Another week another review!
This ones been out a
little while now, but I've only just got around to painting it. Now, I
had every intention of modelling the tank for my Russians, however
whilst Googling around looking for photo's of T34's I came accross this
picture of a Captured T34. Seeing as my mid war SS force is based around
the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich who operated a lot of T34's in
1943 I decided to give mine a change of ownership.
The
simple route to making a Beute Panzer (Booty Panzer!) is to paint the
tank in it's natural colours, put some crosses on and Bob's your aunty
Mavis. As you can see from the period photo that inspired the build
though sometimes the Germans added or altered the vehicles. This ranged
from everything from new Cupolas, Schurzen plates, guns, weapons, it's a
pretty endless list.
Warlords new T34/76 is a superb
kit. the model is very, very simple to assemble. The kit has a nice
little commander figure, and has optional hull flame thrower to make an
OT/34 variant, plus a choice of 3 turrets, though sadly only 1 gun and
turret ring. Tracks and suspension are simple and well detailed.
Excluding the extra modelling work I inflicted on myself I think the
build took about 20 minutes. If you've build Warlords T34/85 you will
know what to expect from this.
I added some spare
Schurzen plates from a Warlord Panther, as well as some bits of stowage
from my spares box. The commanders is from Warlords Panzer IV, and the
grumpy looking bareheaded guy is from Warlords tank crew set.
The
only area worth mentioning is the optional fuel tanks on the rear hull.
The best way to fit these is by butting the edge of the fuel tank up
against the exhaust, and the top edge of the fuel tank butted against
the hinge of the air vents.
The track join on Warlords
kits has the potential to be very prominent, however it is possible to
reduce this almost completely. To do so make sure you are using a proper
plastic glue, my preference is EMA plastic weld which is actually a
solvent, although something like Revell or Liqued poly are ok too.
I
leave track and suspension units off the model until it is painted as
this makes weathering and painting easier. Once I'm done attacking them
with Crayola's I put hold the top run of tracks in place and apply glue
to all the contact points between the wheels and tracks. Leave this
about 15-20 seconds for the glue to eat into the plastic and then do the
same thing with the bottom run of tracks. Using a glue like plastic
weld allows you to use an old paint brush to paint the glue onto the
model, and lets you run glue along the joins. Applying some pressure
eliminates most of the join, with minimal clean up required.
The
tank was airbrushed using Vallejo Model Colour paint over a grey car
primer. I tend not to use model air as I prefer to thin my own paints
for spraying.
Colour
|
Vallejo Paint
|
Games Workshop colour
|
Dunkel Gelb (Sand)
|
882 Middlestone
|
Ushabti Bone
|
RotBraun (Brown)
|
846 Mahogany
|
Skrag Brown
|
Dunkel Grun (Green)
|
890 Reflective Green
|
Straken Green
|
Shading was added using Dayler Rowney artists oils, and mud was from Games Workshop Agrellan Earth special effect paint.
I've
not included comparison shots this time with other T34's on the market
as my conversion work has rendered it very hard to compare and do a fair
view of Warlords kit, so I shall be building another as Uncle Joe
intended and that shall be used in comparison photos.Size wise the model
is identical with other kits on the market, and you can happily mix it
into other existing 1/56 scale vehicle models.
For more captured tank research check out this website Beute Panzer
I
can't recommend snm stuff enough for modelling supplies, here's a link
to some plastic weld. Get some, it's brilliant for plastic work.I'm not
even being sponsored by them, it's just such a useful tool Go here, buy this
Rubicons T34/76 is a cleverly engineered model allowing you options to build 1941 and 42 models, with a choice of turrets, gun mantlets, hatches, fuel tanks and most spectacularly tracks and road wheels. With careful building it would be possible to swap all the parts to allow you to create any variant once the model is built. I decided not to do this however, as I knew I wanted a 1941 version, and will be buying more of the kit anyway to fill out my Tank Wars forces for Bolt Action!
The kit was very simple to build, and one of my favourite details was the tracks representing the earlier style with its distinctly different shape to the familiar waffle pattern tracks seen on most T34's. Fit of parts was superb, and I think this may be my favourite kit produced by Rubicon so far.
I've also included comparison pics with Warlords T34/75 and Die Waffenkammers T34/76 UZTM production turret. All 3 are very nice models, and I'm very happy to say that they fit very well with one another indeed. I'd like to hear your thoughts on them as well though.
