Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

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Dr Phibes
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Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by Dr Phibes »

Well, I thought it was about time I posted up what I have been preoccupying myself with since the Chieftain Mk10 build. Once again I have to provide this build in a kind of retrospect style since I just haven't been able to get around to posting as I go in the more traditional build thread fashion. Regardless, I hope it might be of some interest. Now I am moving on to my Panther project I thought it might be a good time to, first, wrap up my little T-34/85 effort.

I began with a broad idea of how I would approach my interpretation of the T-34/85. What I had in mind is something a little more 'used' and battered than I might go for with my other tanks. I wanted, as best I could, to give some sense of battle-weary, yet tough and brutal conditions this armour would often endure, not to mention those lived, drove, and fought in them. I suppose had something in mind like this;
T-34-85 05.jpg
I had ordered a collection of parts and accessories to put together what was mainly a Taigen based T-34. Specifically, Forgebear tanks supplied the upper and lower hull, the latter of which is the metal reinforced bucket already fitted out with nice steel gearboxes and other fittings. The upper is the metal turret version complete with Asiatam recoil unit, Xenon flash, and wiring harness, etc. All provided, I might add, at a very reasonable price and quick delivery (as is usual with this supplier, as many of you know).
However, the real bonus was that Royal Mail had obviously heard about my plans for this build and decided to help me out by providing their on approach to battle damage! Despite being very well packaged they still managed shatter (see below) this T-34's glacis plate, crack the headlamp, blast off the spare track, and generally give it bit of beating :clap:

Of course Forgebear immediately offered a replacement but, as it happens and despite how it looks, it was actually a pretty easy fix and since I knew I would modifying the casting effect, etc, it was easier just to do that than to return it. The moral of this story? - nothing will save your tank from a detemined ParcelForce driver bent on doing his worst. :O :lolno:
T-34 01.jpg
Anyway, enough of this negativity stuff, let's get on with the other stuff (I like 'stuff', whatever it is? :S ). I cobbled all the bits together and overall one just would not know that Royal Mail had attacked the tank. The completed blank canvas, as seen, included the metal road wheels, tracks, suspension arms gearboxes, turret and barrel, etc. Overall, I really like these Taigen/Torro tanks, they are well enough put together without being (too) ridiculously priced.
T-34 04.jpg
T-34 05.jpg
Before breaking it back down I fitted it out with a spare old Taigen Ver.1 MFU just to spin up the gearboxes and running and to check everything was actually in good working order, which it was. I had already decided to keep, for now at least, the stock Asiatam recoil unit and X-man flash as I find these work pretty well overall. However, as I'm going to install a Clark TK40 I might at a later date decide to upgrade to servo recoil which is much better but, for now, it's a case of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. Below is a pic of the otherwise fairly bone stock Taigen T-34.
T-34 06.jpg
The following couple of pics are of the new speaker and speaker box. This is a design I first developed for my Chieftain and adapted for the Taigen T-34. In fact it ended up being quite a task. To gain the internal volume I wanted (as with the Chieftain) involved utilising every tiny bit of space available. In the end I extended the box under the Taigen quick release mechanism for the upper hull which entailed reversing the mechanism itself and, extending the box forward, entailed relocation of the universal unit for the 360 turret:
T-34 07.jpg
T-34 09.jpg
The 3d printed bridge that relocates the 360 unit, seen as follows, places it dead centre . This means that no matter where the turret turns the tail of the harness stays pretty much exactly where it sits below the turret. This means the speak box can extend further up the hull than before and actually under the turret gear ring;;
T-34 10.jpg
Having finished the speaker box (fitted with a Visatron FRS7, about as large as I could go really) the rest of the internal upgrade for this build could go ahead. As can be seen this includes the mentioned install of the Clark TK40SP (supplied by Mr Maxmekker here), a 2s 4600mA Lipo, a Tarr smoker - relocated between the gearboxes in the lower hull with removable smoke tubes:
T-34 12.jpg

Squeezing this all in between the little space left by the Christie suspension was something of as battle itself. To accommodate the stock switch mounting plate and keep it in place I had to brace the front of the hull, as can be seen. The upgraded 10k volume control (works much better then stock) also takes up room so it was a real bonus using the S-Bus version of the TK40 because it made it possible to use a mini receiver (which also has built in battery voltage telemetry if you have a radio to utilise this!)
T-34 14.jpg
Anyway, that's enough for now I think, before I really get boring!! I'll get back and add further development as soon as I can. Meanwhile, take care everyone and remember to have fun, it's the law!!! :crazy: :D :D
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Following along with baited Breath, Doc :D :wave:
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tomhugill
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by tomhugill »

I love your work! The internal bits here look great so far. Can't wait to see the rest!

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Kaczor
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by Kaczor »

Pity that nobody offers metal early road wheels like on the period picture.
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by General Jumbo01 »

Some great work here. Centering the 360 cable mount is so obvious you really have to wonder why Taigen didn't do it! I modified my turret ring but your crossbar is far neater.
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by EAO »

Wow! Very clean and tidy! :thumbup:

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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by tankme »

It says on the Open Panzer TCB site that the 360 slip rings can cause issues with the IR receiver registering hits due to the electrical noise created by them. Have you had that issue? Just curious.
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Raminator
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by Raminator »

Stellar work with the design and fitout, Doctor. I'm impressed with your printed goodies, you've made a very neat and ordered setup. I fit an FRS7 in my T-34 and had to sacrifice the quick-release mechanism to get it to fit, so congratulations are definitely in order there! :clap:

A minor quibble though; the T-34 is a Soviet tank, not a Russian one. Morozov's design bureau was based in Kharkiv, so it'd be Ukrainian if anything. ;)
tankme wrote:It says on the Open Panzer TCB site that the 360 slip rings can cause issues with the IR receiver registering hits due to the electrical noise created by them. Have you had that issue? Just curious.
I've had issues with servos wiggling due to feedback through a slip ring before, but whether that was because of noise-creating contacts in the crappy HL unit or because I was using common +5V and ground rails for them I don't know. I've never had a chance to test the IR through them, but it stands to reason that they wouldn't be ideal for transmitting data.
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Dr Phibes
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by Dr Phibes »

Many thanks everyone , as always, for the encouraging comments. Tankme, I set all my tanks up as 'battle ready' but, in fact, never really battle them. Rather, I mostly just bash them (fairly lightly) around the garden, etc. However, I do test the IR system once built and have not noticed any issue, but I'm certainly not the best judge of such things by any measure.
Raminator, I have no doubt you are correct that I should have perhaps labelled this a Soviet tank - my only excuse is old age :D

I have some more images of progress ready here. Having pretty much finished the internal upgrade I again torn down the upper hull to a few fairly small modifications. My first thoughts were to try and make use of the details hidden beneath the engine deck covers. The louvre details under the covers were inaccessible in stock form so I had the idea of making the covers openable, as I had seen in other builds here.
T-34 15.jpg
In the end I opted to do make only the rearmost cover openable and use this as access to the engine compartment. However, I the round cover in the rear armour, also a non-opening moulded fixture, bothered (no idea why :crazy: ). Consequently, I design and 3d printed a reproduction of the bolt fittings, removed the moulded cover, and fitted it with a working hinge:
T-34 18.jpg
One of the things I laboured over was the overall finish/look I wanted to achieve with this particular tank. This is a late war T-34 and many if not most of the images seem to suggest a pretty hard, if short, life. I wanted, on this occasion to capture, if I could, some of that battle-weary, brutality that appeared to me evident in so many of those old pictures. I like the look of clean, factory fresh, tanks too - but not for this one I thought. A few images caught my eye in particular, here's a well known one;
T-34-85 02.jpg
T-34-85 02.jpg (80.89 KiB) Viewed 1300 times
The 'bedspring' T-34 certainly is appealing and there are one or two excellent builds here of this unusual 'upgraded' T. In the end tough I wanted something more typical of what I had seen. The following encapsulates something of what I had in mind at least;
T-34-85 Berlin 1945.jpg
The picture (above) shows the way the fenders, tool boxes, and auxiliary tanks, etc, could often be fairly well beaten up. With this in mind I incorporated a bit 'wear and tear' into the proceedings;
T-34 21.jpg
In addition, I wanted to represent something of the very rough castings that could be found on these tanks (apparently depending on factory, day of the week, available materials, and competence or otherwise of the workers, etc) :D :
T-34 22.jpg
T-34 23.jpg
This picture is of my attempt to emulate a very rough cast turret using a new (to me) medium from AK (Easy Cast). I always find scale (and scale effect) a problem, probably because these mediums are developed with 1:35 scale in mind, not 1:16. I think it appears a little too 'rough' but then I have seen some pretty rough cast examples on these T's.
T-34 24.jpg
T-34-85_and_76.jpg
As soon as I can I'll put together some further progress with build.
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Re: Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

A couple of pics that might help, Doc. These were taken when a working T-34 and a military 'circus' visited Highland Wester Ross, in 2017. (It even fired the cannon...but...but... with a real blank... :thumbup: ) The hull's not nearly as rough as the turret. The Turret, in fact, resembles my own poor attempt at pebble-dashing :/ It could also be a homemade wholemeal loaf. :think:
Clicking on these images will ENLARGE them.
T-34 visiting Wester Ross in the Highlands
T-34 visiting Wester Ross in the Highlands
T34's rear end. Highlands, 2017.
T34's rear end. Highlands, 2017.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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