Hello,

Can anyone please steer me in the right direction to an easy, hassle free build in 35th scale, of these 2 tanks.
As a German builder all of my live, i dont know what would be good starting kits. I prefer ease of build over 100% accuracy. Also, not to complicated track assemblies would be great.
Thanks in advance for all who can help.

Tony

For the T-34, Tamiya's kits (they offer 76mm and 85mm armed versions) are the easiest to build, but not as detailed as the AFV Club or Dragon kits, as they were from the the 1970's or 80's I believe.

For a Firefly, I believe only Tasca and Dragon offer a firefly. Between those two, the Tasca's are easy to build, yet very detailed. I would recommend Tasca.

Jesse,

Thanks for the reply.

I have a follow up question. I just see the dragon orange box firefly with hybrid hull. Anyone knows if this is a decent kit to build?

Greetz
Tony

It is not the easiest of builds with a few fit problems and you have a lot of sanding to do to get the hull not looking like a scouring pad. You also have to fill in all the pits on the rolled plate of the upper deck.
If you want a firefly 1c Hybrid then get DML's 6228 kit, it is so far ahead of the original (9037) hybrid it's not funny.
Tasca are the best if you just want a Firefly but at present they only offer two versions of the Vc.
Cheers
Al

Tasca for the sherman without a doubt. Far superior to the dragon kits

Al & Steve,

Thanks for the reply.
Are the Tasca tracks one piece or individual links?

Thanks
Tony

Wow steve, that Firefly looks fantastic

Tasca are 4 pieces (2 per run) in a soft material similar to DML DS track. I actually prefer the DML track though.
Al

For the Firefly, Tasca - hands down!

The tracks can be replaced with the Panda link-to-link tracks if the one-piece (actually four...) Tasca tracks are objectionable. (They're actually pretty nice, tho, I used the Panda tracks on my Firefly build.)

I think the Tasca tracks are actually pretty good. Just remember to leave the idler free to adjust until you have trial fitted them.

I just realised that these pics are not of the finished model, there was more stowage added to the turret after I took them.

Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca, Tasca....

Tony,

Regarding the Firefly:.
Great comments by all here but can you clarify what kind of Firefly you wish to build?? There were Firefly VC's, and IC's. The IC's came in two flavours one with partial frontal cast armour (called Hybrids but us commoner wealth and Brit types) and the other with a full on welded hull. The latter two were built on the M4 Sherman Chassis while the former was built on the M4A4(Sherman V) chassis. There were even Baldwin built IC welded Firefly's I believe with direct vision ports covered up by applique armour, but that's another topic.

For the VC Firefly, Tasca is hands down the gold standard for this type of tank. Dragon makes one as well but not as good. However, what if you wish to build a firefly IC? Tasca does not make either a composite or welded IC Firefly. For the IC composite you have to go with Dragon. For the the IC welded your choice is really only the Tamiya M4 (see my blog for pictures of my Tamiya IC welded Firefly) or the Dragon M4 Normandy modified to a Firefly IC. As this is something I would suspect you would not want to do as a first build you could wait as Dragon is coming out with IC welded Firefly next month.


For T-34
For the T-34 Dragon and AFV kits are the most accurate.
Tamiya easy to build but ancient.

Hope this helps.

Steve,

Love your VC. She's a beauty.

Tony, I think there has been plenty to go around regarding what to get to build a fly. T-34s are a bit more complicated. Tamiya`s are very easy to build, but from a bygone era and have serious size issues (their UTZM-turret especially is very poorly shaped). AFV offers you a lot of bang for your buck with interiors and engines but all kits feature a mix of features from different manufacturers and periods. Same goes for Dragon in most cases. Their STZ kits are anything but from STZ and the "hexagonal" turret version features the relatively uncommon softedge turret as well as some hull issues. The best T-34s in my opinion are the T-34-85 kits (despite their age not that bad) Model 1940 kit and the factory no.112 (krasnoye sormovo) can all be built OOTB as decent representations of their respective subjects

Hello all,

Thank you all for the replies.
Regarding what T-34 or Firefly to build, it is easy.
I just want to build the ones that are the most hassle free to build, so as to have a representation in my collection. I dont know anything about allied stuff.
But for sure, for the Firefly i will pick up a Tasca kit.
Now just a good recomendation for any easy to build T-34.

Thanks guys.

Thanks Benjamin.
I will look to this kits.

Groet
Tony

nice build!
gary

I have two Fireflys in my stash, and both are from Dragon (orange box). One is the older #9104 kit and the other is the newer #6323 kit. Not as detailed as the Tasca, but also easier builds. Some where I have resin upper hulls and turrets to build several others, but where I'm not sure. I do like the resin hulls.

For T34's, Dragon makes all kinds. I have four different T34-76's alone. I really liked the T34/76-1941. I have a couple 1940's, but have not broke the seal on either of them. And somewhere I have a couple T43/85's. You probably could build a dozen different versions, and find yourself still looking at others you'd never seen before! I would not even consider the Tamiya, and have never looked inside the AFV box.
gary