Biting the Bullet

The last few years have seen a lot of changes regarding modelling practices. The days when a new kit was released, and followed shortly afterwards with the release of several “compulsory” aftermarket sets to dress it up, are more or less gone. Many modellers, including myself, are left with quite a few of these older kits and the aftermarket items bought to detail them. Unfortunately they still don’t reach the standard of the newest and best kits available today.

Having always been attracted to and interested in the T34, I’ve never actually built one. I could have chosen one of the newer and simpler Dragon kits, but have decided instead to build the older Italeri kit and use-up some of the items that will go unused otherwise.
This kit was the best available for many years, but has been surpassed by several releases since. The more I read about the kit and the more knowledge gained on the original tank, the more that appears to be missed or inaccurate. But most of the models that have inspired me over the years have been built from kits of this standard, so I just had to bite the bullet and get stuck in.

The kits used.

The base kit is Italeri´s T34/76 m1943 (#282), which is a copy of the Zvezda kit. The swing arms are moulded in place in a fixed position and they are completed with five all-steel road wheels per side. T34s with a complete set of Ural-style all-metal road wheels are exceedingly rare, if they existed at all, as there is no conclusive photographic evidence.

Tanks were delivered with rubber-tyred wheels on the first and last stations, and as availability improved the other three were replaced as well. Thanks to Dan Sandberg who sent me four Tamiya wheels with rubber tyres for this project.

Another kit I’ve had for years, was Maquette’s T34 engine and transmission set (#35024). This has very crude details and many items not included at all. As it will only be seen through the hatches and the view is limited, it will be OK for this project. To dress up the kit, I will be using etch sets from PART – P35008 and P35087, along with newer items from Armorscale; B35-066 – 76.2mm F34 barrel for Soviet tank with hexagonal turret and R35-001 – Soviet large fuel tanks for T34/76. Magic-tracks will be borrowed from on of the newer Dragon releases to complete the model.

Ground-work.

The hull tub had some moulded text and inner supporting ribs removed, to prepare for the engine instillation. The upper hull and back hatch had their respective hatches opened, by scribing using a scalpel blade. The wheels were cleaned and assembled, and the Italeri hubs mated to the Tamiya wheels to make them more uniform. The engine and transmission blocks were assembled and joints sanded smooth, and all other parts were cleaned up. This took a few evenings of cutting and sanding, but the worst is now done.
I´d also like to say a special word of thanks to Scott Fraser who has helped quite a bit and provided a lot of information for this project.