ALPHA wrote:Greetings Steel.... Phil did an outstanding job on his T34...it's a Heng Long ...but you still might gather some inspiration from the build ...he also did a WSN
Still no sign of my T34 ....or even an e mail telling me when it will arrive. I sent rctank.de a sniffy e mail about it late morning and I got a reply telling me that they are closed for Christmas until 04/01/15...........silly me. I didn't scroll down far enough on their homepage!
Anyways - they've very kindly despatched it today so I should have it within a day or 3. Camera is at the ready!
Tamiya King Tiger (no options)
Taigen Full Metal T34 (winter)
Heng Long Challenger II (European camo')
Tamiya Tiger I full options (still in the box)
Yes mate. I wont be doing anything with it in terms of mods and upgrades for a while but I'll certainly do a comprehensive set of pics so everyone can see what the Taigen T34 is like.
Tamiya King Tiger (no options)
Taigen Full Metal T34 (winter)
Heng Long Challenger II (European camo')
Tamiya Tiger I full options (still in the box)
Here is my Taigen T-34/85. It is pretty much the way it came from Taigen. It is one of the smoothest tanks that I have. Very good runner also. Since this photo was taken, I have removed the chain from the top of the tank and made some new mounts for the tow cables.
I finally sprung for an HL T-34, it cost me $232 i decided not to get the "cheap" one for once in my life, and I decided not to mod it except some light weathering. And gearbox change. The first thing i did when i got it was remove the metal tracks and soak them in break free CLP then hang them up overnight and wipe off the excess. The paint on it i found to be quite good - don't know if the Taigen would be any different in any way - I liked the black touches they put at the factory. All i did was paint the fuel drums italian olive and weather them some. I thought about adding the white turret stripe, or "Berlin stripe" if that's what they called it, decided to even forego that. I haven't read the real reason for that stripe, perhaps it was to identify the soviet "Guards" units, a big deal to the Russians I suppose. Or perhaps it was just a feature similar to the black and white "invasion stripes" the allies painted on their airplanes before D-day. Since by that time the allies knew clearly which side was going to be superior, and more numerous, they chose a positive "IFF" visual identification method over camouflage.
i have seen hundreds of T-34 pictures and except for winter white, the Sovs almost never bothered with camouflage patterns of any kind. Italian olive in rattle can, from the hardware store, is a very close match if not exact, to the green color they used. In the haste they were built, esp the T-34 76, more then once they sent them into battle straight from the factory with no paint at all, the WW2 Russians were a no frills bunch that's for sure.
Have to say that I'm delighted with my T34 - just got one little problem to iron out with it (if you'll pardon the pun). I think they are a great looking piece of machinery and in many ways they really represented the characteristics of the people that made them and fought in them. You're quite right about the lack of camo' schemes - I've looked at hundred's of photo's of T34's and they were all either green or white. My Taigen is wearing a white finish - it really looks superb. Once my issue with the engine sound has been resolved I will treat it to some turret markings and maybe think about starting to personalise it a little.
Tamiya King Tiger (no options)
Taigen Full Metal T34 (winter)
Heng Long Challenger II (European camo')
Tamiya Tiger I full options (still in the box)
