G'day All

I have just picked up a very well priced Trumpeter T34/76 1943 kit.

While it looks very well detailed, I was wondering if anyone knows if there have been any PE detail sets released for it. Kinda figured there may be as it's been around for a while now.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Griffo

Hi, The only outfit I know of that makes PE for these big kits is a company out of Poland called Part. They make 3 sets, but they are primarily for the /85 kits.

One set is the interior, one the exterior, and one the fenders. I picked up the first two sets for one of their /85 kits here awhile back from Great Models and am well pleased with the amount of pieces they have.
Most likely the exterior set and the fender set would work pretty well for any of the 4 kits, but the interior set has a lot of pieces in it that work only for one of the /85 kits.

Check over on the tanxheaven.com site as there are a couple of the /85 kits have have been super-detailed there and it shows just how much can be added to them with just wire, plastic rod and sheet, etc. without having to go to the expense of getting any PE.

I build both the /42 and /43 kits last year and found them to be really enjoyable to do. They take a lot of time, but once they are done you can set back and see that you have really accomplished something way out of the ordinary in this hobby.

Good luck and take care, Sgirty

Thanks Larry

I've seen the Tanxheaven T34 - that was what inspired me to pick up the kit.

I've had a look over at Great Models and they have some in stock - thankss very much for pointing me in the right direction !

Cheers

Griffo

Hi Griffo,

GreatModels has great prices, but I don't believe they have any pictures of the PE sets. Here's a link which shows not only the sets, but their instructions. Might make it easier to decide if they're worth the pieces you can use for your 76...
http://www.jadar.com.pl/jadar-group/part/part-armor16a.htm

Did you notice GreatModels also has a metal barrel from Armo for the 76 for $20? I think the Armo is nicer than the harder to find FineMolds.

While you're there, you might want to pick up some ammo from Hussar. Nice ones for $10. Here's a review...
http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/hussar/hussar16004-5.htm

There's some metal tracks available too. Beware...major bucks though...
http://www.backyardarmor.com/Elite%20Armor_Trumpeter_Metal_Tracks.htm

They also have some spare tracks for mounting on the hull or turret...
http://www.backyardarmor.com/Elite_Armor_Trumpeter_Detail_Parts.htm

How are you set for reference material? Good interior shots of the 76 are a bit hard to find. Recently I came across the best I've seen. Check this out...there are two pages, the second having more interior shots...
http://svsm.org/gallery/T-34-76_little

Here's another set of photos of the same Littlefield T-34-76...
http://russiannavy.net/photos/littlefield/Sept_2004/T-34-76/

Here's a sample. Notice the flat panels rather than the dished panels under the turret covering the fuel tanks. One of the differences between the 76 and the 85. Trumpeter used an 85 hull for all of the models in the series...



If you're going to get into adding details, the T-34 manual is very helpful. Here's the link if you haven't seen this site already...oh, there's also lots of photos too...
http://www.gjames.com.au/chris/t34/index.html

Best of luck with it.

Karl

Hi, Colo_artist: Haven't heard from you in a proverbial coon's age. Did you ever get your /85 all done? As I remember you were had built those extra fuel tanks that go between the fire wall and the rear spring towers and was also working on scratch-building a new fire wall for it as well. How is it going?

Take care, Sgirty

Colo_Artist.....WOW, what can I say ?

Thanks mate, what a post

Yes, I have the Armo barrel which looks very good.

You're right about the interior shots, very hard to come by.

I love Armorama....

Hey Sgirty,

Yup, it's been awhile. Work, a new house (with no workspace set up), and other things have gobbled up an kind of "build time" for me lately. My T-34-85 linkers on the sidelines for now.

But I see you've been busy. The big Karl looks great! I noticed you're thinking of getting a KV to do. Hearing the call of soviet hardware again, eh?

Take care.

Hi, colo_artist: Yes, does sound like you have been quite busy. Funny how things seem to take up a person's time in this day and age. Always seems to be something or other anymore and usually more than a couple at a time.

Thanks on the Morser Karl. it was a l-o-n-g project, but well worth the effort. Gave me something to do while watching all the snow last wihter. Ha, ha!

I do seem to be up to my neck, and a tad bit over, on all the new German stuff lately. They're literally killing us with new kits, but I always seem to have a 'soft spot' for the Russian AFVs. The only thing bad about the new KV series is that it's not 1/16 scale. Oh what a treat that would have been, even if it didn't have any interior in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well.

Still thinking on the 1/16 /85. It sits out in the garage with about 1/4 inch of paint dust on it and other such light weight oddities that can only be gathered in a garage. But the inside of the box is still fresh and clean and just full of various pictures I've copied off the net, a nice looking Armo barrel that looks more like a full-scale artillery Lugar barrel than something for a model, and a couple of the Part PE sets (what a time I had getting those things). Now all I need is TIME. But we all have that problem. Hopefully, this winter, hopefully. Also waiting on the "Mystic T-34" book from the Air Connection people, but I'm beginning to wonder if this is ever going to come about, as it's been something over year or so since I've heard of it, and it seems no closer to be published now than then.

Love to find a photo(s) of the inside of one of those flame-throwing unts inside the T-34 and I think that this book may be my only hope there. And this is just a slight chance I figure.

Take care and hope that you get some spare time to get back to your fanstastic build there. Larry.

Larry,

Thanks for the update. I can't wait to see your next projects.

It's been a long wait for the English version of "Mystic T-34." Here's a link for folks who don't happen to know about it....
http://www.airconnection.on.ca/T-34%20the%20book.htm

I got tired of waiting and found a copy of the original Polish version...it's in two volumes. There's 510 pages in all.

The pictures in the books are incredible. War photos, museum tanks, details of parts, even interior shots. However, there's nothing showing the inside of an OT-34.

I even contacted Mark Rethoret about the flamethrower equipment to see if he had any photos or drawings. He didn't and didn't know of any.

The closest I got was a couple of references that the ATO-42 was based on the Church Crocodile system. Here's one....
http://axishistory.com/index.php?id=5291

Of course the Crocodile had it's flamethrower mixture in an external trailer, but here's a pic of what's inside the Croc...



Here's more...
http://www.mapleleafup.org/vehicles/cac/croc_15.html

If you're interested in the original Mystic/Mythical T-34 book, I found my copies by using...
http://www.abebooks.com

...this one is good too...
http://www.alibris.com/

Do a search on Michulec for the author and "t34" for the title (since sometimes Mystic is used, sometimes it's Mythical). Right now I see there are 8 copies available for around $35 per volume. However, you just have a choice between the UK or Poland as a source.

Actually my set came from Poland. It was when I had some time to work on the model, so I had them sent express (6-10 days) which cost $42 for the shipping. They arrived promply...no problems.

These books are great for just the pictures and drawings. When the English version is released, it's sure to be the bible of T-34s.

Take care.

Karl

Hi, Thanks Karl for the infomation. I've seen this Churchill picture before somewhere---most likely from one of your earlier postings---and this is most likely as good as it's going to get for any kind of reference, at least of an actual "firing" unit, per say. Since there was just a big tank in place of the gunner's seat to hold the mixture in these vehicles I don't think it will be too hard to build this and something of a ad-hoc arrangement for the actual "gun" covered by a piece of sheet metal as shown in the Churchill photo. Oh well, I'll worry about that when I get there. The big question anymore is just getting the time to get there in the first place!!!!!!!!My work area is covered right now in parts for Dragon's "88" and Tristar's Panzer IV, and it's not a pretty sight!

But we shall persevere!

Hopefully the book will be coming out here one of these days in the near future. As you said, it will pretty much be the bible as far as the T-34 tanks are concerned, and I have my name on their list.

Going to have to get my camera out one of these days and take a few shots of some of my armor I've built this year, just been too lazy to fool with it. The grandkids seem to be taking up more and more of my time anymore. And when they're gone for the day, the old man is just about too tired to fool with much else but myabe putting a couple parts or so together and leaving it go at that.

Hell to get old and busy AFTER retiring. Sometimes I wish I was back at work.

Take care, Sgirty