T34/85 in 1/72 scale (Armour fast)

[Muchmirth]

Hi all, I know before I start this post that some people may want to form a small lynch mob and hang about out side my house like a sort of modellers mafia but I have my reasons for using armour fast...I can explain. First I'm relatively new to all this malarkey so need/want cheap, simple and excuse the pun... fast builds. I know armour fast lack the details, fine and in some cases major, but they are good paint horses to experiment upon and practice. They also come in two's and I like to do one fairly 'clean' ish and then the other I like to beat up and do a heavy weathering with battle scars, burnt out, etc. Anyway, all comments welcome!!

I timed the build...for a laugh to see how long it would take and turned out to be 24  mins each model from opening the box.  Theirs some glue marks and the tracks are basic to say the least. I've clipped the front track panels to look like the sort of damage the t34 commonly picked up in these areas. 

I had to cut the hatch panel in half so I could show it as open. Looks a bit rough at mo.

www.flickr.com/photos/192726894@N07/51127481402/in/album-72157719088511712/

Both primed up in vallejo black primer. 

 

 

In the above pic you'll see the one on the left is much more heavily eroded, this will be the brunt out tank, it will hopefully look like its taken a hit from panzer faust. After I primed I put fine sand into water and PVA and then dapple over the lower halves of the armour to look like dirt and general wear. I then paint over this in several layers. Fist two thin coats of green reflective green and an olive green. Then white washed in several very, very thin layers. I used plain white and also mixed up an some white with Kahki (tiny amounts) to make an off white as I think this makes it more effective than just solid white. I then used the hairspray technique to scrub off/chip some of the white. After this I went a bit nuts with the rust washes and had to repaint the white several times.

 

 

 

I mottled the turret using polycement in a swirling motion to make it look like cast iron. I used a very fine wire, run around the bottom edge of the turret, then sealed in with plastic putty to replicate the weld seem common in soviet armour. It might be unconventional but used a hair chalk/pastel for the rust/dirt pigment (as my wife had some kicking around and seems to work well. I use a hobby knife and cut the edges of the pastel coat the tank in varnish and add the crunched up chalk, gives the colour and texture. I also use the bit of plastic from a clothes tag as a aerial.

The tank riders are from HAT. They are terrible figures by the way. Plastic is too soft, the ears and hands are huge and weapons are awful. The wing if from a yak-3 and its to go in a dioarama, as a part of the story telling element, Its as if the t34 is being used like a tractor to clear battle field wreckage. So would make more sense if see it in the dio once finished. 

  For the log I cut a twig from outside and stuck it on with staples. I'm not happy with it as they usually had two logs to help get both tracks out of the mud if stuck and the 'log' is too large and the clips look clumsy and messy. 

www.flickr.com/photos/192726894@N07/51153523054/in/album-72157719088511712/

I flicked some black paint on the front right hand side of the tank, to try and look like bubbling paint....not sure if if looks like bubbling paint but I like it. 

   I saw picture of real life burnt out t34 (cant for the life of me find it no though) and it had a round in its rear which exploded the fuel/engine and so blew the grate/mesh which covered the rear up and twisted it. So thought I'd try the same. I used mesh from one pound tea strainer and the metal from a binder clip. I know it not accurate as the grate used to cover the engine and so their would actually be a ruddy great big hole in the back of the tank now exposed where the mesh used to once cover. So its bit of a stretch of imagination but you probably wont even see the rear of the tank once I put it into the diorama which it belongs to as it'll be down in a shell hole half covered in frozen water.

 

Thanks for looking!!!

Paul

[vytautas]

I very liked that you use a lot of colors and shades. But it seems to me that working with 35 scales is much easier, and all the effects look more subtle.

 

Vytautas

[Muchmirth]

Yeah totally agreed, I know exactly what you mean. Im working my way up to the 1/35. Just need to finish this big Dio first then do some bigger models where the effects stand out more, bigger canvas and all that. 

 Thanks for taking a look. 

[sardaukar]

I like it, armourfast kits are great for this kind of experimentation before you go wrecking a 40 quid kit in 1/35th.

 

Of the fastbuild kits I think plastic soldier company kits have better detail and more options but then they are 3 for £20 vs 2 for less than £10 with armour fast. Also both are noticeably bigger compared with other offerings. Not tried any italeri fastbuild kits yet. S-model kits are great but not cheap once you've paid for postage from china, wish they had a UK distributor.

[Muchmirth]

Hi Sardauker, yeah that was the plan with the cheap/multi kits before the big ole 1/35 more expensive ones. I'd looked through the plastic soldier company and liked their options, see what mean on the detail front as well. I had heard (but not personally done any myself) that the italeri kits can be a bit of a mare. I'll keep an eye out for the s-models as hadn't come across them yet, so thanks for the tip. 

[Wulfman]

22 hours ago, Muchmirth said:

Hi Sardauker, yeah that was the plan with the cheap/multi kits before the big ole 1/35 more expensive ones. I'd looked through the plastic soldier company and liked their options, see what mean on the detail front as well. I had heard (but not personally done any myself) that the italeri kits can be a bit of a mare. I'll keep an eye out for the s-models as hadn't come across them yet, so thanks for the tip. 

I have made a number of Italeri quick build kits and have had few problems, certainly they are more detailed and superior to Armourfast kits !

 

Wulfman

[Muchmirth]

Ah good to know from someone with personal experience wulfman.