project than your extreme detailing project LOL

Hi Drew

great looking build and finish, up to the high standards of the other builds you have posted here.

I know about those trumpy tracks. I mentioned on another forum that they were a bit short and was also advised to stretch them - but the caveat that wasn't given is to sretch them very gently and very carefully !

Fortunately mine didnt break, I stopped when I realised a section was deforming, and having learnt the hard way (as always==) ) I then proceeded to very gently stretch a couple of links at a time, and the partly deformed section is hidden under a guard where the deformation can't be seen

cheers
Neil

Nice job Andrew!!!
I Really liked the paint job!!!!
Btw, T-34/85s saw action, also in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, with the Greek-Cypriot side. There are reports of knocking out at least one Turkish M-48 and several softskins...

Never knew about this, very interesting!

Great build here Andrew, really well finished... the war/s in Bosnia had quite a lot of WW2 Armour being used, have you seen the pictures of T-35/85's with conveyor belts stuck on them to stop RPG's etc...

Thanks for all the comments, this was indeed a fun build. Here is the final story, a JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) T-34/85 serving in Croatia, 1992 as presented for my club's annual show. The base is made of 4"x4" painting board, magic sculpt and Balsa foam. The tree and shrubbery and grass were all purchased at the local train shop as well as the great chain-link fence! The run off pipe was made from a snorkel off of a BTS-4 and the water effect is layers and layers of decanned 'wet look' lacquer. I got the PE bicycle from OKB GRIGOROV, and did the brake cables with a human hair!

Andrew,

Placing this post war vehicle on that base is just what it needed to top it off. Looks excellent and so at home. I noticed that you have added a bicycle and changed the turret number from 5 to 6. I like the base and tree. SUPER job on the entire project!

-Eddy

THanks Eddy,
this was so much fun to tie it all together and i wanted to share some start shots of the base that i found on the iPhone... I started with an artist's 4"x4" gessoed wood. If you haven't tried balsa foam for bases.. go hunt some down as it is so versitile for all kinds of terrain as it can be shaped and carved with almost any kind of tool. And it comes in blocks of all sizes as well as the 1/2" sheet used for this, and the sheet is about the size of a piece of copy paper!


the banks of the storm channel as well as the wall where all carved with an Xacto saw.

next up is placement of some of the other elements including a Wooodland Scenics tree, a nice PE chain-link fence from the local Train shop, and the run off pipe made from the t-55 ARV snorkel

then l used Magic sculpt resin putty to give more character to the bed of the channel

I really love how this turned out and i don't think Ill ever go back to plaster! cheers to you all for checking out my build(s)!

dR3W