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Trumpeter 1/16 T-34/85


BlackMax12

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Buddy had one of these in his stash and I coaxed him into selling it as he'll never build it.  He still has a Tamiya 1/16 Tiger I but I'm not sure about that and a Tamiya 1/16 Kingtiger with the Porsche turret.

 

Back to the big stuff.  It's not as big as the Kingtiger but lots bigger than that Soviet T-10M I had started.

 

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Here it is as of midnight, bedtime now.  The suspension is done and again, same as the 1/16 SU-100, suspension parts F7 and F8 have to be swapped side to side to make the front swing

arms fit properly.  I just love those little coil springs too, just when it's to drop in place it sproings across the room and you have to chase it down, oh, find it first too.  Glad there's only 10.

 

The track assembly instructions call for 36 each of the toothed links and flat links but that's too long.  The tracks fit properly with the right sag with only 35 of each kind of link, again same as the SU-100.  I love these

snap together tracks, takes me less than 20 minutes to assemble 140 links total for both sides.  Rye Field and Meng should take lessons.

 

Otherwise it fits well, the sponsons aren't warped like on the SU-100 which is a blessing as that was fun to fix.  Not as busy in the engine room as the Kingtiger and the interior is decent.

Best of all, it's big enough for these old eyes and fingers.

 

Got to pick up another litre of Tamiya Extra Thin tomorrow though.

 

One more thing for anyone building one of these Trumpeter T-34s or SU-100s.  They want you to install a longer poly cap inside the final drive housing and then glue the housing to the hull.

Don't do that because if you ever remove the drive sprocket and try to re-install it the poly cap falls inside the final drive housing.  I know, I had to pry the housing off the hull to put the cap back in place.

There's nothing inside to hold it in place, poor engineering Trumpeter.  My solution is to put the cap in it's place then fill the housing behind it with Milliput so the sucker can't ever move.  Then

you can remove and install the drive sprocket for painting and track installation.  Simple fix but they missed it.

 

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Edited by BlackMax12
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Hi Etienne

 

If you want a pretty involved model try one of the Trumpeter Panzer IVs, there are at least 3 different versions or the King Tiger and especially the Jagdtiger.

 

If you want something a little simpler try the Trumpeter T-34s or SU-100. Or the new Trumpeter M1A1 which has no interior I believe and is a bit of a let down.

 

Then for non-tracked vehicles there's the Trumpeter MRAP pair.

 

Most of the Trumpeter kits have interiors and while they are simplified with not all of the detail represented inside they are really pretty good.

 

The Tamiya and Hobby Boss kits are really simplified with no interior and the Tamiya lacking a lot of detail.

 

Take your pick and I'll watch for it.

 

Lloyd

 

 

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Didn't get much accomplished today.  Built up some of the interior and fitted the final drive in place.  The turret is made of 4 pieces for some reason and the upper section of course is warped.

Tried the old hot water trick but it's going to need some serious filling and another suicidal paint brush to restore the casting texture.  I guess it's modelling not just building.

 

In last pic the top half of the turret moved, there isn't that big gap at the bottom front, thank goodness as it's bad enough.

 

Here it is as of this aft, done for today.

 

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Coming along slowly.  Dropped my airbrush and bent the needle then ruined the nozzle trying to get it out.  Maple Airbrush Supplies in Edmonton, 2 day delivery and we're back in the painting

mode.

 

Here it is as of this morning.  Can't see much inside this turret, but it's all there, now to seal it up and some serious filling and sanding.  Then some heavy duty dirtification and close the hull up.

 

Fighting a serious cold and shoveling snow so not much ambition today.

 

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How are the Russian 1/16 tanks detail wise? They seem to have more detail than that of the KT and I was also wondering how nicely built is the kit? 

 

I only have experience in German and some American armor, and I would like at some point do a 1/16 tank with a full interior of each of the major tanks from WWII. 

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Hi Mark

 

The 1/16 Trumpeter Soviet SU100 and T-34/85 aren't as detailed as the King Tiger, Panzer IV or Jagdtiger and I've done all of those.  Mind you they have some nice detail in the engine

and transmission areas but the fighting compartment seems a little spartan but maybe that's the way it was in real life.  The SU100 is actually not bad with a ton of shells but it seems rather simple compared to the German stuff.

 

The engine room in the KT and Jagdtiger is pretty good and the Panzer IV is a little lacking of hoses and fine detail but it makes up for that in most other areas.  I love the

snap-together tracks on the Soviet stuff and the rubber tires for the wheels saves a lot of masking for wheel painting which I hate.  The 48 wheels on a 1/35 Tiger I just kill me

when it comes time to paint the tires. 

 

Fit wise they are all pretty good except on my Jagdtiger the sponsons were warped and that threw the whole engine compartment out of whack, the bulkheads and fuel tanks

wouldn't fit worth a darn.  But on my KT everything just dropped into place so I guess it depends on the kit.  On this T34/85 it's going together well except the upper half of

the turret is warped.  I've soaked it in hot water and with a little bending and hoping I got the two halves together.  Some serious clamping and let it sit overnight and it looks 

not bad, nothing that some filling and sanding won't cure.

 

The Trumpeter 1/16 kits are the best IMHO as the Tamiya and Hobby Boss are more for the RC crowd and lacking detail not to mention no interiors and just as costly.

 

If you're going to tackle the KT, JT, PIV (3 versions), T34 (2 versions) and SU100 that's a serious project and then there's the new Panther coming and the M1A1 which I've seen and not impressed.  The good news is down in the US of A you can get this stuff at a decent price.  Mine all cost upwards of Cdn$300 each and that KT cost me over $400, then there's the first Jagdtiger which I destroyed in a fit of rage (or foolishness) and that one was close to Cdn$400.  Plus the freight from the US is a killer, it cost something like US$80 to get one of these big boxes up here

and sometimes I get hung for duty or brokerage or some other stupid tariff.  So it's not cheap to go on a 1/16 parade but I really like it vs the 1/35 kits which I'm finding harder

to work on now that I'm spoiled.

 

I also wish Trumpeter would do a Sherman of some kind, a Tiger I and maybe a Soviet KV heavy and I'd love to have a Stug III or IV but I guess I'm just dreaming.

 

Take care,

 

Lloyd

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1 hour ago, BlackMax12 said:

Hi Mark

 

The 1/16 Trumpeter Soviet SU100 and T-34/85 aren't as detailed as the King Tiger, Panzer IV or Jagdtiger and I've done all of those.  Mind you they have some nice detail in the engine

and transmission areas but the fighting compartment seems a little spartan but maybe that's the way it was in real life.  The SU100 is actually not bad with a ton of shells but it seems rather simple compared to the German stuff.

 

The engine room in the KT and Jagdtiger is pretty good and the Panzer IV is a little lacking of hoses and fine detail but it makes up for that in most other areas.  I love the

snap-together tracks on the Soviet stuff and the rubber tires for the wheels saves a lot of masking for wheel painting which I hate.  The 48 wheels on a 1/35 Tiger I just kill me

when it comes time to paint the tires. 

 

Fit wise they are all pretty good except on my Jagdtiger the sponsons were warped and that threw the whole engine compartment out of whack, the bulkheads and fuel tanks

wouldn't fit worth a darn.  But on my KT everything just dropped into place so I guess it depends on the kit.  On this T34/85 it's going together well except the upper half of

the turret is warped.  I've soaked it in hot water and with a little bending and hoping I got the two halves together.  Some serious clamping and let it sit overnight and it looks 

not bad, nothing that some filling and sanding won't cure.

 

The Trumpeter 1/16 kits are the best IMHO as the Tamiya and Hobby Boss are more for the RC crowd and lacking detail not to mention no interiors and just as costly.

 

If you're going to tackle the KT, JT, PIV (3 versions), T34 (2 versions) and SU100 that's a serious project and then there's the new Panther coming and the M1A1 which I've seen and not impressed.  The good news is down in the US of A you can get this stuff at a decent price.  Mine all cost upwards of Cdn$300 each and that KT cost me over $400, then there's the first Jagdtiger which I destroyed in a fit of rage (or foolishness) and that one was close to Cdn$400.  Plus the freight from the US is a killer, it cost something like US$80 to get one of these big boxes up here

and sometimes I get hung for duty or brokerage or some other stupid tariff.  So it's not cheap to go on a 1/16 parade but I really like it vs the 1/35 kits which I'm finding harder

to work on now that I'm spoiled.

 

I also wish Trumpeter would do a Sherman of some kind, a Tiger I and maybe a Soviet KV heavy and I'd love to have a Stug III or IV but I guess I'm just dreaming.

 

Take care,

 

Lloyd

 

I am currently working on the KT and I am surprised I haven't gone mad yet, but I was able to snag my KT for 200$ plus 15$ for shipping off of ebay, so it wasn't too terribly expensive, but all of the aftermarket parts and strine strips, those put the biggest dent in my wallet. I was planning on buying the JT up until I found out about the 1/16 Panther that is to be released "soon", and then when I found out about the other Panthers in development with Meng, and Takom. Those will be my next purchases. 

 

But I would also like to see a 1/16 Sherman, Tiger I, or a Stug.  

 

Good luck with the build and make sure to post pictures, very few people do 1/16 and once you finally do a 1/16 tank you wish there was a much larger follower base. 

 

Mark

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Thanks Badder

 

It's coming, but every time i try to paint some detail I start coughing so it's pretty shaky until I loose this cold.  Wish I had some of Plastix's brush magic or even a steadier hand.

 

I tried those pesky pe straps on the fuel tanks this AM but gave up, that's got to wait for a another day.  I'm out of Tamiya Surface Primer to start filling the glaring seams on the turret

but it won't stop snowing here so I'm not venturing out other than to shovel the walks again.

 

Lloyd

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The interior is pretty much finished except to find some fine wire for the engine fuel injection lines and drill the hinges on the engine cover hatch for some pins.

 

Once again the upper hull is too short at the rear, same as the 1/16 SU100 so had to add a piece of .040 x .060 Evergreen styrene.

 

Going to be fun filling and sanding the seams on the turret.  Filled the worst with stretched sprue but lots to do yet. Pity the interior has to be complete before sealing the turret up as

it makes it harder to work on the exterior.

 

Here it is as of this evening.  Got to go shovel again, we have got about 10"  (28cm) of snow today and I hope it's not a sign of the coming winter.

 

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Coming along very nicely Lloyd, don't forget these were produced quite a few years ago and detailing and fit is good but not up to the same level as the latest offerings. I found the fit around the rear bulkhead and engine compartment to be rather frustrating. Still an enjoyable build though !

:smile:

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Both the T34 and the SU100 are older kits and not up to the Panzer IV or the Jagdtiger for sure.

 

And yes, the front end fits well on both kits but the back end not so much.  It would be better if I just glued the upper and lower together but I want to be able to

remove the upper to peek inside.  That makes the fit a little more challenging but these things were thrown together so maybe they didn't fit that well 

in reality either.

 

That warped upper turret half was the most frustrating and it sorta ticks me off that there's all that detail in there but no way to see it.  At least the upper half of

the turret comes off on the King Tiger so you can see inside and the Panzer IV has so many hatches and doors it's not that bad either.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Lloyd

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Very good progress so far, you have almost finished. It seems that once mounted, you will not see much of the interior, a pity, should think about that the manufacturers and put some means so that this does not happen, surely something is ...

I wonder, how do you get the kits to last so short? ... lol, obviously the time we have for the hobby is crucial, but also the ability plays an important role. :popcorn:

Cheers Lloyd :yes:

 

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Cracking modelling work on the interior Lloyd and I reckon you are being way too hard on your own fantastic painting skills. Hope you have managed to shake the cold!

Kind regards,

Stix

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Francis

 

Being retired with not a lot to do helps with model building, especially when you spend 6-7-8 and some days 12 or more hours a day at it.  This last week the wife has been

away so I've been at the bench quite a bit and if I didn't have that crappy cold or all the snow it would have been longer.

So it doesn't take long to run through a kit, I'm really enjoying these latest 1/16 builds as it's lots easier for these old eyes and hands to work on the bigger stuff.

 

That 1/16 King Tiger from Trumpeter came with the option of a clear or opaque upper hull and turret for display.  I thought it looked rather Mickey Mouse so the

clear parts are in the closet.  With my recent build of the AFV 1/35 T-34 and it's clear parts I'm not in a rush to try building anything with clear plastic, too hard to work with.

I'm not about to try making a cut-away for display, especially on these expensive large scale kits so having the upper hull and turret removable is the best I can do.

 

BTW, there is a 1:1 Sherman cut away in the museum in Ottawa and it does look impressive.  Shows the thickness of the armour and all the goodies. While the

armour does look pretty thick on the glacis I guess it was like tissue paper to a King Tiger. It must have been a lot of work cutting that up and painting all of the

cut edges red.  Wonder if they took it apart, cut it and re-assembled it or how it was done. 

 

Take care,

 

Lloyd

 

 

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Here it is this morning.  Stupid cat got me up at what I thought was 5:30 but with the time change last night it was only 4:30 so I had time to do some painting early on.

 

It's a coat of Tamiya NATO Black as a primer followed by Tamiya Field Grey which looks like a faded green to me.  It's sort of a monotone but that will change I hope.

The turret turned out not bad considering the warped upper half. Hard to fill the seams and keep the casting marks as this was what was called a "step-joint" turret or some such

with those big casting marks on either side towards the lower front.  Another kamikaze paintbrush and some Tamiya regular liquid cement and some stippling to restore the cast

texture sanded away.  The Soviet castings weren't all that smooth and no time was wasted on grinding and smoothing which is good.

 

Anyway here it is.

 

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Thanks Julian

 

It's harder to do the glue stippling in 1/16 scale and I thought I over did it but it actually turned out presentable.  I see I didn't get quite enough filler

in the seam along the lower right side of the turret but the Soviets didn't care about cosmetics so I won't either.

 

I'm waffling over what to do with it now, do I give it some different green tones or just leave the faded look and dirty it up or go the whole other way with a dirty whitewash?

I kinda favor the whitewash but I can't whitewash everything.  I also need more practice as I tend to remove too much white so the white wash becomes a " not so white wash"

almost like your "fade to black".

 

The paint has to cure for a day so I can ponder on it for a bit.

 

You didn't really answer about the concoction you are going to create to paint the Abrams.  I'm thinking of tackling Rye Field's Abrams with the interior and since I have 2 that are some

version of Tamiya Buff mixes then something different is called for.  I'm not too proud to copy good ideas and yours are pretty good, mostly..........

 

Lloyd

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I did my T34 in green and built up a brownish patina all over using umber tints of oil paints, looks grungy and well used but not ready for the scrapyard.

I have the occasional bad idea, can't fault you on that ;) I generally don't put the really bad ones on line :P

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