I'm in the process of building these 2 Tamiya tanks.

Any suggestions on how to best weather them would be appreciated - their overall colour will be green.

Any suggestions on how to get the Tamiya decals onto the KV1B would also be welcome.

Kind regards
Digger

I would do a wash with a dark, earth brown color as a start. After that, it is up to you. You may want to do a bit of dry brushing, maybe some paint chipping, a light overspray, use some pastels, etc. I typically don't like to weather my vehicles too heavily. I think that a good wash, a tiny bit of dry brushing, a light overspray, and finally some artists' pastel chalks for rust on the exhaust and soot around the opening of the exhaust and the gun barrel produce pretty good results.

I would follow avukich's advice forthe painting and weathering. As for decals, you will want to cut them out with an exacto knife, eliminating the clear parts. The places where you want to apply the decals should be airbrushed with a gloss coat. When applying the decals, you may wish to use a product like Solvaset from Walthers to have it hug the surface. After you have applied the decals, put another coat of gloss over them to protect them from subsequent washes. Before drybrushing, I would then apply a dullcoat to the model to eliminate the shine of the decals and washes.
Happy Modelling,
Andrew

Hey Digger, I am also doing a T-34. Have u thought of putting one of those patriotic slogans on the side of your tanks. You see many of them in photos. I have been thinking of this but i am not sure which one to put on, i don't know what they mean (don't speak russian, s'truth). Good luck!

Thanks for the tips.

Bison44, I also like the slogans - I think I will buy another T34 and put a slogan on it.

Bison44: My instruction sheet fot the Tamyia T-34 series and KV I and II have the translations on the side. Each marking scheme states what the slogan is. If you need a copy I can scan it and E-Mail it to you just let me know which T-34 your building.

I am making the Italeri/Zveda T-34/85mm. I have been looking through the reference books to try and find a cool PATRIOTIC slogan and am going to copy it free hand. Trying to put a little originality into it. Since the tank itself is not done I have some time. Plus I am enjoying the search. As for the decals, i usually just brush on a few coats of floor wax where the decal is supposed to go as opposed to coating the whole thing, I'm kind of lazy. ONce its on and a couple coats of dullcoat it usually snuggles right down and no silvering.

Check this site out and see how rough they really were surprised the heck out of me.
http://www.ipmsfinland.org/galleria/t34-85/
now the Kv was smooth in here anyway with bolt on armor
http://www.ipmsfinland.org/galleria/kv-1/
(:-)

So from now on all T/34's will get the rough treatment. Do you Yahoo?

That's why i picked a T-34 to be my first tank, even if i screw it up/horrible paint job I can always say it can out of the factory like that! The Italeri turret is molded with a very rough texture to it, and some large weld seams. But not as rough as your links Jeff.

The best T-34 I have seen took Best of Show a couple weeks ago at IPMS Patriot's PATCON in Lowell Mass. The builder represented a tank straight from the factory to the field with no paint applied. He managed to get the thing to absolutely look like cast metal. No field markings, but still showing chalk inspection and locator marks to indicate where the tow hooks were ro be welded to the glacis. He also did a large number of modifications and inmprovements. One judge commented that it looked like if he touched it, it would feel like cold metal!