Wednesday 28 January 2015

From KevinH - T-34/76 and T-34/85 Squadron (42 pts)


As many will know by now, GregB has re-introduced 20mm WWII to the Fawcett crew (quite possibly, God's one true WWII gaming scale!).  So, wanting to help add to the gaming possibilities, I bought some items from the Plastic Soldier Company's "Black Friday" sale.


Along with a Rubicon Panther G (I wanted a PzIV, but they were sold out), I picked up a box of 20mm PSC T-34's, some 20mm PzIV's, and some 20mm Shermans and a Firefly to do a unit to support my Canadians (more on that, if my Warbases order arrives before the Challenge winds up!) 


These kits were pretty quick to build, but being plastic, they were a bit light and I didn't want them bouncing around on the tabletop.  I super-glued three mid-sized washers into the bottom of the hulls for added weight, and mounted all of them on plastic-card (I started basing my 15mm vehicles, after FoW started releasing vehicles with cast-on bases - they just looked better with all the based infantry!).

And as much as I love the Late Fall/Early Spring camo and basing GregB did on his models, I thought we should have some options for doing battles in other times of the year - so I went for simple "Steppe" grasslands basing and paint.  The bases were great too, as I was able to depict the churned up turf of the tank tracks!  It's just Liquitex Resin Sand smeared on the bases, with "track ruts" left open.  Then, paint and flock as desired.  I think the effect turned out quite nicely.

Oh, and all the turret numbers and slogans were painted - no decals (didn't have time to order any - and it's pretty straight-forward for the Russians!).


The great thing about these T34 kits, is that they come with BOTH turret options!  This allows you to build both the '76 versions, or the '85 versions.




Here are the same kits, with the '85 turrets.


And finally, all the components of these kits!


These are great kits - good detail, pretty quick assembly, and a decent price!  I would heartily recommend them, if you're looking to do some 20mm Russians.

Now... where is that Warbases order? --I have some FAA Russians to paint as Tank Riders ("Tankovy Desantniki") to go with these tanks!


Thanks for looking!


From Curt:

Great looking T34s Kevin! I like the hand painted numbers and slogan - ace work! (and  I'm adding a few extra points for this and the additional turrets)

With this entry Kevin has breached his initial points target of 300. Congratulations Kev, great work!  Let me know what you'd like to target running in to the conclusion of the Challenge.

20 comments:

  1. Totally correct to leave out the red stars. They were only used at the beginning of the war and at the end. Not in the middle years. Not condemning anyone who does them though. Nice work on the tanks and I would like to see more.

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  2. Great work Kevin! What does it say on that one turret - "Go Jets Go" perhaps?

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    1. Yeah Greg "Go Jets Go!" ;-)

      Actually, the '76 says "For the Homeland!"

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    2. Oh, and the '85 says "Victory!" I found some slogans on the FoW site: http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110&art_id=849

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  3. Nice work Kevin. Good to see a lack of red stars as Clint says. I particularly like the torn up grass behind the treads.

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  4. Well doen on reaching your target Kevin. Great tanks :)

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  5. Very nice and the third set of Plastic Soldier T34's to be submitted to the Challenge. I have to agree with everything you said about them too

    ian

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    1. Thanks Ian! We're slowly recreating a Russian tank brigade in 1-1. :-)

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  6. They look really good and road worn, I like the torn up sod on them , that was an inspired idea to do. It really gives them movement!

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  7. Congrats on hitting that target. I am sure your expanded collection will give you lots of gaming options. Really good work on these ones. cheers

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  8. Thanks Curt! And thanks for the extra points!

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  9. Fantastic painting work! Really nice models.

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