My 1st Rubicon T-34/85

[ripley]

After building 9 of Warlords T-34s and 3 of Rubicon's Su-85 / 122 s , I'm finally getting around to building my 1st Rubicon T-34/85 . As usual I just can't build it straight out of the box . First off I decided to give it a couple of the older style dish wheels . These were left overs  from the Rubicon T-34/76 kit which I got from a buddy .

I had thought to just add the visible wheel gluing it to the perforated rear wheel part , unfortunately the wheel sets don't fit together ( plugs are different sizes ) so I added  a rear dish wheel and it fits fine . I also want to depict this tank with an open driver's hatch , so I drilled the area in order to remove the unwanted plastic

[ripley]

The wheels swap worked out great

Like the turret , a lot  small parts on the T-34 were cast ( mg bulge , exhaust covers , differential gear covers ) some smooth and some that looked rough enough to tear skin . I added liquid green stuff with a paint brush and then stippled the part with a stiff brush . Sometimes a 2nd or 3rd coat was needed to get the appearance I wanted





I also trimmed the driver's hatch position and added some internal pieces to the hatch . As well I added a splash rail in front of the hatch , these varied in size and position depending on factory so find a picture as inspiration

[neffer38]

Looking good! May well copy you on the open hatch idea. Do you have a model you plan to have hanging out or sitting inside looking out?

How do you find the rubion kits over the warlord ones? I was tempted to pick up the t-34/76 zug from warlord as you can find it for £40 But i just feel id rather go with the rubiocn ones

[ripley]

The Rubicon kit makes it very easy to kit bash an open hatch what with the hatch as a separate piece . The Warlord kits I've given open hatches to are another matter.  As I said I have built 9 of the Warlord T-34s , ( 4 -76s & 5 -85s ) , and while the detail isn't as crisp as the Rubicon kits , and some things are not right ( upper rear hull - hatch & vents too short ) and the presssed Uralmash 76 turret totally the wrong shape , the plastic , being softer than Rubicon's is easier to carve , sand and saw .
Haven't really decided on crew figures yet , I might make this one a knocked out / abandoned tank . Not too sure yet , but I do have Rubicon's Russian crew blister pack , plus about a dozen other Russian crew figures (  resin , metal and plastic kit bash ) to choose from .

[neffer38]

kind of what my gut told me. Il stick with the rubicon then. I'm not afraid of a little extra elbow work carving away.

Yes I also have the soviet tank riders kit from rubicon and i have two unmade T34's so might well get those done over christmas as my soviet colour set from AK has now arrived   

[ripley]

If you look at pictures of T-34s , the turret castings are very diverse in texture , some smooth as a baby's bottom and others , well , pretty rough . Texturing the turrets with green stuff  , both Rubicon & Warlords really gives them that extra " something " to make them stand out . I like to have my vehicles look different if I have 3 or 4 of the same type with  crewmen , stowage , even battle damage . That's why I'm not fond of the resin kits with molded on stowage , easy to add to but  really tricky to remove.

[ripley]

The turret needs some texture as it was cast , so I added some liquid  green stuff

I also wanted to depict an earlier style turret with the DT-5 gun . This version used the split hatch commander's cupola part  , and to me , it looks like  the Rubicon part has the gunner's periscope to close to the hatch , as well as no antenna mount . So I am moving / replacing the periscope , and  I found some pieces to use as the U shaped lift rings particular to this turret .

I've decided to build this tank as a command vehicle for my Polish SU-85 troop , so it will have both the turret as well as the original T-34/76 style hull mounted radio antennas . The very 1st 85mm tanks , those built with the 2 man turret had the radio in the hull like the 76  , the next version with the 1st  redesigned turret race  for the 3 man crew , had the radio in the turret and the hull antenna mount closed off with a plug , later versions removed it completely .

[neffer38]

Yes! I pacifically picked up some of the AK interative Easy cast just for this kind of job.

Also seen some nice tricks using bits of plastic and melting with a lighter into strands and quickly setting them into place to create welds etc

[ultravanillasmurf]

I use liquid poly to add texture, not sure it is visible.

[ripley]

I've tried a few different products , but IMO liquid green is the easiest . You can apply it with a old paint  brush , it  cleans up with water , it is easy to remove ( before setting completely ) if you get some where it's not supposed to be , and lastly , its available at my local hobby shop . No road trips to a larger city or dealing with on line venders and being at the mercy of the local Post .

[ultravanillasmurf]

I will have to try it, I will buy some from my local Womblehammer shop (recently rebranded from Great Womble).

[ripley]

Pretty much done except for turret crew , stowage and a wash . I added a driver by cutting down a figure from a Italeri 1/56 Russian kit . Why they cast him with his arms crossed , what useless looking commander figure .

I cut the figure about here …. the other I added a set of Tamiya 1/48 lower legs / waist from the parts box

My T-34 based 85mm anti tank unit , command tank and 3 SPGs

[ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice.

[neffer38]

Been slow going over Christmas period getting stuff done and I've been working on alot of Non-Rubicon stuff so no need to post here, I did how ever spend Christmas Day sat infont of the Tv with family whilst putting together a Rubicon T-34 76 and and T34 85 and I got round to using the Easy Cast from AK. Went one very easily using an old brush and dried fairly quickly. I've managed to get the base coats on now and here's how they look.
 

Why they cast him with his arms crossed , what useless looking commander figure .

Yeah such a boring and odd pose to use. Warlord do a nice pack for tank crews.

[ripley]

The texture on those turrets looks good . It really adds a lot to kit  IMO .  I have 2 sets of Warlords metal Russian crews , which IMO are Ok , a couple of figures have their arms molded weird and they don't always fit in the hatch ( too chubby )  , so they are pretty much a custom fit , glued in to a hatch . I like Bad Squido's female Russian tankers ( must order another set ) , and I thinking of getting a set of Warlord's North Korean tankers to add some variety . Gat a 3 pairs of JTFM's resin Russians , a little more 1/48 , but nice , and a set of Rubicon's , just wish there were more arms without , binocs , maps and flags .