RJBud1

I have always thought the three T-34 precursors (A-20, armed with 45mm cannon, 4 main wheels in the tracks instead of 5, and BT-7 tracks, A-32, armed with short barrel L-10 76mm cannon, 400mm thick tracks, and 5 wheels for each side tracks, and A-34, which had 550mm wide tracks, a longer L-11 76mm gun, and 5 wheeled tracks. The A-34's only difference to the T-34 Model 1940 was that it had a huge headlight on top of the barrel, and 37mm frontal armour plating instead of 45mm). I have decided to replicate the A-32. The first step was finding the 1/100 T-34 model 1940 in my "stash". (Which is really only 15 kits - I'm only 15 myself, but I'm sure some people on here will envy the tiny stash of mine ) After I found out I had already started it, and had attempted to remove the paint with sandpaper at some point, unsuccessfully, I finally came to terms that the model will have a slightly thicker coat of paint than I would like. The second thing I added were some neodymium magnets to the hull of the tank and inside the turret, so I can move the turret instead of gluing it in place. The third thing I did was take some sprue cutters and cut the L-11 gun to the size of a L-10. I eyeballed this. The A-32 also had these little pieces of metal in the middle of the turret that poked out. I'm guess this was where they welded the two sides of the turret and added a small piece of metal on the welded edges to strengthen the bond. This was not on any of the T-34's, they were all single piece turrets if I recall correctly. To make these, I took a piece of cardboard and cut the corrugation off and then cut each one to about 3mm in width, and superglued it to the appropriate place. The A-32 also had two periscope instead of one as the T-34 had, the second periscope was in the rear of the turret, the first in the front. I simply cut a piece of wire and glued it in place with pliers. The A-32 had one large headlight above a coaxial machine gun. Since the zvezda kit does not model the machine gun, I took a dremel and drilled a hole and stuck a small thin piece of stretched sprue to replicate a MG. For the headlight, I found a searchlight that was from a 1/350 scale resin subchaser, it was the perfect size and looked like the A-32's headlight. The tracks on the A-32 were 400mm thick instead of 550mm as on the T-34, but I found Zvezda's kit tracks were too thin anyways, so no change was done there. Anyways this is my progress to create a diverse tiny scale 1/100 Soviet arsenal. Enjoy so far! RJ

That is the game I play. I love my A7M, actually both of them Also like my Ki-44-II OTSU

Here is my tiny Soviet capture of a Pz. IV H (no sideskirts, this PZ IV H 's sideskirts were taken of by the Soviets) 1/100 scale

I have about 10 photos of the finished model on the end of page 1. Thank you RJ

Nice work. Had my eyes on a listing of Aoshima's very old A7M2 in 1/72 scale for a while. Seeing this wants to make me go play one of my computer games that hard a A7M Reppu in it! RJ

I have always loved the Emily, or really any Japanese sea plane in general (my favorite is probably the H8K3 with 5 20mm cannons instead of 7.7mm MG's as on the H8K2, or the biplane-fighter-seaplane F1M2). You have done her justice, I love the minute chipping towards the front. Looks great RJ

That looks amazing. You say you brush painted it? It looks airbrushed! I love the piece you chose as the base, the whole thing in general is much better than I could ever hope to achieve. Lovely work Stix! RJ

Here is the completed base: (or the bottom of it, not readable unless turned upside down)

Okay guys This model is finished , everything except the base plaque is ready. I believe I have been able to achieve a very realistic weathering appearance in such a small scale. Hope you enjoy! The bottom two photos show the decals and magnetisation process. The base is made from a scrap aluminum can lid cover, and the base was made from wood glue, then shale pebbles (we have red shale here due to the extreme iron in the ground) , cinnamon and finally a layer of fake grass on one side. RJ

Hi! I just got a notification that the decals would be here this Thursday, someone forgot to send an envelope!! Lol. RJ

Very nice! Were the wirings made from stretched sprue? RJ

Yeah, my dad bought a $150 airbrush from one of the top manufacturers. The first one we had was $15 from ebay, after it blew up he learned not to take the cheap route all the time. RJ

Yes, something about it just interests me. RJ

It definetly will be a motivational booster , i kept the diorama (obviously) , hopefully i can get to the hobby shop in a week or two to pick up another, they had quite alot of them. I think my next project will be OzModels 1/144 F-80. RJ

I definitely will. I am a great scratch builder, I even made my own replica suppressed pistol. Not sure about rules re: replica firearms on this site, so if anybody wants to see it please PM me.