Finnish T-34/85 underway again

While I wait for the parts to arrive for my next moderately big modelling project to arrive, I have time to deal with one or two older projects that I put on ice a while ago.

My Finnish T-34/85 project was shelved while I carried out my experiments into the Finnish 3-colour camouflage scheme. Now I've settled on the colours for this scheme and produced my first example - my T-50 - I think I am ready to continue with my Finnish medium tank.

The colours will change slightly over the course of the weathering process.

I finished off the hakenkreuz crosses on the turret - these I painted on by hand as I couldn't find quite the right size of decal to fit the model. Finnish decals in 1/72 are a bit thin on the ground!

But once I got this work done it was just a case of spraying a coat of gloss varnish on, ready to apply the last of the decals needed for this particular vehicle. (I do have suitable sized decals for the rest of the job.)

After the last of the decals, it will be another light coat of varnish before I start pin-washing.

Finnish T-34/85 - PSC version revised/unearthed

In the beginning there was a PSC T-34/85...Then I got out my depth!

A long, long time ago...I began a project to make all the 'easy build' T-34s I could (by the likes of Armourfast, Pegasus and PSC) so I could compare them and see whether you could make these very basic kits look anything like a 'display quality' model. Anyway...

To be honest my lack of experience outstripped my ambition and I had to shelve the project until such time that my painting skills improved. Well, I *think* that - after my recent Finnish camo painting experiment - I have got to the point where I could do a acceptable job of my Finnish T-34/85 (famous last words).

To re-cap. I started to paint my PSC T-34/85 in 'Finnish colours' only to decide that they just weren't right...

That brown just isn't right!

But now, thanks to my Finnish camo experiment, I am more confident that I have the right colour combination this time. Obviously, though, continuing this project will mean I will have to resort to a simple over-paint job as I really don't think I am up to stripping the original paint job!

So...Out came the paint brush and I applied my new Finnish chocolate brown recipe!

That's better! ...Well, I think so (the grey is still a bit dark, but let's just pretend it's 'weathered').

In a way I wish I could start this one again and airbrush the camo properly but I think I can camo the camo with some judicious weathering.

Next: A light coat of varnish before applying some dust and then onto the pin-wash.

Finnish T-34/85 "Pitkäputkinen Sotka"- preparation

Haven jumped ships from the PSC T-34/85 quick build kit to the Pegasus model - which meant starting again from scratch - I decided I might as well take the opportunity and add some upgrades. So this post details the 1/72 T-34 kit-bling I will be using to my pimp my ride!

First of all though, let's talk Finnish T-35/85s. In fact there were only ever 7 T-34/85s captured by the Finns in good enough condition to re-use against their former owners. And as the war lumbered to it's inevitable conclusion these tanks played less and less of a part in the Finn's brave defence of their country, eccentially because the Soviet 85mm ammunition became a scarce commodity.

A Finnish soldier inspects this abandoned Soviet T-34/85 - can it be salvaged?
Salvaging was the Finn's only means of acquiring this kind of heavy armour.
Photo source: SA-kuva archive.

In the context of wargaming the Bolt Action rules seems to have this historical fact covered in it's application of it's 'unreliable' modifier when players chose to deploy ex-Soviet armour for Finnish armies. To be honest, if you are considering a late war Finnish army like mine you might be better advised to field the German Stug III G instead, as at least the Finns did have spares and ammo for this thus negating the 'unreliable' handicap.

You can read more about this - and other - WW2 Finnish tanks at the following two web sites:

• JAEGER PLATOON: FINNISH ARMY 1918 - 1945 WEBSITE
• ANDREASLARKA.NET: DEDICATED TO WW2 FINNISH ARMOUR

Anyhoo, let's talk T-34 bling...

WHY? ARE YOU MAD?
Let's start by saying I am doing this because I like doing stuff that other people say is a bit stupid! The fact is that the combined cost of the various upgrades seen here would probably buy me one and a half Dragon T-34/85 kits!

Let's look at the upgrades in a bit more detail...

• HAULER T-34 MESH GRILLS

Probably the cheapest and 'sensible' upgrade would be this set of etched brass mesh grills. These are actually intended for the Armourfast T-34 kits and there are enough to do two tanks in the set.

• EUREKA XXL T-34/85 TOWING CABLES AND HOOKS

Not very expensive (£2.75), but very nice. I have made my own cables and hooks before but they weren't as nice as these.

• CZECH MASTER'S T-34/85 M45 GUN, MANTLET & SHELLS

One of the really poor parts of the Pegasus T-34/85 kit is the horrible plastic 85mm gun. So, I bought this beautiful CM turned aluminium gun. It comes with a nice resin mantlet and even a couple of 85mm shells!

• CZECH MASTER T-34/85 EXHAUSTS & PERISCOPES

...Er, OK this is getting a bit silly now! This set includes some lovely little resin exhaust pipes and periscopes! At least give me some credit for actually finding these!!! :)

• MAKE IT REAL WW2 SOVIET STENCILIT

Now this is a bit hard core! This tiny brass stencil is a set of Soviet WW2 tank numbers and insignia! Now, I don't really need these for my Finnish tank, but come on - who wouldn't want to hand stencil on 1/72 scale tank numbers...No? ....Nobody? ...Just me then!

Next up: Hull and turret prep.

Finnish T-34/85 - déjà vu...Again!

Having reactivated my T-34/85 work for my Finnish I thought this was going to be an easy and quick project. After all, I had already started a Finnish T-34/85 model using the PSC 'quick build' kit...But therein lay the dirty big spanner in the works...

Can you get a plastic spanner? If you could, then I bet it would look like
the PSC's T-34/85 tank!

I already knew - after just a cursory glance - that this model was not the best. There were a few problems, some of which were due to my amateur modelling, but some down to PSC's design. Not a good start, but I was willing to overlook or work around some of these issues until I decided to revisit my original blog posts about this PSC kit and some of the other 'quick build' T-34/85s that I had looked at...

Link to my original 2011 T-34 post: 'Four T-34 'quick build' models compared'

Long story short(ish) - I had originally concluded that the Pegasus T-34/85 was the best of the 'quick build' '85 kits around, much better that either the Armourfast or the PSC '85s. So I went through my draws and pulled out the Pegasus '85 and guess what? Yep, it's definitely the better model!

The Pegasus 'easy build' T-34/85, a cheap and cheerful gem!

It turns out that at some point I had already rectified what I thought was one of the major failings with the Pegasus '85 kit and had replaced their weedy plastic 85mm gun with a nicely turned aluminum one. This kit is now a very nice representation of the Soviet medium tank without resorting to a more expensive 'display quality' kit (you get two of these war game quality Pegasus tanks for £8.99).

I should say that having looked at the PSC '85 again after so long it's failings seems to be immediately apparent to me, perhaps because of fresh eyes. The most obvious fault being that it seemed slightly over-scaled compared the other two T-34/85 models I have - I am sure if I measured it I would find that it is indeed to big.

...Arse biscuits!

What this means is this isn't going to be the quick job I thought it was going to be and I will now have to start my Finnish '85 project again with the Pegasus T-34/85. 

Postscript: When I first did my 'easy build' T-34 comparison reviews I eventually concluded that while the Pegasus T-34/85 was the best of the '85 kits that I would chose Armourfast if I wanted the earlier T-34/76 model (Pegasus didn't make this version). However, fast forward to now - Pegasus now make a 34/76 and if they have done as good a job with their '76 as they did with their '85 then I think they have the easy build T-34 market sewn up (they just need to do a T-34/76 m1943 now to nail it)!

Up next - Finnish T-34/85?

You are probably getting fed up of trucks, right? Well I thought it would be a nice change to do some of the more sexy stuff for my Finnish army...The armour!

Finnish T-34-85 tank, Karelia, 1944.

I started off a project to do a couple of T-34/85 tanks based on the PSC 'easy build' kits but this project got put on ice as I wasn't happy with the way it was going...

One of my PSC T-34/85s, this one based on a photo of a Finnish example. These
were 'early days' in my modelling career and I wasn't happy with this.

Amongst other things I boobed with that hideous turret seam I made and also when it got to painting I was really unhappy with the job I made using the aerosol sprays I was limited to at the time. Of course, I now have my wonderful airbrush and so can do a lot better job of the Finnish 3-colour camp pattern (the main problem I had with aerosol cans was I couldn't find the right shade of chestnut brown for the scheme).

My attempt at the Finnish 3-colour camo...The wrong brown! Drat!

...The right brown!

You can even buy a special Finnish armour camo paint set from Lifecolor but I reckon I can get a very good match from Vallejo's Model Air range.

The good news is that whichever of the war game rules I am using to guide my Finnish model collection - Rapid Fire! or Bolt Action - I only need one T-34/85 (reflecting their rarity in the Finnish inventory). In fact, one tank would be enough to get me one the way to a basic game of Bolt Action (once I add infantry and an opposition of course).