Painting a T-34/85

[Guest]

Not strictly 'under construction' as the kit is built but I thought I'd share my progress about painting the model as this might interest some people (I hope!). I did start it off as a blog but that seemed a bit strange to me, so I'll go for a traditional thread!

Here are some pics of the almost complete kit.

Being a Dragon kit, the detail is excellent, the fit of parts rather vague at times & the instructions are written by a blind,feeble-minded idiot who's never assembled a model in his life! Having said that, it only took about 10 days off & on to get here. The photo-etch was a challenge & I've not used all of it because it became too much after a while!

Next is the primer stage which I always do for Dragon models-their plastic seems to need this so that the paint 'grips' the surface.

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[Guest]

:thumbs-up I'm interested.

BB.

[Guest]

Me to !

[Guest]

Thanks for your interest chaps! Ok got some primer on it now, wow that stuff smells so strong-actually it's kinda nice but don't tell everyone! I'm not sure how long to leave it for as all the instructions are in Japanese but as it's enamel-based (I think) I'll leave it until tomorrow before adding more paint.

The next stage is to apply a basecoat of Nato Green, which is nearly black. Stay tuned!

Patrick

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[Guest]

Great idea as it is the painting that often get skipped in favour of the building. I will also be watching and learning. Love the 'cast' texture on the turret, very nice.

[Guest]

To be honest Graham, the detail on these kits are the only reason that I bother buying Dragon stuff. Compared to Tamiya they are way behind on quality. A blend of the two would be ideal! Having said that, one good thing about Russian armour is that they were rough n ready when they left the factory, much less after being in combat!

Patrick

[Centurion3RTR]

Nice one Patrick, i've been dying to use Tamiya acrylic paint and now someone can show us how.

John

[Guest]

Looks well nice Patrick , is the T34 going to be a part of a dio ?

Richy

[Guest]

I hope I can do a decent job! Yeah Richy, I'm planning a Berlin 1945 dio with the T-34 being stalked through the rubble by a German panzerfaust team. Patrick

[Guest]

Sounds good Patrick , keep us up to date , we love a build in progress.

Richy

[Guest]

Managed to get a little more done last night, put on the Nato Black, which will be followed by a light coat of Dark Green. Apologies for the poor picture quality but it was dark by then-the paint looks much more black in real life!

The idea of using a very dark base is that when the lighter coats go on over this, a very small & suble effect is created around creases & crevices where the dark colour comes through. This assists the washes that will come later.

More experienced modellers often 'post-shade' their models, ie spray on very fine lines to accentuate panel lines etc but that's beyond my skill level just now!

Patrick

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[Guest]

Just a couple more pics, this time of the light coat of dark green. This is to provide a 'proper' basecoat (as the black one was really for scale purposes, not actual colouring).

I've tried to avoid the cracks & crevices with some success although that's not too well represented in the pics. The next stage will be adding some Olive Drab, which is not technically a 'Russian' colour, but useful to represent tired & faded green which would be consistant for an AFV at the end of a long, vicious campaign such as the Battle for Berlin.

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Here is the OD added, you should be able to see the shadowy areas where the darker coats have remained, giving it some definition even before the washes are applied.

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The next stage will be to add some dark yellow to the OD and then apply this to flat areas such as the glacis plate, hull sides, rear hull & turret surfaces to provide a worn look.

Keep watching if you're not already bored!

Patrick

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[Guest]

Not bored at all, this is great. I would never have thought of a black base coat prior to lightly building the final colour, very effective in stopping a slab of green which is what I would have got. Learning all the time, many thanks for teaching lol

[Guest]

Lookin great Patrick. The depth of colour is starting to bring life to the 34.

BB

[Guest]

Managed to do a little more last night. I added a bit of Tamiya dark yellow to the mix of Olive Green to lighten it & then applied this in the middle of areas like the glacis & hull sides, turret etc. I think it turned out pretty well, showing quite a lot of depth & shadows as well as giving a worn look to the tank as a whole.

The wheels are painted & only need a little weathering before being attached, along with the tracks (once I've sanded each of the 150 or so links to remove ejection-pin marks!).

I feel that the painting is done now. The next stage will be to apply a couple of coats of Klear before applying the decals & starting everyone's favourite bit- the weathering!!!

Patrick

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