Trumpeter/Taigen T34/76 Mod 1942 with Applique Armor

[Ad Lav]

Something about a smaller 76mm T34 that does it for me

[tankme]

Something about a smaller 76mm T34 that does it for me

I think they just look "sportier" than an 85. The 85 is like the SUV of the T34 line and the 76 is it's hotter two seater cousin.

[tankme]

And it's inching closer to being complete. Camo on and markings on. Markings are a combo of painted (smaller numbers and slogan) and decals (crest, star, large 106). Did a few 4BO touch ups tonight so I'm letting them dry before clear coating. I will probably do a light weathering, but maybe I'll just let it weather on it's own.





That's all for now...

[Herr Dr. Professor]

tankme: I believe it is good that you revived these projects. I have three questions so I can learn from you: 1) Since I am an old academic sort, I am curious about "[m]aybe after this semester ends." 2) Did you make or buy (where?) those speaker grills. 3) What is the brown color? Is there a brand (Vallejo? Tamiya? AK Interactive? Mig? etc.)

[tankme]

tankme: I believe it is good that you revived these projects. I have three questions so I can learn from you: 1) Since I am an old academic sort, I am curious about "[m]aybe after this semester ends." 2) Did you make or buy (where?) those speaker grills. 3) What is the brown color? Is there a brand (Vallejo? Tamiya? AK Interactive? Mig? etc.)

Well, during Covid I decided to go back to school and finish a degree. I started a degree in Computer Science in 1991, but joined the Army and never finished. I'm doing a BS in Cybersecurity since the IT industry seems to have tons of jobs on that side of the house at the moment. I've been working in IT for 33 years, but never finished my BS. I got my start in the Army as a 33Y Strategic Systems Repairer. It was better than college in a lot of ways as it was 52 weeks/8 hours a day/40 hours a week of electronics theory, fiber optic training, wave propagation theory, analog/digital circuits theory, Sun UNIX hardware/software training, and hands on training for all those things. Basically my job was to fix all of the systems the US uses to spy...errr...mean listen to our friends and enemies.

The speaker grills are 3D printed from some ABS I had laying around. I thought it was black and it turned out to be clear black when I bought it so I just used it to print items that didn't need to have any specific color or characteristics.

The brown color is 6K RUSSIAN BROWN from Ammo by MIG's 1935-1945 SOVIET CAMOUFLAGES set.

https://spraygunner.com/paints-for-airb ... =ammo+1935

I wasn't a fan of the A.MIG-019 4BO RUSSIAN GREEN in that set. I thought it was too yellow so the green is actually just Vallejo Russian Green 4BO Primer. I bought the big 200ML bottle as I have a lot of Russian tanks to paint.

https://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Russian- ... r=8-4&th=1

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I used to long for classes with “returning” students, for these folks knew why they were back in college and serious about it. They had skills, experience, smarts, and a sense of humor.
Thanks for the links on the Mig brown and the Vallejo 4BO. I’ll get some of the brown. I, too, use the big Vallejo bottles. I have no idea why they are identified as primers, and in fact I use a primer under them. They airbrush as well as Tamiya at much less cost.

[tankme]

The markings and camo are based on a real vehicle as I found a pic of it and it's crew. It seems the slogan means, "Stalinets". The slogan is probably based on where the tank was made. Russia produced Stalinets S60 (Russian: Сталинец-60) and S65 tractors at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant between 1933 and 1937.

From Wikipedia:

​​​​​​​During World War II seven other industrial entities (including most of Leningrad's Kirov Plant and 15,000 of its workers) were either wholly or partially relocated to Chelyabinsk, the resulting enterprise commonly known as "Танкоград" ('Tankograd', or 'Tank City').  The work force increased to 60,000 workers by 1944, from 25,000 during non-military production; during the conflict the works produced 18,000 tanks, and 48,500 tank diesel engines as well as over 17 million units of ammunition. Production included the KV tank from 1941, T-34 tank from 1942, KV-85 tank and IS tanks from 1943, and T-34/85 tank and SU-85 self-propelled field gun from 1944.  By 1945 the plant had been awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 1st Class, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, and other honors for its efforts in helping to defeat Nazi Germany.

stalinets.jpg (12.26 KiB) Viewed 2071 times

[tankme]

​I'm calling this project done. Got the magnet mounted in one of the Mickey Mouse ears so that it can be removed to add the apple when needed and hide the mount when not.




Tracks are back on and she's ready for battle. I did add a little bit of panel liner and weathered the decals just a tad so that they weren't so much in your face bright.



I did stack two of the solid wheels on the front of the tank to simulate a wheel replacement. I thought that was a logical location for a tank to be hit. The other wheels will be mounted on my other T34/76 project.



I had it out to our new battlefield in Texas and it performed flawlessly. Well flawlessly after I removed the cotton I had stuck in the emitter tube for painting. Forgot to get pics of it running around the field.

That's it for this build...for now. Never know, it might get some 76mm ammo crates or something in the future. I also have to finish it's cousin so there's that...

​

[Ecam]

Terrific build! Love the markings and subdued camo, really a great looking tank.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

"I'm doing a BS in Cybersecurity." How is all that BS going?
I do like the light weathering you accomplished: I tend toward somewhat lighter weathering, influenced by a world-wide award winning modeler who, years ago, took me on a hobby store jaunt around the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Geepers, I'd like to go back.