MiniArt T-34/85 w/D-5T Plant 112. Spring 1944

[Quax]

Hi all

I thought it was about time I did something so the only kit I have is this T34... MiniArt make great kits but they concentrate the mind

I'm not a great fan of multi part hulls and learned to try to draw out the assembly until I had enough parts to get it mostly square. I leant the hard way by building a T55 the way the instructions said and ended up binning it because I couldn't get half the parts to fit



the kit comes with artwork and decals for 4 kits, none of which are inspirational but I'll decide whether to go aftermarket when I get there.







the kit does not come with lengths of anything for the cables and will require a raid on the spares box or eBay. Ive raided eBay and will post when they come. The envelope contains a small pe sprue.



the tracks are individual links with every other one having a guide horn



a lot of the initial stuff is the same as the Su-85 I built a few years ago so hopefully I'll remember something......

This is the end of page 2 of the instructions, I've built one side and shown the springs etc in the photo. dry fitting has shown that the firewall doesn't fit well if you add it before the sides so I'll end up doing all in one go .

cheers

Paul

[Stokesy44]

Cant beat a T34!

I do think its funny how the Rooskies added the factory to the tank's title. A nod maybe to the workers paradise they were built in

[digger303]

[Quax]

you'll have to forgive me for obvious photographic omissions below, trying to combine various sized pe with superglue and a tremor did not go as one may have wished. At some points it looked like an explosion in a glue factory..... The initial point of note is that I added the turret weld using dots of sprue glue which I then battered with various tools to look vaguely like the pronounced weld on a T34 turret. I had already done the tracks (individual links - I hate them and they hate me... ) and the wheels, the hull and turret were then primed with AK 3rd gen primer followed by Real Colours Protective 4BO RC073.













after a quick whizz with Alclad I added the decals - there are no spectacular themes only numbers so I picked this one, I used Mr Mark Softener and Ultimate extra and the decals are quite impressive - this is a whole decal but the carrier film has disappeared with no silvering at all, one of the best Ive had in a long time!



Unfortunately the hair doesn't add much but I couldn't see it until the photo by which time it was far too late!

As you can see I've added Ivan to the frame and also aded another Miniart set of Soviet tankers - the fit of which left something to be desired as you can see from the filler...





thanks for looking and all previous comments, Parkinson's does make for erratic posting but I do enjoy your posts!

cheers

Paul

[digger303]

A excellent build and paint for someone who has developed Parkinson's. Better than my builds.

[Quax]

it all ended up ok in the end....

"fag break over boys"









thanks for looking

Paul

[Kevthemodeller]

It sure did mate, lovely build Looks like it modelled on a photograph.

[digger303]

You built and painted that up really well. A believable scene in the midst of a operation that had slowed to a crawl at that moment.