Hi Was fiddling around and putting together the road wheels of Trumpter's Big T-34 tonight and was wondering if I should take some sandpaper and 'rough up' the areas on the steel wheels where they meet the track's surface. Would these wheels, the idlers, and drive sproket 'faces' be smooth from the wear with the track, or should the be 'scratched up' to some extent to show wear from grit, grime, rocks, etc.? I know I can cut small bits out of the 'rubber' wheels to show this type of wear but I'm curious about this 'wear' on the steel wheels.

I've never considered this type of detail before on other AFVs with steel road wheels, but this thing is so big that this type of ' wear' may be worth adding here.

Thanks for any replys and take care, Sgirty

if yer looking for some reference type stuff....off the top of my head, i'd try the mig productions site gallery...weathering is a main topic this month...and do a search, of course , on armorama...also, look at real vehicles...find rob's motorpool and search through that...ask members--gunnie or vodnik or others-- directly, via email...they always answer quickly.

i hate to mention other sites...but....do a search on track link for t-34....in the gallery

good luck


at construction sites you can inspect dozers and other tracked vehicles....if your near a State Highway department yard, ask to look at their vehicles....take yer camera...shoot lots o'pics...and share them with us.

kevin

Sgirty,

Take a look at the drive train of dozers on a construction site. This will give you an idea of what the wear and tear on a tank would be.

My first idea would be to leave em smooth ...

Rick

Hi Sgirty - I'm rather jealous of you already starting on that baby
This is the all steel wheel right..?
My best guess would be to put some slight scratches in with sand paper, running in the direction of turn, and then use something like Humbrol Metalcote - buff it up till it really shines, then leave it to dry thoroughly as it's enamel based. Then I'd do a thin wash of your weathering mud colour to tone it down a bit.

Then I'd do the same with a thin strip on either side of the track where the wheels run. Also don't forget the tip of the big tooth - that get's polished as the rear sprocket pulls the track round

The tracks on Preston Issac's T-34 here in Devon England get pretty shiny when he runs on the tarmac, but it all goes under a thick coat of mud once he gets to the fields.

It would be a crime to blodge car filler over all those beautiful parts...

Hi, Yes, guys I took your advice and checked out some construction equipment around the area, but they didn't have exactly what I was looking for, as most of the 'road wheels' on them are very small, covered up to a large extent, or are grooved for the tracks and such. But I did see a few things on there that I'm keeping in mind too, esp. on the weathering. Thanks for the suggestions. Sometimes the obvious tends to slip right up and over the old brain box. Could blame this on the 'age thing' but not really. Ha, ha!

Aitch: now I'm jealous, what with getting to see one of these vehicles 'in the flesh' and running must be a real experience!!!!!!!

This particular model has 3 steel road wheels in the middle with two rubber ones, one up front and one in the back. Something to do with vibration it's said.

I did go ahead and scratch up these steel wheels with 100 grit paper to some extent--also plan to do this to the inside track face as well.. Don't know really how much this will 'show through' after painting is done through. But will use your suggestion on the Metalcote, or Rub 'n Buff, or something similar, to 'shine' these areas up. Not only on the road wheels themselves, but the idler and drive sproket too, inside and out.

Luckily here lately I've been building a couple of Dragon's new T-34 kits so this has helped me become somewhat more familiar with this particular vehicle. Of course, just basically familiar, as, after all, when you jump into a kit of this size and scale, it's a whole new ball game, quite literally.

It sometimes makes a person quite tired mentally speaking, just trying to figure out what to start on, or what do to next, and how to co-ordinate the painting and such. Luckily the local car parts store has auto primer in white, so that solved the problem of painting the interior surfaces right quickly.

Am basically fiddling with the road wheels and tracks and doing a little work on the basic cannon assembly. Lots of parts!!!!!! But they all seem to fit up quite nicely, and come together very well.

I find this model not only a great kit to build, so far, but also a great learning experience on exactly what was inside one of these tanks and how everything sort of 'comes together' to make this partiular fighting machine work as it did.

But this is not a slap together, week-end kit by no means, as least not to me. Requires a lot of forethought on my part, lot of thinking. MY wife and I went out last night and as I was sitting at the table in the resturant she said I had that 'blank' look on my face (not all that un-normal for me) and was wondering whether there was anything going on behind that look. I had to tell her that wasn't looking at the other women in the place but was considering the model and was thinking this and that on it. Talk about a real conversation stopper, as this hobby is something that is totally foreign to her thinking processes. Oh well, we're all different I suppose. Ha, ha!

Take care, Sgirty

Hey Sgirty,
The only good reference off the top of my head that I have personal knowledge of, is the M-113.
The idler wheels are all metal, and with use become very shiny. The only real "weathering" is a light pitting from larger stones that get picked up in the track. But at 1/35 scale, you wouldn't even notice them.
I think a buffed up metalizer is what you will be looking for on this project.

good tip for steel wheel wear is to get some powered graphite from a DIY shop place some in a pile and apply it with your finger to the edge of the wheel gives a nice metal finish without being overdone. you can keep buffing it up till your happy with it IMO its looks a bit more natural than paint I was surprised how well it turned out my my tamiya t-34 wheels