Here’s is what I’m up to now that I finished up the MARS. It’s the Dragon T-34/85 in 1/72. I’m doing it basically oob. The only thing I’m changing is the hand holds, which I’ve done in brass. I’m not happy with them, especially the ones on the hull. I used 0.020 brass wire, which scales out to 1.44 inches, and I think that’s a little too thick. Unfortunately the lhs didn’t have anything smaller. They also stick out from the hull a little too far. The ones on the turret look better. The assembly hasn’t been too bad, but there was one big problem with the fit of the upper and lower hulls that I didn’t expect. The upper hull has to be lined up from the rear of the vehicle. Doing that leaves a gap on the front, right in front of the axles. That gap causes a huge gap when the nose is fitted. In the last pic you can see where I filled it with some sheet styrene and sanded it down. On a 1/72 scale vehicle, its quite a substantial gap. There is also a gap between the cupola and turret roof. There are also a couple of bits and pieces that I’ve left off for now. Sorry for the fuzzy first pic
Thanks for looking. As always, comments and criticism are always welcome.
Other than the handles I’d say it looks pretty good so far. The brass handles look too far outta scale! But don’t sweat it, maybe they just need to portrude less out of the tank and that’ll fix it. Can’t wait to see it finished
Now that I’ve done some painting, its time for more pics. I replaced all the original hand holds with thinner wire, and they do look in scale. I pre-shaded with Tamiya Flat Black, then base coated with Dark Green. Finally I lightened the Dark Green with some Buff. The turret pics didn’t turn out very well, they’re much too dark, even after playing around them. I can’t reshoot because I’ve already hit it with Future. The barrel is a little askew. I tried to take it off, but its on good and snug, so I think I’m stuck with it.
As always, comments and criticism are welcome. Thanks for taking a look.
hey Buff [:D] looking real good man-- I love the t-34 in all scales!!–the choice of .012 wire for the grab handles works out when ‘up scaled’ to about .86 inches --real real close to what in reality was just under 1 inch-- looks great-- the coloring looks right on the money-- don’t know how you guys work in such small scale, but you are doing a bang-up job![tup][tup]-- treadwell[8D]
Lookin great, Ive got to agree on the handles looking much better now. Some nice sublt variation in paint tones, something ive come to appreciate lately after attempting it myself. Too bad about the barrel, but everytime I try to fixsomething thats already dried and painted, well, it usually snaps, and besides, at that scale, who wil know? A light wash/drybrushing could really bring out some of those details, Ill stay posted.
The little beast is a long way from done just yet. I’ve Futured it, put on the decals, sealed them and flat coated it. The variation between the different shades of green doesn’t seem to be as noticeable now. The turret markings are a 4 digit number, and on one side, there is some nasty silvering between the digits. I still have most of the weathering to do yet, so I’m not worried. I’ll have more pics later in the week.
Here’s the finished kit. Four days ago I was ready to throw it up against a wall. This isn’t exactly the finish I wanted. I wanted the variations I got with the a/b to show up more, and that clearly hasn’t happened. However, it has started to grow on me, so I’ll keep it. After the flat coating, I used the “dot” method of doing filters. I thought I kept the paint to a minimum, but not quite “minimum” enough. I ended up with more of a wash. After that I did pin washes with oils, and some rusting with Mig pigments. By then I knew the a/b work wasn’t going to show, so I dirtied it up with more pigments. The contact point for the tracks really shows up. Other than hiding the joint with more pigments, I don’t know what to do about it. That seam is impossible to fix with glue. The other problem that really shows up in the pics is the silvering of the turret markings. It isn’t anywhere near as obvious in person.
Thanks for looking. As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.
hey buff[:D] nice finish on that little b@$t@rd!!-- this looks to me like on of the best 1/72 builds i have seen-- the finish may have not been exactly what you were going for,but it came out real nice dude[tup][tup]!!-- I feel I must say a little something about the tracks [tdn][tdn] for the manufacturer! you put alot of time and effort and great building into this tank and I think it is a shame they didn’t do better for you!! – don’t throw it against the wall-- save that space for my 1/16 t-34-- it is killing me!!-- tread[8D]
