Another Taigen T-34/85, Late '45
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 10:07 pm
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;
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
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.
Anyway, enough of this negativity stuff, let's get on with the other stuff (I like 'stuff', whatever it is? ). 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.
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.
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:
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;;
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:
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!)
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!!!
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;
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
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.
Anyway, enough of this negativity stuff, let's get on with the other stuff (I like 'stuff', whatever it is? ). 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.
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.
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:
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;;
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:
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!)
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!!!