T-34 XL

[chrisonord]

After having a root round the boneyard of dead models in my shed, I came across the hull of a matchbox T-34-?? that I built a very long time ago.
The turret is missing,and the tracks look like the mice have been eating them.
So the old light bulb started to come on. What can I do with this thing to make it a bit more modern and up to date, so it can be a part of my cartel armour contingent. There are T-62's T-72's a T-55 and a couple of T-80's in their arsenal, so I need to make it as potent as at least the T-62.
So out came the Dremel razor saw!!
I cut the hull down the centre, and glued some styrene into the gap so as to make a 10.5 mm gap between the halves, I cut out the machine gun position and the drivers hatch and I will fill and blank these off and replace the drivers hatch in a different place, and with a different hatch from something I have in the bits box.
For the turret I have thought about using the spare one from the T-55 kit I have, but I want to use a bigger longer gun, and put some wider tracks on it also. I think I am going to struggle obtaining these though, so we will have to see.
I will also be fitting armoured side skirts to it and some ERA to the turret and hull, just to make it that bit more survivable.
I have not done a Tank wiff before so any pointers and ideas will be great.
Cheers
Chris.   

[Rafael]

Sounds great, Chris. I have the same model also, and I don't know what to do with it. Last idea was removing all the wheels and scratch some tires and make it a wheeled vehicle, maybe a 6x6, with a small cannon on top, á la OWS (Overhead Weapons Station)

Piccies?

Rafa

[chrisonord]

Cheers Rafa,
I don't usually take work in progress pics, but if I get some suitable enough light,I will do some, as it is very dark here at the moment and it is snowing!!
Cheers,
Chris.

[chrisonord]

Todays part of this project involved nearly burning my cordless drill out I got a 4 inch ish, piece of cylindrical ally bar that was about 4 mm thick and machined it down using my drill as a lathe, and a file, craft knife and a junior hacksaw, and made myself a gun barrel for the tank
I will do some pictures of this as I am impressed with the end result of it.It is not an exact replica of any particular gun barrel but it looks reasonably T-62 ish.
Cheers,
Chris

[chrisonord]

Right just for you Rafa, here is some pictures for you.
Please note that you might have to squint a bit to see some of the pics












I have made some more gun barrels in the same way, but this time with an old electric drill, quite surprised how they turned out really
Chris.

[puddingwrestler]

Damn. Now that's a MAN sized gun!

[Rafael]

Right just for you Rafa, here is some pictures for you.
Please note that you might have to squint a bit to see some of the pics
I have made some more gun barrels in the same way, but this time with an old electric drill, quite surprised how they turned out really
Chris.

Thanks a lot for the pic, Chris. Now I'm getting the vision of a -55-62-ish -34!!

The hull widening makes it look more imposing, specially from the front quarter, and the gun......Oh, My God! the GUN!!!!

Please, Chris, if and when you have the time, could you explain with some pictures how did you manage to do that?!

That barrel is really a magnificent piece of craftsmanship.

Rafa

[chrisonord]

Hello Rafa,
I cut a piece of 4mm thick ally rod roughly 100mm long it could be longer or a bit shorter, as I didn't really measure it!!
I put the rod into the chuck of my cordless drill, and used a clamp to hold the trigger on. I then experimented with different tools to see what worked best. I used a craft knife a file and a some sandpaper, and used my vernier calipers to check the thickness of the rod. I held the drill in a vice, and began to attack the rod with the tip of a fine file, I machined the muzzle down first, then made a rough guess where the centre was and put a drill bit in my archemedes drill and put a pilot hole in to the muzzle end, then I used a bigger drill bit in a pin vice and used this to bore the muzzle out. I used the craft knife, a heavy duty one to make the lines and to smooth some of the surfaces off, but I used a flat file to get the width I wanted. I didn't do my cordless drill any good doing this so I did my next one with my electric drill. I am going to have a go at making a brass one also, but I think aluminium is easier to work with.
Chris.     

[ChernayaAkula]

Man, that is some resuscitation! 

The new barrel looks great!  As does the widening of the hull.

[Sauragnmon]

I still think it gives it a really Pantherish look with the wide hull, the new gun looks mean and awesome.

[Rafael]

Will you use wider tracks, Chris?

Rafa

[chrisonord]

Hya Rafa,
I am going to put wider tracks on it, possibly the ones off the JS-3 tank,and also the wheels and idlers, but I think I have enough to coble some together off 2 M-60 tanks that are in the bone yard. I am also going to put some side skirts on it with extra armour on. The turret will not escape modification either, as I want to put add on armour a co axial machine gun, and if I have one spare, an AA gun for the roof.
I have plans for 2 more T-34's that I am going to acquire, using my home made guns, one will have an automatic un manned turret, incorparating a self loading gun a heavy machine gun and some anti-tank missiles.
Chris.

[cthulhu77]

Very nice work, if you ever get your hands on a small milling machine...yikes, the thoughts scare me !

[chrisonord]

Last night saw yet more transformation work on the hull. I took the exhaust pipes off and made some appliqué armour the same as I used on my over gunned boat, I put this on the sides and the rear but I might take it off as I don't like the fit. The front has a new drivers hatch and periscope, and home made ERA covers the rest of the front. Even the drivers hatch has some ERA bricks on it!!
The turret has had a complete makeover also, a piece of tube from some precision poly glue is now the coaxial gun barrel, and a machine gun from BTR-152??? is doing the AA bit. The hatches had to be sourced from somewhere else so I carefully levered 2 hatches from a dead MTB in the bone yard, trimmed the back down flat so they would fit flush to the turret, and put some photo etch door handles on them I had spare, I also put some on the service hatch I put on the rear and on the drivers hatch. The turret has also been treated to a covering of ERA both home made and some left over from a T-80, and a radio aerial there is also a tube thing that used to live on the back of a T-62 stuck on the back of the turret.
I have found a pair of side skirts that were spare on a US tank, I think an Abrams, these will be cut shorter to fit, and will be built out so as to fit the wider tracks. The side skirts will also be treated to a load of ERA bricks.
I will take some more pictures when I get chance as the weather is pretty crap here at the moment.
Cheers,
Chris.

[chrisonord]

Tonights, instalment has involved a bit of a change of plans and some of the already fitted components. The rear Appliqué armour has come off as I wasn't happy with it and it has been replaced by ERA.A photo etch radiator grill has been installed on the top of the hull and the M 60 tracks I wanted to use just would not work, so I had a look in the bone yard and found another one of matchboxes creations, that had survived better than the T-34.The donor for the tracks is a self propelled Howitzer from ww2. These tracks are about 1.5 mm wider than original T-34's I would have preferred wider tracks, but getting the side skirts to fit right would have been a pain and really would not look right.
I wil try and get some more pics done and posted tomorrow, as you definitely will not recognise it now.
Cheers,
Chris.