Trumpeter/Taigen T34/76 Mod 1942 with Applique Armor

[General Jumbo01]

Better get your wallet out then

T34 and all its variants, including SU etc. One of the best in my opinion. And Tankme has them all!!

[tankme]

Damn, they're nice
Can you get me an expose of the battery you use please mate.

The 2S2P batteries are Li-Ion 18650 cell based with an XT-60 plug. They say they are 7000mAH (7AH), but I'm not sure how close they come to that. I think when I bought them I paid like $15 per pack which isn't bad IMO. They have been reliable so far. I ran my T34/85 for at least two hours the other day and the battery didn't miss a beat.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256801 ... 6125%21sea

You can see the size of the battery from the T-34/85 hull:



And in the SU-152:

Better get your wallet out then

T34 and all its variants, including SU etc. One of the best in my opinion. And Tankme has them all!!

Yeah...I have a problem with T34 variants...

[Rad_Schuhart]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256801 ... 6125%21sea

Beware, that shop has only one review, which is very negative... and I must confess is written by myself. Seller never shipped anything and provided a fake tracking number. Nope, is not like it got lost on the way, but never got shipped.

I used to get those batteries too, and used to cost like 15 euros. Now is not possible to find them under 30. Not sure if it has 7.000mah, but I can run my tanks non stop more than 6 hours.

Herman, I wrote a battery entry writting about those batties eons ago, lol.

[tankme]

I did order from them and got my batteries, but I also ordered from the Kluosi store and got those. It did take a long time though. The link was more of an example of what they look like since there are better pics there. By all means do your own research as to which vendor to get them through. They are just simple battery packs and they don't "puff" like bag based LiPo batteries.

I agree, the runtime is very long.

[Raminator]

Really nice work on the conversions, tankme. I personally prefer the welded early turrets to the cast ones, but you can't really tell the difference with the appliqué armour on!

Lots of great tips for the Trumpeter conversion, some clever work getting everything fit in so neatly. Good ideas with the swingarms too, I'll definitely have to do the same on my next one!

[tankme]

I was able to start adding some details to the twins and beating up the skirts and mudflaps a tad:




I also got the lowers to the same point. After putting the battery in that spot it may interfere a little with getting the MG flash working. I may just have to run it horizontally across the chassis under the switch bridge. There is room to do that. It can also fit next to the Clark TK50 which is where I have it mounted in the T-34/85. Maybe after this semester ends I'll be able to put some work into them to finish the turret elevation, IR mounts, MG LED, and spotlights. After that it's just finishing detail work.

[jhamm]

Hello,
I'm just going to jump in here...
In the summer of 2021, a valued model builder colleague
sold me his T-34/76 1942 Trumpeter kit with many accessories.
There were for example nickel silver tracks from Axel's and a Volker P. hull.

The last few weeks I have put the whole thing together and added a Beier SFR-1-HL electronics:

Yesterday it was time for the first rollout:

phpBB [video]

The tank is not ready yet, details of ageing and weathering are missing.

[tankme]

Cool build. For a small tank, it's amazing how much room there actually is inside for all kinds of different configurations.

[tankme]

I almost feel like this is going to be an unofficial New Years resolution for me this year...clear out the backlog of old builds. I've got so many old builds piled up that I felt like it was time to do something about it. I grabbed the most complete tank build I had and decided to finish it. It just happened to be the Trumpeter T34/76 1943. Since it doesn't really have it's own build thread and it's been shown here before, here it will stay.

The tank was pretty well complete except for wiring issues. I finished the wiring on the turret rotation, the spot light, the IR LED (mounted below the gun), and the MG LED. I also mounted the 3D printed apple base in one of the hatches. I lowered it enough that I can still put the hatch on when the apple isn't installed. I will be adding a small magnet to the hatch and one on the mount to keep the hatch in place. Russian hatches of this era weren't designed to open fully so removing it was kinda the best option for when the apple is needed for battle.





After the wiring was complete I tested all it's functions and ran it around on the carpet for a few minutes. The barrel position wasn't right for some reason so I adjusted both the servo recoil arm and the elevation servo. I then did a functions check and verified all functions were working on the Clark TK50. You can see the barrel elevation and depression is pretty good now.




Some additional texture was added to the tank on the turret and the MG port as the factory texture in the plastic was a little too consistent. There were a few details that got knocked off during the build like one of the lifting eyes on the turret and the turret hatch stops. All were reinstalled. I put the weld lines in around the towing hooks, the turret air cleaner, and along the mantlet sides. Most of the other weld lines were already present on the tank. They are small, but there none the less. I kinda forgot to get pics of that stage as it is a tad rougher than just the Mr. Surfacer that is on it in the pics.

With so many T34 variants laying around, I decided I needed to mix and match some of the dished road wheels along with the steelies and spoked wheels. They will be grouped on the front right of the tank together. I figured if the tank was hit it's possible both of those wheels took damage and got replaced with whatever was on hand. The wheels that were replaced will be distributed to the T34/76 1942 tank and my SU-122.

And then with great enthusiasm...paint. I actually really hate the painting stage, but since this project has gone so long it was good to see it all in one color. It's now off to the side to cure.



This is the set of decals I will be using. I will be adding the camo pattern as well. When this one is finished I was going to tackle it's sibling, but it seems the sound has died on it's TK50 and there are other mechanical issues to sort out with the turret elevation. Those things will have to wait as there are other vehicles with less issues that can be knocked out first. Gonna get all that low hanging fruit first.



That's all for now...

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I am glad to see the project revivials. I also like the "cast iron" texture you added. Mine seems a bit crude (viewtopic.php?p=349405#p349405). I, too, snarfed up some sets of those Star Decals for the Russians. They are still waiting.