My T-34 Horde

[ripley]

Here's a few pictures of my T-34/76 tanks , all Warlord I'm afraid as I got most of these before Rubicon made their far better  versions .





This is a complete rebuild of the  supplied  turret to make a realistic  Uralmash stamped turret . The Warlord one is way out of proportion



This one is a OT-34 flame thrower , with the radio moved to the turret



This one is a 1942 pattern welded turret . Using a very narrow chisel blade I removed the ribs from the wheels to make the early style dish wheels .

[ripley]

Now my T34-85s















Lots of little things done to most kits . Opened hatches , damaged fenders,  added driver's vision ports , thread tow cables , extra track and stowage , a couple have cross cut saws in the racks on the side and of course a dozen mad Russian tank riders . The rough cast texture was added with liquid green stuff , I just love that product    I did figure a way to fix the too small hatch on top of the engine deck ( shame Warlord , shame ! ) but fixing the air intake grills was beyond me , so I let it be .

[Pinky]

Ripley - it's great to finally be able to see what you've been telling us about.  I really like the T-34/852 - especially the ones carrying desantniks.

Your re-worked Uralmash turret really emphasises the point you made a while back about the deficiencies in the Warlord turret.  I knew it was off, but didn't realise how bad it is.  I'm tempted to try and fix that on my 3 T-34s (which is a shame, as they're painted).

[ripley]

If you can find a copy of T-34 Mythical Weapon by R. Michulec & M. Zientarzewski  ( ISBN 0-9781091-0-4) English version by Airconnection - Canada . Fantastic book of 500 plus pages ,of T-34 awesomeness !  The ullitmate book on all versions of the T-34 . War era pictures , internals , museum versions and scale drawings . I got all  of  my ideas for kit bashing T-34s from this book .
Now the Rubicon SU-122 & 85 , I bought two kits and was able to switch out both upper hulls to use 2 howitzers or 2 tank killers , if I ever decide to learn to play the game 

[ripley]

And last but not least , a T-34 as seen in many early war photos , mud bogged !







This was built using a left over T-34 body ( from my T-34 / Tiger project ) , turret , track , drivers hatch and fuel cans are left over Rubicon I got from a buddy . I used it as a test bed for scenery , ground cover and Vallejo mud , I think it turned out great if I say so myself 

[ripley]

Pinky , here's some diagrams of the Uralmash turret from the Myth Weapon book

[ultravanillasmurf]

Lovely work.

That turret in the diagram looks like the one from IWM, which is one of the reasons my T34/85 has taken so long, I tried to reshape the Rubicon turret, add the power traverse bulge and the downward bulge shown in your diagram.

I will have to look out for that book. Thanks.

[ripley]

The Uralmash turret shown is armed with the 76mm gun not the 85, no bulge in the 76 . But I know your problem , so many variants and factory changes during production makes it hard to figure out . Not to mention , the 85 was manufactured well into the 60s in Poland and the Czech Republic  , and they had their own versions ! It is a great book , a bit pricey ( $100) but IMO , if you like to build lots of different versions of the same tank and I do , its perfect . Just the turret cast patterns alone could give you over half a dozen 85 versions , all really easy to do with green stuff and plastic strip . What version are you looking for , I could post a picture or two

[ultravanillasmurf]

Ah, yes the bulge in the diagram is forward of the centre of the turret ring (ignoring all the other differences).

This Czechoslovakian example is the one I am trying to model.


The above is of course a 305mm to the foot one.

[Pinky]

Pinky , here's some diagrams of the Uralmash turret from the Myth Weapon book

Thanks.  It's kind of lame that Warlord got it so wrong.  Rubicon made a few mistakes with their early kits, but they've improved pretty consistently.  Warlord and even italeri seem inconsistent.  Look at the huge variations in the quality, style and even the dimensions of the crew figures in their kits.  And I was very surprised to discover that the M3/M3A1 kit only really builds an M3 - the so-called M3A1 is wrong.  With all their resources and combined experience, you'd think they'd avoid that kind of mistake...

[ripley]

Do you have any full side / rear view pictures Smurf ? Its got some post war attachments on the front ( splash board mount ), so it might be a post war build . Need a better look to confirm

[ultravanillasmurf]

Do you have any full side / rear view pictures Smurf ? Its got some post war attachments on the front ( splash board mount ), so it might be a post war build . Need a better look to confirm

More photographs here: http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/compare-t34-85-part-two.html

I think it is a post war Czechoslovakian build via the Middle East.

The IWM is not forthcoming on their web site:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000343

[ripley]

Seems to be a mix of factory styles , the wavy exhaust covers ( Factory 183 ) , the hinges holding the rear transmission plate ( 174 ) but the plate itself is 183 . And the screening over the transmission is in a square frame not the usual curved frame , probably a Fraken tank made up of salvaged parts . Picture in Mythical Weapon show this to be a post war Czech turret , very smooth castings around base of turret with that dip in the center .