I'm in the planning stages of building subject kit (mod. 1944). Without going into great detail about the accuracy of the weld beads and stuff, my primary concern is the missing bolts on the round transmission access hatch on the hull rear. Can someone please indicate what size of Grandt Line hex bolts should be used to replicate these? I'm guessing .031", but would like expert advice. I have a punch and die set, but only in a round profile which would not pass off very well as bolt heads.

Regards,

Matt

The transmission hatch bolts should be the same size as all the other bolts on the rear plate.
As I recall these are about .038" to .040" on the DML kits. Not sure if Grant Line has an equivalent.

Mark

Not exactly. It all depends on the manufacturer. Vehicles produced by factory 112 and some, but not all from factory 174 had slightly bigger bolts for the hatch, while the ones from factory 183 (all T-34-85 kits offered by DML) had all bolts of the same size.

Look at this:
Factory 112

Factory 183

Factory 174 same size


The same goes to variations on exhaust cover bolt heads, different combinations are possible.

As for how to imitate those bolts, I use 1mm flat head hex bolts from MasterClub. They're doing their job very well, trust me.
HTH, Paul

P.S.:Mark, this link is for you. Should you want any translation/comments, ask me any time
http://www.tigerscorner.ru/index.php?topic=425.0

Paul, great post. Thank you!
I should have been a bit more precise; I was excluding the exhaust shroud bolts (which can have smaller heads but I've never pegged it to a specific factory).
Also, I probably should have mentioned I've only personally measured a handful of preserved tanks here in the U.S..
I recall them all having 30mm bolt heads (or was it 25mm??) except for APG's Model '41 Beutepanzer. Most of these were either Czech, UTZ, or Sormovo tanks.

It's interesting that 174 would have used a different bolt for the transmission cover. I was under the impression that all the threaded tabs that held the rear plate in place were cut with the same diameter/threads size in order to make maintenance easier as well as make manufacturing simpler (reducing the number of different part numbers needed to make the tank). Of course, having a different sized head doesn't preclude them having the same thread size I suppose.

Interesting blog by the way I've saved a number of the photos with measurements! Very helpful for my scale drawings.

Email me directly if you can. Maybe we can keep up a correspondence on things related to the T-34.

Mark

Mark, check your inbox...