A few days ago I started work on this kit, this is the first kit ive built purely for the sake of building it, that is not to play with in my wargaming This is a purely from the box build ive never used any after market stuff so maybe next time.

First impressions of the kit were good, it was a well formed sprue with no flashing that I could see. After pouring over the instructions for a day or two I decided id best start.

So after about 90 mins work some wheels are partly ready by using my new tools the set of Squadron sanding sticks, was far less annoying than I thought it would be was almost zen like to be honest, slowly releasing the form from the sprue and nubs.





I finished the 10 fully metal wheels that evening. The next day I decided to get the rest of the wheels finished.



Ive noticed that I need to sand down two of those rubbered wheels.

Then I moved onto the lower hull, some wheel sprockets? and a back plate for the lower hull. Decided to sand it down and make it level. Quite pleased with the results.



Dry fit of the wheels to see how they will look.



Decided to do the hatch in its open position as I couldn't see how you were meant to fix the periscope viewers up.





Tanks rearplate cover and exhausts went on great



However there is some kind of gap in the vents, from photos ive seen I think this will be ok.



And from the front after the upper hull items have gone on.



This morning I started on the gun looks good so far.



So still to do of the build

Turret, crew and accessories.

Wheels and tracks will be fixed after base painting is done, as will the upper and lower hulls attached together.

Should get the building part finished in the next day or two I hope.

Thanks for looking any and all comments welcome.


Brian

Welcome to the site. It's coming together quite well. Now, for the bad. It appears that the left hand tow clevis is bent. Model on.

Im sorry the wha? The tow hook im expecting you mean

Ill check it later, ill paint it so it looks damaged if it is

Welcome aboard. It's fun to see an old kit going together that many of us "cut our teeth on' getting into the hobby. The one thing I'll point out is that the towing eyes on the very front angle of the hull should not be there. The legend is that Tamiya made this model after studying a T-34 at Aberdeen proving ground. Those U.S. style tow eyes were attached at Aberdeen to make towing the tank around easier. Not realizing that Tamiya included them in their kit. You can cut them flush with the hull, and then it takes minimal putty to cover the gaps.

Nice clean job so far.

Great stuff, I did wonder why there were so many tow hooks.

Also I think it was the way the model was held ive checked the other hooks and they all look straight.

ill clip those eyelets of and see how I can fix it.

Thanks
Brian.

Keep at it Brian. I'm looking forward to see how you paint and weather this one.

So am I I treated myself to an airbrush so ill be basecoating with that, going to try preshading as well I have some hard pastels ordered so will be fun to try some new techniques. Previous paint jobs have been base painted, drybrush added and then some wash or other heres a quick snapshot from way back



There ok but it was a fast job for wargaming

Actually looking at them there not bad They were the first plastics id put together since I was about 8

Right first things first I clipped of those tow points and filled and sanded them down, first bit of kit modding ive done worked out quite well.



Then it was a case of cracking on with the build. Progress has been slow as ive been full of cold but ive tried to get done what I can when feeling well.

I decided to build the late model T34 so made up the cupola top rather than the mickey mouse one



Put a little too much glue on the turret loading hooks in future ill apply to the hook then put in rather then putting some in the hole.


Went together quite nicely







At this point I realised that I couldn't fit the commander into the cupola so I shut the hatch, just have to have everyone else with the heads out.

Here's the turret and gun ready to fit together.



Quick dry fit of the entire thing - I think its looking good.





More shots of the turret really pleased with how clean it is.





Tidied the wheels out of the way ready for painting.



so as you can see its progressing.

Questions at the moment, how much stowage to put on. In the kit there are many metal bars that could be affixed to put track in or hang stuff of off but there are no direct instructions. Is it a case of do what you want.

What colour base do you do tracks up from? Looking around it seems to be a browny grey?

Any tips for fitting the top and bottom hulls together seems a bit of a tight fit.

Thanks all
Brian.

Brian,
Looking good so far! These old Tamiya beasts are some of my all-time favorite kits despite their problems (They’re from the ‘70s. I think some failings can be forgiven! ).

A few tips if I may? First, go easy with the glue. Try to use only enough to fix the part in place. With liquid cements especially this tends to be a pretty small amount. (You’re doing pretty well with that so far. I don’t think you mentioned what type you’re using but from the looks of it I’d guess a liquid glue like Testors Liquid Cement or Tamiya Extra Thin? In my experience a cheap fine tipped paint brush, 0, 00 or even 000 works great for most uses.)

Second, make sure to trim and sand all those little attachment points from the sprues and, if you end up with tiny divots, don’t be afraid to fill them with a little thinned putty or, my favorite, Mr.Surfacer 500. Also, always make sure to sand away mould lines and clean up or fill those round ejector pin marks if they’re going to be visible.

Lastly, make sure everything is square and oriented correctly before your glue sets. The two acorn shaped “periscope” covers on the front of the turret roof seem a bit kittywhumpas.

Just those three things go a long way to making a better looking model.

For your questions; personally I generally paint my tracks medium grey to start and then give them a wash of very thin black followed by washes of earth tones, powered earth colored chalks or pigments, followed by a dry brushing of pale slightly silver grey to catch the high points that would be in contact with the ground.

Four your purposes brownish grey with a little dry brushed silver would probably be a good starting point. A lot of folks paint their tracks rust red but the truth is that when in use real tracks don’t tend to collect much rust.

For fitting the top and bottom, I recall first clipping the upper rear plate into the tab on the bottom rear plate and then rotating the upper hull down and pressing the two pins in it into the poly caps inserted into the pins on the lower hull. That should do it.

Keep it up! I’m enjoying watching the build.

Yeah I noticed the Periscopes too .

Thanks for the advice its greatly received, as for glue im using Revell Contacta Professional it has a needle applicator which helps a lot.

The entire thing is almost totally done now, just a matter of the cold clearing of my chest so I can start spraying. A few accessories to do and the crew (well 2 of them) and its all done.