Painting a T-34/85

[Guest]

I'm not sure about laquer thinner,it's very hot stuff. It will melt styrene undiluted. If you haven't got the Tamiya thinner I'd try isopropyl alcohol (90%). I don't use Tamiya but a friend does and he recommends it. His paintwork is always very good. You can get it from Maplins.The Vallejo "eye droppers" are really good. I use a bit of their Modelair range from time to time and it works well.

Cheers

Steve

i've heard that lacquer can be very 'hot' Steve so I plan to test it out on some scrap first-don't want to ruin a perfectly good kit! All part of that never-ending quest for perfection!

[Guest]

Well the washes went on very well (no pics yet) so while I wait for them to dry (being oils they take a while), it's time to have fun with... trackage!!

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There's alot of bits to glue together as you can see! Also, I've realised that it might be tricky getting them in under the fenders. So far I've been spoiled by the amount of room on the hulls of German tanks so watch this space!

Patrick

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[spanner570]

Patrick, you could well have done the tracks by now, but an easy way of getting over the fender problem is to glue enough links together to go along the top and get just over the drive sprocket and idler wheels. Then whilst the links are still plyable thread them along the top of the road wheels and quietly bend them over the aforementioned wheels and fix.

Then do the rest when you have calmed down!!!LOL

Ron

[Guest]

Thanks Ron, as you rightly predicted I did have a go at putting them together last night & used the same method as the one you suggested! It wasn't too bad but an extra pair of hands would have been useful! I only hope I can remove them for painting once the glue has dried!

Patrick

[spanner570]

I hope you can get them off in one piece, don't see how it's possible if you've bent them around the wheels.

I usually paint the individual links whilst still on the sprues, then I remove them, give them a bit of a clean and glue them together. That way they can remain on the tank and only need a bit of touching up.

I hope I didn't mislead you with my earlier suggestion!!!

ron

[Guest]

lol no, id already done it! I haven't tried your method Ron, probably coz I'm too sloppy with the glue which would end up taking off the paint! I usually do them in 4 sections: upper & lower runs with bits at either end round the drive and idler wheels. I find with a little careful pulling they should come off-famous last words! The main problem is with so many little bits of photo-etch, you gotta be so careful handling it to make sure bits don't get knocked off! I've lost count of how many grab-rails I've stuck back on!

[Guest]

ok a few more pics to show the result of doing the 1st round of washes. I'm using oil paints thinned with Humbrol enamel thinner with a mixture of colours: lamp black, burnt umber, burnt sienna & yellow ochre. Some get applied a little more than others, especially around areas like the engine deck & rear hull plate.

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You can hopefully see how the colours vary a little with a slightly more pronounced orange tint in some places such as exhausts & hinges & darker, reddish-brown shades in other areas like the bolts & panel lines.

On the front of the tank, I tried to again vary the colours, with a rusty look to the fender sections & a darker tone around the large fittings like the drivers hatch & bow MG.

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The turrent generally had the darker tones applied with just a little light orange creeping in. The eagle-eyed might notice one of the rear grab-handles has become loose-the price I pay for too much handling!

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Overall, I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. There may be a little more done, perhaps a whiter wash to represent dust (as it's supposed to be in the Battle of Berlin). In some areas it needs toning down a tad but this will happen naturally during the drybrushing stages. While I wait for the oils to dry properly (their only drawback!), I'll make a start on the tracks.

Thanks for sticking with me! Patrick

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[Guest]

:shocking:Top notch Patrick, top notch.

BB

[yak face]

excellent stuff patrick!! this is a great looking job that can only help people like me, who havent done much armour, to get a good idea of what we should be aiming for. And its russian to boot !! cheers comrade , tony

[Guest]

This is stunning, the washes are superb, very natural and realistic.

[Guest]

excellent stuff patrick!! this is a great looking job that can only help people like me, who havent done much armour, to get a good idea of what we should be aiming for. And its russian to boot !! cheers comrade , tony

Cheers Tony, I already have Tamiya's new JSU-152 in the stash!

[Guest]

Just a quick update on the tracks for this kit. The Dragon 'Magic Track' is pretty easy to use. They come in 2 bags of links so no need to cut them from any sprues. They do have some ejector-pin marks that need sanding but other than that, the nicest link-by-link tracks I've assembled to date. From the picture below, you can see that I've assembled the tracks in 4 sections to ease both the painting & fitting to the model. The track sections have been primed with Tamiya grey primer.

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From that point, they were given a spray of Flat Earth:

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Then a few washes of oil paint, raw umber & burnt sienna:

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Followed with a light dry-brush of silver, darkened with black:

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I have since been experimenting with more oil washes, this time using a thicker wash to get a different effect. It's worked well but I'm going to go back to a more traditional pastel wash to represent dust in the track grooves prior to fitting them to the model. Then more dry-brushing with raw silver as this tank will be moving over rubble so they'll be alot of wear on the tracks.

Patrick

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[Guest]

Wow Patrick, your T-34 is stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your Russian Tovarish (comrades) would be honoured to see such a masterpiece representing one of Russia's all time greatest war machines. They'd get you wasted on vodka first though

A question out of interest, what colour and process would you do for the tracks on a German tank? The Russian ones have that rusty brown look to them where the German tracks look a lot greyer.

Again, AMAZING JOB!!!!

Paul

[Guest]

Thanks for your kind words Paul, I'm enjoying the process which is the main thing! For German tracks, I tend to use a dark purple colour, I think it's Humbrol 113 as a base, then I wash it with a browny-grey mix (no particular ratio, just whatever looks good), followed by dry-brushing with dark silver & a little orange rust if the setting is for a damp/wet area.

Patrick

[Guest]

Finally got a bit more done! The tracks are on so yay for me! I've done them with a very silvery appearance as the tank has been moving through rubble-strewn streets & would I think, therefore end up with more wear than if it was in the countryside. It didn't help that I forgot to note which sections of track were for the right or left-at one point I thought I'd glued the wrong side on! A word of advice for anyone who builds this model: I left the front idlers loose because they can be adjusted to add/take up slack & this makes fitting the track much easier but next time I'll leave the drive wheel loose too because the guide horns fit tightly within it which means fitting the track was much more difficult when the wheels were glued.

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I also managed to paint & fit the spare tracks, along with the photo-etch leather straps.

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The next bit is to add the chipping, a few shots below of the start of that process. I've used a mixture of colours from dark green to dark/light rust. Often a subject of debate as to how much chipping to add, I think for this particular tank quite a lot is needed. Modern AFV's show much less damage to paint thanks to modern techniques but many wartime vehicles, especially Russian ones, were sent to the front with the paint still wet so marking & damage to the surface would be much more likely.

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Apologies for the poor quality pics but I've only got a camera phone & know nothing about photography or photo-softwear! Thanks for looking!

Patrick

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