Every flavour of T-34

[HERMAN BIX]

Any updates Mr Raminator??

[Raminator]

Been held up for a while with work and other projects, so I'm looking to get back on the T-34 wagon soon. I'm just in the middle of commissioning a new printer I picked up during the Black Friday sales; I've finally got everything running after having to move all of the shelves and re-do all of the cable management in the cupboard. Still a few things to sort out, but I'll be able to print a turret to compare with the old printer setup soon.

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The Sonic Mighty 8K is a little bigger than the Mighty 4K (10" plate versus 9.3") and the resolution is a little finer than the Mini 4K (28µm X/Y versus 35µm), so I'll be able to get the detail of the Mini 4K at the size of the Mighty 4K. It means that I can print the whole turret kit in one go and still get nice crisp results for for modelled details like screw heads on the bigger parts.

If anyone in Australia would like a second-hand Mighty 4K or Mini 4K good condition, let me know. They'll be going cheap!

[Estnische]

Black magic if you ask me LOL…

[Raminator]

No magic here, I think it's actually the overlap in the Venn diagram between art and engineering.

Took a little bit longer than anticipated to get everything with the new printer dialled in the way I want, but I've finally got something T-34-related to share; the first proper print of the pre-war welded turret with the short-barrelled L-11 gun:

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I'm very pleased with the print quality with the Mighty 8K, the modelled details like the screws and bolt heads are starting to rival injection-moulded parts:

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For comparison, here's what the same print (same file, same resin) done on the Mighty 4K looks like:

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A bit hard to make out with the black resin, but the spring for the hatch lift and the interior vision blocks turned out great too.

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The recoil and elevation servos are hidden under the breech block, I'll need to dig up a control board to grab a short video to show the mechanics in action.

[HERMAN BIX]

In the immortal words of the KFC ad......................SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!

[ColemanCollector]

That is crisp! Rivaling injection molding indeed!
That is a work of working art in my books.
Mike.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I feel like a doofus just repeating words of admiration, but I have come back to here after re-reading the thread and I cannot go on unless I express my admiration at your amazing work.

[Raminator]

I appreciate the kind words fellas, I'm glad you like it! I know I keep saying so, but I hope to have the kits available for sale soon. I haven't been able to get much done since the last post, I haven't felt well enough. I've made some progress with the drawings to finish off the pre-war T-34, though:

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There are quite a few differences in the shape of structural parts like the lower glacis, driver's hatch, the transmission and final drive covers and the engine intakes, let alone all of the different fittings and stowage like the fuel tanks, shovels and jacks. I also just noticed that I haven't done the clasps which fasten the fan cover to the transmission cover, so I'll add them to the (ever-increasing) to-do list. Next up I'll need to butcher an otherwise perfectly good Taigen T-34 so I can start transplanting test prints into it.

On that note, can anyone recommend a good CA debonder? The stuff I have on-hand works okay on fresh hobby-grade CA, but really struggles with whatever cheap and nasty stuff they used in the factory (especially when it's had years to cure). It's a pain that the Taigen hull comes with everything already attached!

[HERMAN BIX]

Yeah the KFC ad still rings true.
Even the jacks would be a handy extra to get hold of by themselves.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

With Taigen tanks, I have resorted to gentle brute force (that's an oxymoron, from an oxy moron) by carefully prying the extras off the hulls and/or drilling them out from the inside.