The Model Box

Here's the dilemma, I usually paint my models in acrylics, having favored hobby brands as well as artist acrylics. The problem was coming up with the Russian Green. I didn't want to mix it up and find myself far from the intended color and research showed that only Gunze Sangyo lacquers had a Russian Green -- in fact they had 2 -- close to the one I needed. The Gunze Sangyo color codes are C135 Russian Green 1 Flat and C135 Russian Green 2 Flat.  The model was primed with automotive primer and base painted with Tamiya Dark Green. I washed the model with a thin acrylic black and let it dry for a few days.   After finding a local shop that stocked two versions of the Gunze Sangyo Russian Green, I got ready to paint. That is, until I found out that my compressor had gone kaput. The dog and chewed thru some of the cables and lines and I'd have to bring it for repairs. Needless to say, I forged on and decided to brush on the Russian green. Using lacquer as a thinning medium,...

Work made me put all my hobbies in the back burner but a serious stress-related health problem put a stop to that. 2011 saw me reeling from complications such as Sleep Apnea and Dilated Cardiomyopathy, forcing me to take time out from work and enter a cardiac rehabilitation program. The upside to my health dilemma though is that I had to take everything slow. As in really, really slow. No more late nights at the office, headache-inducing meetings, innumerable design and storyboard revisions and oh-so tiring shoots. At least for a while. As I slowly got used to the new diet, the meds and the therapy, I also found time to pick up on projects that fell along the wayside. Hopefully, I can chronicle the completion of these projects here. Here's a slideshow of the models I've finished last 2010. Most of these are figures though since the 1:35 T-34 was supposedly the first tank I started work on that year but never got around to finishing. Yet.

Squeezing a few hours every night and one sunny morning resulted in the tank being ready for base painting. After priming with grey and another round of light sanding, all the sub assemblies were sprayed dark green. The road wheels were primed black then sprayed dark green. I wanted a heavier look to the wheels so they got a different color primer. Here's the hull with my conversions below. As usual, you can click the pix for bigger versions. My reference (Osprey Modelling Manual 16 : T-34/76 and T-34/85) says that the T-34/76 tanks made at Krasnoye Sormovo Zadov N 112 (Gorki) had characteristic features specific to that factory. These included the installation of numerous handrails, splash guards, different light mounts, applique armor, etc.  I decided to try my hand in scratchbuilding only some of these features.  I substituted metal handrails instead of using the plastic ones supplied in the kit. I had trouble estimating their location placements though but the pic...

Work on the T-34/76 is still going at a snail's pace. Aside from the heavy schedule I have at work, the weekend also saw us working on the renovations of our bodega. I managed to squeeze in some free time though to add some detailing to the tank. SO, I whipped out the reference pictures I gathered from the net as well as some books I found while reading up on the tank. The wheels have been dry fitted and the seams sanded out. I've disassembled them for painting and stuck them on masking tape. Holes have been drilled for the grab handles. I opted to make new ones from wire instead of the flimsy plastic ones supplied with the kit. The original part though was used for a jig to help shape the wire. These were then glued in place with superglue and Mr. Surfacer 500 and Tamiya putty was used to mimic the weld beads around each connecting part to the hull. These putties wer also used to roughen up the surface of some of the parts, especially near the lower hull. The ...

I've started work on the Tamiya T-34/76. A reference book I got my hands on noted that the Tamiya kit has inaccuracies, specifically the chassis size, inherent in that Tamiya designed these models as motorized kits, hence necessitating some fudging in the sizes to accommodate the motor and the batteries. Offhand, I don't have the skill to rectify this but I'm instead looking into the possibility of making more than just an out-of-box model. I had initially also wanted to model a vehicle with the ehkranami or added armour on but I have very little in terms of reference and so decided to not use the accessories included in the kit. I've finished the lower chassis and have chosen to use all the rubber-lined wheels instead of mixing in some steel-lined wheels available as accessories in the kit. The road wheels and return rollers/drive train attached with the use of polycaps with no problems at all. The chassis does show its roots as a motorized kit as can be seen by ...

Here're a few pictures I've gathered around the net focusing on the Russian T-34. This is the first Russian subject I've attempted to make a model of and I found that the pictures help me with the build, especially since my kit came with Japanese directions -- a language I neither read nor write. I've collected the first few pictures I've gathered up into a PDF file and posted it at my Scribd page. You can download the document here. I've also searched the web for other modellers who've made this particular kit and I was blown away by the skill these modellers have exhibited. Here are some of my favorite builds: Erik Forsgren's Tamiya T 34/76 Joaquin Garcia's Tamiya T 34/76 in Polish sevice Panzermania's T 34/76 Ehkranami Up next, my W.I.P. pictures.

I've been cleaning our cabinets at home and found another cartload of old Tamiya models. Some were built halfway and abandoned while others are still mint in their plastic bags. I randomly chose one and started work on it. The lucky model is a 1:35 Tamiya T 34/76. I remember my uncle giving this kit to me long ago. I never really got into trying to assemble it mainly because I was more into small scale tanks and AFVs. Plus, the instructions were in Japanese. Now though, with a couple of recent small scale tanks under my belt, I'm feeling more confident. One problem I foresee though are the kit's rubber tracks. They seem wrong, aside from the fact that the track sag won't show up, the pattern doesn't seem accurate. A quick check on some forums and my fears were verified -- aside from rubber being a second choice for static scale tracks, the pattern supplied was indeed wrong. It seems that early 1942 production T-34s had waffle pattern tracks or earlier plate tracks ...