After a pretty long break earlier this year, I got my hands on Francis Pulham's excellent
T-34 Shock, which has hundreds of photographs covering the development and evolution of the T-34. It inspired me to design and build a series of conversion kits for Heng Long and Taigen T-34/85s; ones that'd be more straightforward than converting a Trumpeter kit, and offering more options than just those two turret shapes. I know this is pretty ambitious, but I've really been enjoying the design aspect a lot more than I have more traditional modelling on previous builds. It's going to be a long-term project, but here's where I'm at after about two months' worth of CAD work:
- T-34_1942_UTZ_01.png (855.25 KiB) Viewed 61145 times
I've made an elevation/recoil system that looks like the F-34 gun, trying to hide the servos as best I can. Should be useful for the earlier variants with the single large hatch.
- T-34_turret_1942_UTZ_01.png (351.12 KiB) Viewed 61145 times
I've got the recoil servo inside and under the recoil guard, and the elevation servo in the commander/gunners station.
- T-34_turret_1942_UTZ_02.png (338.32 KiB) Viewed 61145 times
Finally got around to some test prints earlier this week, and I'm pretty pleased with how it's going so far:
- IMG20221105211510.jpg (348.32 KiB) Viewed 61145 times
There are magnets to hold the upper and lower halves of the turret together, and to hold the mantlet to the gun mount. Bearings on the gun trunnions for smooth elevation, and in the turret ring to roll on the upper hull.
- IMG20221105210922.jpg (385.76 KiB) Viewed 61145 times
I'll supply each kit with all of the hardware needed for assembly. There won't be just turrets but wheels, hatches, fuel tanks and exhausts for a complete conversion. Eventually I'd like to do the assault guns and TDs based on the T-34 too. Should keep me busy for a while yet!
What printer are you using?
