Hi,
Are Tamiyas T34 series fairly accurate? I realize they were motorized at some point, but how do they scale out?
Curious
Joker

We already spoke about it...
It's a very old model (1987), few pieces, easy to build, not the most accurate, with a big gap to fill in the lower hull, and above all it seems overscaled since it was made to feature a small engine, and a long screw to hold the metal axis of the front wheels, which makes it impossible to leave the driver's hatch open, unless you remove it and paste the piece... same considerations for the KV-1, but it's a bigger tank and should not have scale problems (anyway, everyone here suggest to get the Trumpeter kit if you want a KV-1 or KV-2)!
Personally, I'm building the Tamiya T-43/85 right now, and sincerely it's not very funny if you do it OOB (I did not use any detainl or PE kit, as I'm not experienced at all), some pieces need Putty to be filled (the grills and the back big plate). It seems that the Dragon T-34s are better, but I think that a good painting and weathering on the Tamiya kit will not make you think about an incorrect model at all!

Details here (nevermind if it's about the KV-1, look at the bottom of page 2 and page 3)
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/77518&page=1

And here are some emaples of the Tamiya T-34/85 iwth the kit's own decals
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/77733&page=1

Have a nice day!

Giacomo

The accuracy goes from poor to apalling. Buy a Dragon one :-)

Thanks for the input , please excude if I was asking an old question.
Thanks again
Pete

Tamiya's T-34 series goes back a little farther than 1987. The kits all share the same inaccurate hull. The original T-34/76 Model 1942 and Model 1943 both were originally issued in the 1970s. Tamiya reissued the T-34 kits with new turrets in 1987 and gave us the T-34/76 ChTZ and T-34/85.

The Zvezda/Italeri T-34 series surpassed these kits in the 1990s and the new Dragon kits have made the original Tamiya kits virtually unnecessary.

As the others have said there are some problems with the Tamiya T-34 series.But they are a easy build and do look like T-34s if you are not concerned about the nitty gritty details.I have both Dragon and Tamiya T-34s on my shelf completed and will say that the Dragon kits are far superior and really nice to build.The Dragon kits have link to link tracks and the Tamiya kits have "rubber band style " tracks.


Have fun with which ever T-34s you choose because T-34s are a slick looking tank.

Regards

Mark

The rubber band tracks for Tamiya's T-34s are HORRID. The very nature of T-34 tracks make them hard to translate well to rubber. They are very wide so when used the individual links seem to bend and curve around the small idler wheel. They also have a very large conncting point which never seems to glue down without lifting up at the back. Take my advice, if you do bhuild the Tamiya T-34 shell out the $3-5 for the Maquette individual links. The Maquette links are pretty easy to build though they require some cleanup. They look loads better then the tamiya tracks and make the tank look much more realistic when viewed.



If you have Osprey's (I think it's osprey...) "Modelling the T-34/76 and T-34/85" it has a nice example. One builder used both individual and rubber tracks on thier model. He used individual links to make one side broken, but the still complete side had the rubber bands, and they're is a noticeable and not good difference.

Well, it's not a question of 'nitty gritty' details. The original question was about accuracy.

Tamiya suck.

Better still, following this (too) often-repeated argument, it's simpler to buy a pre-built, pre-painted kit. Modelling (unless i'm some kind of eccentric) is supposed to be about challenges. The only challenge in Tamiya T34s is seeing if they are vaguely T34-ish. Not, iMHO, any reason for building them...

Well now if you want the best T34 on the market Dragons is probably the best ...but Tamiya's T34 is a great kit for beginners and is in no way sucks as bad as Jim may think ...

Where would we be if there weren't some easy kits to build ?? Acurate ? Maybe not perfect but ...we all grew up and fell in love with the hobby because of these kits ..give them credit where credit is due..

Rick

Kit hulls scale out around 1/33rd, oversize to accommodate Tamiya's motorization pack in the 1970's. Hull sides are 45 degrees instead of 40 degrees, so the hull top is too narrow, which throws off the turret ring size. The proportions of the engine deck sections are off, so the engine screens are way too big (and be sure to get aftermarket photoetch for the Tamiya kit specifically, because PE intended for Dragon or Zvezda won't fit). T-34-85 turret is very short front to back (by more than a scale foot).
Dragon kits are more accurate than Tamiya, and even the very rough Zvezda and Maquette kits are more accurate.

Thanks for all the info. Dragon it is.
Thanks again
Pete

Pete.

I'm building the T34/76 1942 & SU122, from Tamiya and they are ootb. No extra detail will be added at all as I want to enjoy the experience from start to finish regardless of acuracy etc.

I decided on these 2 kits 1. they were both cheap $15.00 aus and 2 I wanna practice my weathering.

They are both great kits and have taken me no more than 4 hrs to construct.

I;m not a purist and am always happy with my end results, thats why I like this hobby.

Do whats best for u mate and enjoy this wonderful hobby.

Cheers and good luck

Some time ago I went ahead and measured both Tamiya and DML hulls. What this showed me is that much of what has been said about the Tamiya is not "entirely" correct.
First off the upper deck of the Tamiya kit is actually wider than that of the DML kit, not narrower (DML's dimensions are pretty accurate based on measurements I've taken of the three T-34-76's here in the States). The difference is, IIRC, about .010".
The lower hull on the Tamiya kit is a bit wide ( I doubt it has anything to do with motorization though) but is only .023" wider than DML's and the overall length is not that much different either.
Because Tamiya did get the side plate angles wrong they ended up with the fender to fender width being too great by about 3 scale inches.
Two problems that rarely get mentioned though are first, the driver's hatch and glacis MG blister which are about .040" too "long" (noticeable mostly by the relationship between the driver side towing pintle and the lower edge of the hatch) and the second is the incorrect spacing of the road wheels (they look OK but there is a compounding error that makes the front most wheel sit too far back).

Mark

I agree with this totally. I am not a purist either. I look for having fun and relaxation in the hobby. I get enough striving for perfection at work. I do not need it in my hobby. I went back into model building to help relax, not stress out.

The early Tamiya kits (KV's and T-34's) are criticized for their lack of accuracy, that may be so to some degree, but they are easy to build, and I have fun building them. I have tried kits from other manufactures and it is not the same for me.

When I look at the finished model and a picture of the real tank, to be honest, I do not see the major differences oe inaccuracies. A Tamiya KV or T-34 looks like the real thing to me. I am not going to go find a real life version and measure its dimensions to see if my model matches.

I think in this hobby there are people who want the perfection and the look of the real thing to the minute detail. I think that is good and I respect that. The models they put together are incredible.

I am more of the type that worries less about the exact details and wants to experiment, learn, and have fun without stressing about details. I will work the details to the level my skill and patience will allow.

"....the incorrect spacing of the road wheels (they look OK but there is a compounding error that makes the front most wheel sit too far back)."

D'oh! I misspoke myself ;-) I should have said that the roadwheel is too far forward .
I guess the point was that, though the side angles are off, dimensionally speaking the Tamiya T-34 hull really isn't hugely off (the engine deck problems excepted).

Mark

I found that not only was the DML kit far more accurate It was also cheaper by several dollars. It had individual links, so with the extra money I bought a replacement aluminum gun tube for it. Other than individual links, I didn't perceive any more difficulty building Dragon over Tamiya