RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hey guys,

I've been lurking the boards for the last few months while I gather parts, tools, and most importantly, time. Considering this is my first tank, I'm probably biting off more than I can chew here; but this is what I'm starting with:

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Trumpeter T-34/76 static kit; Taigen T-34/85 lower hull, wheels and tracks; IBU2; Asiatam recoil/elevation unit; TARR smoker.

This will be a T-34, Model 1942 from Factory 183, fighting under the Voronezh Front at Prokhorovka during the Battle of Kursk. I'm planning to keep the weathering fairly simple since I don't have any experience with it yet, and I like the from-the-factory-to-the-frontline aesthetic many Soviet AFVs had.

I've always really liked the T-34 as a tank, but all of the RTR R/C tanks are T-34/85s and I've never been a fan of its overly big turret. In my mind's eye, the T-34 has to have the hexagonal turret with big cheeks. Dry-fitting some major components, and the iconic shape's already there:

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Wherever possible, I'd like to use the Trumpeter parts since they look so much better (the texture on the rolled armour in particular is great), and it'll help justify the cost of the kit in the first place. It's a shame I won't be able to use many of the interior parts... unless I go for something like this.

Unfortunately, as was bound to happen, there are some slight discrepancies between the Trumpeter upper hull and Taigen lower hull. Less than a millimetre in most places, but enough to be problematic:

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Some styrene strip to lift the upper hull to the correct position and some styrene shims to fit the transmission armour at the rear:

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Good to go! I'll texture the styrene at the rear to match the edges of the other armour plates, while at the front the fenders will cover up the joins. Even unadjusted, they look about right:

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Next up will be reinforcing the upper hull, since the static kit is nearly paper-thin in some places and really won't hold up to outdoor travel.

I'm hoping that maintaining a build thread will keep me motivated and be of interest to you guys too. Let me know what you think!

Dan

Hey Dan, I've recently acquired the bits to do one of these (well the other 76mm t-34) so I'll be watching this closely! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Tom. I've seen your Soviet armour and I'll be taking inspiration where I can. Hopefully I'll be able to return the favour!

Making some progress; this is what I'm starting with. Although the texture and detail on the upper hull is great, it's less than 1 millimetre thick in many places and flexes whenever any pressure is applied. No use in outdoor running, obviously.

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Using 2 mm styrene sheet to reinforce the sides and rear and 1 mm styrene sheet to reinforce the front, should keep the whole assembly firm without being too bulky or interfering with the tank's internals.

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There's something really nostalgic about the smell of plastic cement for me. Is it better to use cement or cyanoacrylate for this kind of work?

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Hi Dan, I mainly do scratch building and use this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131269946964? ... EBIDX%3AIT
It actually welds the components together and makes for a very strong bond. Where you are joining large pieces though the plastic weld only really works around the edges so then I use this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Revell-Contac ... SweW5VDEwZ
which allows positioning and a bit of movement before it sticks hard. I notice you have some in your pics. The advantage of the pcweld is that it sets almost instantly. When sticking large pieces I use the Revell for the middle and use the pcweld at the edges to give the instant hold while the revell stuff sets (saves having to use clamps - although it never hurts to be sure). I only use superglue when bonding styrene to metal or other materials.
Hope that helps Alwyn

I get on the glue nostalgia thing...............I used to use stuff I cant remember the name of now, Britfix maybe ?
Are the tracks on yours still plastic ?

After the cement cured overnight, this thing is solid as a rock. No flex at all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

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Next task is attaching the turret ring to the top of the hull and reinforcing. By some happy coincidence, the diameter of the standard Heng Long turret gear is the same as the diameter of the T-34's turret ring. Could make for some interesting hybrid builds...

Check out the detailing on the ball race, though. It'll be a shame to cover all this up!

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AlwynTurner wrote:Hi Dan, I mainly do scratch building and use this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131269946964? ... EBIDX%3AIT
It actually welds the components together and makes for a very strong bond. Where you are joining large pieces though the plastic weld only really works around the edges so then I use this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Revell-Contac ... SweW5VDEwZ
which allows positioning and a bit of movement before it sticks hard. I notice you have some in your pics. The advantage of the pcweld is that it sets almost instantly. When sticking large pieces I use the Revell for the middle and use the pcweld at the edges to give the instant hold while the revell stuff sets (saves having to use clamps - although it never hurts to be sure). I only use superglue when bonding styrene to metal or other materials.
Hope that helps Alwyn

Cheers for the links Alwyn, much appreciated. Glad to see I'm on the right track, so to speak! I'll definitely check out the plastic weld, that sounds a lot like what I'm after.

HERMAN BIX wrote:Are the tracks on yours still plastic ?

Nope, metal. They look to be a different pattern to yours though, the eyes that the track pins pass through is closed instead of open.

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Different manufacturers, maybe?

Yip, those are the good ones. Oh well, Im happy to know they are out there, and that these are the first low grade tracks I have fitted.
These will do for now.
Are you building to a specific vehicle ?
Or a generic example of the theatre ?

Thanks for this, I will follow your progress and probably copy some of it with great interest.

Very neat work, taking notes and following on

Thanks for the kind words guys, glad to see it's of some interest to you.

HERMAN BIX wrote:Are you building to a specific vehicle ?
Or a generic example of the theatre ?

Something closer to a generic example of the theatre, yeah. I started off researching individual tanks and photos, but when I noticed myself literally counting the number of bolt heads to match them against my notes I decided to take a step back and go for authenticity over accuracy. I'm trying to do this to relieve stress, after all!

Not much in the way of progress this weekend, I wasn't able to get a circle scribe at the local hobby shop so I had to order one in. Got the reinforcement plates in place, but I won't be able to fit the turret ring or rotation motor until I can cut a hole through the centre.

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So while I was unable to get much structural work done, I went for some electrical work instead.

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Managed to get everything rewired and plugged in; hull on the left, turret on the right. It was a bit of a mess having a combination of Heng Long, Taigen and Asiatam electrics, but by matching pinouts and colours I've got everything working.

The turret rotation motors makes a high-pitched whining sound while it's moving (even though it's got a capacitor to suppress it), and the high-intensity flash also causes a high-pitched noise to come through the speaker. is this normal or a symptom of the crappy soldering I've seen on all of the pre-assembled bits?