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1/16 T34/85 by John Admire

John Admire offers commentary and pictures of his award winning, 1/16 scale, Finnish T-34/85 Model 1944, Factory #174, by Trumpeter (Kit 00904).


The features of the kit are impressive with its 895 parts and full interior detail! Parts list includes: Brass wire for the tow cables Metal suspension springs 2 sprues of PE 28 total plastic sprues plus upper and lower hull and turret 156 Track links 20 Rubber Road Wheels The markings on the tank will not be Russian, but instead they will be of a vehicle that was captured by the Finnish Army in 1944. The Finns painted the tanks a camouflage of grey and earth red, right over the Russian green, this matched the terrain. They also changed the markings to German, at this point in the war the Finns were fighting on the German side. Some parts on the model were added out of sequence. You will see some parts that were not placed and were added later such as the pioneering tools, spare tracks etc. And you will see some parts that were added early on before the instructions called for it to be placed. All this was done to make the assembly and painting of the model easier. After market parts consist of Elite Armor 1/16 Decals and Turned Aluminum Barrel.

		Step 1: The assembly starts with the construction of the suspension springs and the interior fuel tanks.

		Step 2: Assembles and paints the interior fuel tanks. These were painted off white and pin washed with Burnt Umber and Black, but sparingly.

		Step 3: In the next step I painted the lower hull interior off white and installed the interior fuel tanks. After this I began the weathering process on the interior surfaces. This was accomplished by using Artist oil washes of the Windsor and Newton type. I used Burnt Umber and Black to create some spots here and there and to wash the details.

		Step 4: The next step is to install more suspension parts, brake housings, and the trap door. There were parting lines on all of the exterior suspension parts that had to be removed. In the process of removing them I also removed the casting effect. This casting effect was replaced by using Mr. Surfacer 1200, allowing it to setup for about 30 seconds or so, and then I stippled it with and old stiff brush.

		Step 5: Next up we start to install the interior parts in the driving compartment. The parts consist of air bottles and air pipes, drivers steering, electrical box, wiring harness and gauges. All were painted according to the directions but pay close attention to your references as I did find what I would call mistakes in some of the color call outs.

		Step 6: In the next step we move to the engine parts assembly, generator, pump, intake manifold and exhaust manifold. The T-34 had a 12 cylinder engine with and aluminum block. I used Tamiya Aluminum for this. The exhaust manifold was painted flat black and a light rust color pigment was washed on using mineral spirits but distilled water works just as well.

		Step 7: Assembles the cylinders, valve covers, and attaches intake and exhaust manifolds. For the most part all parts in each step were assembled and painted without trouble. This is the type of kit you have to assemble and paint as you go as opposed to a kit that you would build up almost complete and then paint it. With the exception of having to repair almost every part due to some molding flaw especially release pin marks, the kit assembles and fits very well. In this step I have painted the valve covers aluminum first. After this dried I applied a coat of sort of dark red to the covers. As this dried for about 5 minutes or so I used a sticky tape to pull of the red paint and expose the silver aluminum paint underneath. This is another way to produce a chipped paint effect.

		Step 8: Engine assembly continues along with the water pump, cylinders and hoses. All were assembled and painted to the directions.

		Step 9: We continue engine assembly, engine stand, we the add generator and hoses to the engine block. As I completed the sub assemblies and painted them I weathered them too.

		Step 10: Assembles piping tie in, Photo etch MG magazine rack and 85mm ready ammo. All parts were assembled and painted with no problems. A different chipped paint effect was employed on the MG magazine and the Piping tie in. I used the sponge method to apply the chipping this time. I think that this is the easiest and most forgiving way to apply the effect. I also scratch built the piping tie in power cabling. These cables power the turret and were not with the kit.

		Step 11: This step places MG racks, ammo, ammo boxes and the engine. The interior is starting to take shape now. The ammo boxes were weathered with both oil washes and MIG pigments. Just enough was applied to give the feel of being used but not too abused.

		Step 12: Assembles the engine bulkhead and the operator and drivers seat assembly. These parts were completely assembled and painted and weathered. I used the same oil paint washes here that I used back in step 3.

		Step 13: Air cleaners and bulkhead assembled and painted. At the beginning of the build I knew that I would need to use a lot of Metallic Black on different parts of the build, so I mixed up my own. I first mixed up a black-grey mixture, this black- grey mix looks much better than just a stark black! After I mixed this up I then added a small amount of aluminum to the mix, just enough to give it a slight metallic look.

		Step 14: Radiators, starter and exhausts are assembled, painted and weathered with oil washes from Windsor and Newton and MIG pigments. No problems.


Step 15: This step places two bulkheads and operator/driver seats. The bulkheads were painted off white and weathered with oil paint washes. The seats were painted black-grey and the frames were painted black and weathered with a earth color pigment.

		Step 16: Assembles the gear box and brake assemblies. The gear box was painted Tamiya aluminum and weathered with MIG pigments European Dust. The brake assemblies proved to be a bit more difficult than first thought. You have to wrap a thin plastic piece into a round circle. As you can imagine plastic does not like to be bent in a 360 all that much, so started to get some stress fractures around the drum. So I had to repair these before painting them black-grey.


Step 17: Installs the radiators and piping, gear box, fan/fly wheel, exhausts and rear steel plating. The radiators and gear box were assembled and weathered in a previous step. The fly wheel was painted black-grey and weathered with European Dust. The exhausts were painted with flesh color and then a sort of rust color pigment was applied and then several washes of Windsor and Newton Burnt Umber oil paint. The rear lower steel plating part was painted off white on the inside and Russian Green on the outside and installed.

		Step 18: Assembles the drivers hatch assembly. After building up the hatch it was painted off white inside and Russian Green out. Only the interior of the hatch was weathered with washes at this time.

		Step 19: Assembles the two exterior armored hatches that go over the radiators. When the pieces were assembled the parts were painted Russian Green.

		Step 20: The assistant drivers machine gun and the exhaust shroud assembly's were built and painted and put aside.

		Step 21: Upper hull assembly was begun in earnest at this point, the tree saw and headlight will be placed last in the assembly process. The tree saw was painted steel and weathered with rusty pigments. During the headlight assembly I scratch build a lens filament out of wire that I twisted around a micro drill bit. And then out of Evergreen strip, I made the filament assembly and this was placed inside the light fixture. This turned out nice because you can see thru the lens glass just enough to see the filament. Other parts were added in this step, like the drivers hatch and the engine and radiator heat baffles.

		Step 22: This step we build the PE vent grill and place armored vent covers. I also placed the exhaust and rear armor plate. The plastic engine and transmission vent cover was riddled with ejection pin marks. Since I was going to display the vehicle with this cover open I had to repair about 20 pin marks. After this was completed I had to place the PE metal cover on top of the plastic piece that goes over the transmission. The PE had to have a slight roll put on the length of the piece in order to fit the couture of the plastic piece. After this was accomplished I had to place 5 PE strips on top of the PE grill. All of this work was done with very few problems. This parts was then painted Russian Green and weathered with oils and pigments.

		Step 23: Upper hull assembly moves to the interior at this step. I paint the interior of upper hull off white and placed the Machine Gun. I assembled the PE ammo racks and balancing which is attached to the drivers hatch to permit opening and closing. The PE MG rack was painted off white and some chipped paint effect was done using the sponge and brush technique. The driver�s gauges were installed at this point. I hand drew the gauge faces the put a little Future over them to simulate the glass. I also wired out the gauges so that the ends of the wire would be hid behind the oxygen bottles. The oxygen bottles were used to start the engine.

		Step 24: Fuel tank assembly. The hardest part to this step is making the seams on the fuel tanks invisible. Lots of sanding and some super glue does the trick. And then really the toughest part was putting on the PE straps around the tanks. These are very delicate pieces after the work is all complete. I set these aside for now, they will be placed in a later step.

		Step 25: Assembles PE cinctures for smoke canisters. The cinctures are a metal band that wraps around the smoke canisters to secure them to the hull. These were also delicate parts to assemble.

		Step 26: Tow rope assembly. The kit towing rope is made of metal wire. First I assembled the towing eyes and then cut the metal wire to length and glued the eyes onto the cable. Then I painted the eyes black-Grey along with the cable I then applied some pigments sparingly. I then dry brushed them with a steel color and again very sparingly. These will be left off the kit until near the end of the build.

		Step 27: Continues with the upper hull assembly. The external fuel tanks are placed in this step along with grab handles, boxes and spare track. The spare track was painted Semi-Gloss Black and then MIG European Dust was applied as a wash using distilled water or Mineral Spirits as the carrier. All other parts were painted Russian Green.

		Step 28: Adds more upper hull equipment. The right side fuel tanks are placed at this time. Also the rear smoke canisters are placed. There is a round rear access door in the armor plate to access the transmission. The inside of the door I used the salt chipping technique. In this technique you paint a base color first, this is the color that you want to see when the paint chips. After this coat is dry you can take a Q tip and wet it. Now dab on the water sparingly in the places that you want the chipping to occur. While the water is still present, sprinkle some salt on it. Now let this dry so that the salt only remains. You can remove or add more salt now if needed. Now you can spray on the top coat usually the base color. After this coat dries a few minutes start brushing off the salt to reveal the base coat underneath. This method works pretty well and the salt also makes and odd sort of color variation in the paint. Once this was completed I cut very small machined screws made for eyeglasses to the correct size. I then drilled out the locations on the rear access door where the bolts were to be located and glued them in. The ice cleats were also completed in this step. They were painted Semi Gloss Black and a rusty pigment was used with distilled water as a carrier and applied sparingly.


Step 29: At this point the upper hull is to be installed to the lower hull. This step is the one that I really had to make sure that everything on the interior was how I wanted it because there would not be much of a chance to correct anything afterwards. I really had to do a good job gluing the two halves together because this would either make or brake the model. I used liquid cement and super glue for this task I super glued the front part of the hull together and then used liquid cement to close the rest of the hull. I was dreading this part of the kit for some reason but it actually was pretty easy to do with the liquid cement, and turned out real nice. The front fenders are also placed in this step and that was completed without any trouble. There is an engine hatch access cover that is placed now as well. This was painted Russian Green and weathered on the inside with pigments to give it a discolored heat affected look. Also in this step you place a cap on the nose of the vehicle. On the real vehicle there are large welds around this cap. This was accomplished by using my water based putty. First I taped off the weld lines burnishing the edges so nothing seeps under the tape. I then used a paint brush and applied the putty building it up enough to look like the original. Once the putty dries a few minutes I use the back of a #11 blade to simulate the actual weld bead. When the putty has dried for at least a few hours, 24 would be better, I took 600 grit sand paper and knocked down the high spots to make it look more like a weld seam. I was happy with the way that it turned out.

		Step 30: Now we move on to the running gear. The idler wheels, drive sprockets and road wheel assembly. The idlers and the drive sprockets were assembled and painted without incident. The actual road wheels were another story. The kit comes with 20 rubber road wheels that appear very toy like and unreal. I knew as soon as I opened the kit and saw these tires that I would have to spend a considerable amount of time on them. I ended up having to hand sand this glossy toy like look off of each tire. This took about 1 hour per tire for a total of 20 hours spent just trying to get them to look acceptable. In the end I think that they turned out alright.

		Step 31: We now install the parts from the previous step on to the hull. The idler wheels drive sprockets and road wheels. All went on with any trouble except for one very small fairly inconspicuous part. This part is the piece that attaches to the forward hull and the idler wheels attach to it. In the directions it doesn�t say anything about not gluing this part in place, so I did. Well come to find out later in the build when it came time to place the tracks that I need to have this part free in order to tension the tracks correctly. Well luckily I was able to break the bond and remove this part without damaging it. My heart was really racing at the moment I discovered this�I got lucky and it turned out ok.


Step 32: Assembles the 85mm ready rounds and PE machine gun magazines. This step is the start of the turret build. The upper turret was riddled with release pin marks and all of these had to be repaired before painting off white. I used a few different colors of brass for the ammo and I think that the most realistic looking is Model Master Metalizers Brass. The MG magazines were folded up and painted off white. They were then chipped slightly with a brush technique. These parts were installed in the upper turret at this point.

		Step 33: This is a large step which installs many different pieces in the upper turret. These parts include periscopes, grab handles, radio, electrical boxes, ventilators and ammo. All of the electrical and radio boxes were wired out using very small solder and wire. The metal straps holding the solder to the wall was simulated using aluminum tape or foil. Colors for all the equipment were not called out on the directions. Luckily I have done a lot of research and had photos of actual T-34's that helped considerably in the construction. This was a lengthy step but was completed without any problems.

		Step 34: Collimator (Gunners Sight) and Gunners seat are assembled and painted in this step. Pins washes were applied with Burnt Umber Windsor and Newton oil paint. The gun site lens was painted with Tamiya Clear Blue. This unit will be place in the turret at a later step.

		Step 35: With this step we begin the main gun assembly, starting with the Blast chamber and Breech block. These parts were all assembled and the seams worked out with super glue and putty, they were not painted yet. The after-market aluminum barrel was attached at this point using 5 minute epoxy. This is done at this time because it�s easier now, rather than later, when more parts will be attached to the gun. It also allowed me to fit the gun mantlet over the barrel and center it while the epoxy dried. In this way I was able to make sure of perfect alignment of the mantlet.

		Step 36: Cannon build up. The rest of the cannon is assembled in this step. After complete assembly and all seams repaired the gun was painted Semi Gloss White. Weathering was kept to a minimum. Some chipping in the obvious places was done and a light pin washing of Burnt Umber went in the recessed parts.

Step 37: This step calls for a stretched sprue antenna. Wire will be substituted for sprue here.

		Step 38: In this step we will place the main gun and barrel into the upper turret. Also we will place the collimator and gunners seat from step 34. And we will also build the Parataxis MG and place it. All of this was completed without any trouble.

		Step 39: This step builds up the turret ammo magazine. A total of twelve 85mm rounds are built along with the magazine. There are four different kinds of ammunition represented in the turret magazine. Each 85mm round is in two parts so you have to work out the seams on both sides to make them acceptable. All this work was completed turning out a nice looking magazine although very delicate. Again weathering was kept to a minimum with just some light pin washes and chipping.




Step 40: In this step we begin the lower turret assembly. We will place the ammo magazine from step 39 and build and paint the turret traverse place grab handles loaders hatch and ventilators and glue the two turret halves together. Before any of this could take place I had to fill all of the release pin marks in the lower hull. These were pretty extensive and took a while to fill them all the sand them back out. This was accomplished using super glue and a lot of elbow grease. When this was completed I used my trusty water based putty to simulate the casting effect on the inside of the turret. Once this was done I painted the lower hull interior off white. When this was dry I placed the other parts from this step in it. At this point you have to make sure that you have done everything that you need to in the interior of the turret because we will close the two turret pieces in this step as well. This is one of those process that I really didn�t look forward to in the build because of the possibility of something breaking off inside and having a very difficult time getting it back on. But even though I lost some sleep thinking about this it actually went really well. The two turret halves were very carefully glued together using liquid cement. I worked the seam around just a couple of inches at a time making sure that each segment was well bonded before moving on to the next. After waiting a day for the glue to completely dry I started to apply the heavy weld seam that follows the glue seam around the turret. This was done using the water based putty again and letting it dry about 2-3 minutes after applying it. Then I used the back side of a #11 blade to simulate the actual weld bead. And again once this is completely dry about a day I took 600 grit sandpaper and knocked down the high spots. Along this same line, I also placed the casting marks on the turret with this same putty technique. This was a critical step for the overall look of the build another step that can make or break the model. All went well, I was so happy!

		Step 41: Track assembly takes place at this point. The tracks snap together which makes assembly simple. But there are more release pin marks on every track link. So every link had to be filled and sanded. While filling and sanding I lost some of the casting detail. This was replaced with the water based putty. It was painted on with a brush and allowed to setup a few minutes, and then I stippled it with a old stiff brush. After this dried I knocked down the high sides with sandpaper. There are 36 flat links and 36 toothed links per side. These were snapped together and made ready for painting. Both sets of tracks were painted Tamiya Semi Gloss Black. After this was dry I began applying the pigments. I used Dark Mud, Beach Sand,Copper Rust, African Earth and European Dust. The majority of the pigment used was European Dust and the rest of the pigments were used as accents to the base pigment. These were applied in a wash of mineral spirits. After this dried I applied heavy washes of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna to the tracks until I was pleased with the look. The tracks were then sealed with clear flat.


Step 42: Outside turret assembly continues with the commanders copula, mantlet and armor plate. All went well here with the commanders copula being the most difficult part to complete. The copula is assembled from about six pieces including the periscopes. At this time I needed to make the copula appear to have been cast. So I used the same technique described in the previous steps to simulate a cast effect. After the copula is built you have to mate it to the molded on piece on top of the turret. This went on fine with some super glue but left a nasty seam all the way around the copula. This seam was blended into the casting effect by using the putty to fill the seam and then stippling it with the old brush. I think that this effect turned out well and I was happy with it. Here the periscope lenses were painted a dark blue and Future was used to simulate the actual lens.


Step 43: Final assembly, Install turret and tracks. This is the last step in the directions. The tracks were actually placed back at step 31 to make things easier. There is still a lot more work to be done on the model, starting with the Finnish camouflage paint.


Camouflage Applied: Polly Scale paint was used for the exterior camouflage. I used U.S. Tac Mid Green, U.S. Red Earth, and Italian Lt. Blue Grey. The green was all applied with a Paache airbursh through out the whole build on all of the subassemblies, and the Red Earth and the Blue Grey were applied by hand brushing. The hand brush paint was thinned quite a bit requiring several coats to cover. I absolutely believe in the Polly Scale paint as being the best for hand painting chores. Once all of the camouflage was applied I used my single action Paache airbursh and airbrushed over the hand painted areas. This is done to remove any brush marks that may be left behind. Once I was satisfied with the camouflage job I moved on to decaling.


Decals: As I said at the beginning I used after market decals from Elite Armor. In preparation for applying the decals I applied Future with a brush to the areas that were to receive the markings. I don�t always spray Future on the whole model to apply the decals. So on this model I chose to apply it with a brush. When I do this I sort of dab it on and I don�t paint it. I then let it level itself and I wait a full day before applying decals. I have found that this works best for me. The next thing is to put the decals on. This was accomplished, but not as easy as I thought it would be. After cutting the carrier film off of the markings I began soaking the first one. After soaking I removed it from the water but I had a difficult time getting the marking to come off the paper without breaking. Fortunately only a couple did this, with the rest of them I did not leave them in the water as long and that seemed to help. I used the two part micro scale system of decaling and all the markings snuggled down over the casting markings very well. It is so frustrating to get this far and have a problem with a prominent part of the model. But it all came out alright in the end. After the markings set on the model for 24 hours and dried thoroughly I sealed them with another coat of future. After this was dry for 24 hours I sprayed Model Master Acrylic Flat to remove the glossy look of the Future and merry the finish together with a uniform flat finish.




Final Details: Now it was time to place all of those parts that I left off during the regular assembly. The spare tracks were painted and weathered the tree saw was mounted, tow cables attached, ice cleats placed and the PE straps were made and placed over the ice cleats. The headlight lens glass was Futured and placed in the light frame. Exhaust stains were made at the rear with black and brown pigments. This pretty much completes the major work on the model. But we are not finished yet!


Making a Flag: I needed to make a Finnish flag for my radio antenna. The Finnish flag was made out of white decal sheet, masked off then airbrushed blue. Luckily a Finnish flag is not difficult to reproduce. And with some easy measuring and taping off I sprayed the cross with Dark Blue. After this was dry I cut out the flag shape and removed the tape. Now I had a flag rectangle with a perfect mirror image on both sides. I then sprayed this with Model Master Acrylic Flat to seal the decal off. When this was dry for a day I dipped the decal in water to soak it. It came off the carrier easily and I wrapped the flag around the wire antenna and matched up the flag ends. Once I got it where I wanted it I pressed it together and used a paint brush handle to put the waves in the flag making random waves in it. When this was dry I had a Finnish flag for my tank.


Weathering: All weathering was kept to a minimum. I gave the whole tank a wash of Windsor and Newton oil paint in Burnt Umber and Black mixed thinly with mineral spirits. I then came back and applied pin washes to all the recessed details. When this was good and dry and the way that I wanted it I dry brushed the whole model lightly with Model Master Dunkelgrau Enamel to give it a dusty look.


Tank Stand: As I wanted to show this model with the turret off in order to show off the interior details I needed a way to display the turret. So I made a basswood turret stand. I made it to look like it was built with large timbers so I used three different sizes and thicknesses of basswood. I glued the pieces with wood glue to assemble the stand. Then I cut off some odd looking nail heads and used them to simulate bolt heads holding the timbers together. At this point the build was complete, time for the weathering. I used a lot of Windsor and Newton Black and some Burnt Umber and Green oil paint to give it a sort of mossy green look in spots. I applied this oil paint very thick sometimes right from the tube and not diluted with anything. I will sometimes use this method of wiping the paint on and then almost immediately wiping it off, this way you can control the amount of paint that is left on the part just by rubbing more of it off. After this was completely dry I got a sheet of mirrored plastic and cut a piece to fit the bottom. Now I was complete with the turret stand and it has a mirror on the bottom to enable seeing into the bottom of the turret when it is off the hull.


Tissue Paper Tarp: I decided to make a tissue paper tarp for the rear of the turret. I did this to make the turret more interesting looking. The kit does not provide anything for this spot and it looked kind of bare. The tarp was made by cutting Kleenex Tissue to the correct size and folding the ends in. I then used white glue to glue down the sides of the tissue. I then rolled the tissue up to the correct diameter of the tarp that I wanted. Once I got this I white glued the end down and waited for the glue to dry. At this point I moistened the tarp with some distilled water this will make the tarp wrinkle up and look like fabric. When all of this was dry the next day I painted the tarp by hand with the correct colors. When this was all dry I made straps from foil and Aber buckles to make the tie down straps for the tarp.

		Finished: Well this is finally the end of this model project. It took me 14 months to complete and many hundreds of hours of work. I have to say that I enjoyed building the model even though it took so long to complete. I tried several techniques and learned quite a bit in the process. I think that a third of my time was spent in correcting almost every part in one way or another. Most of these were molding flaws. But overall this is a very fine kit that is very well engineered. So if you have the time and the space to display this scale model it can be a real show stopper when completed. Highly recommended!