T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 9:22 am

Hi John
Yes thanks I have visited all the photo postings,probably every day and your photobucket
link.
A Tiger and a T34,what a great dilema to be in,I know you will be enjoying them both.
Will your Tiger be from the eastern front aswell?
I see they are forcasting an indian summer again,starting from Monday and lasting
well into October,hopefull they are right this time
Cheers
Phil

John Fitzsimons · Post by **John Fitzsimons** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 9:46 am

Misunderstanding there. I was comparing the speed of your T34 build with my slow Tiger project. Hoped to have it finished by now. Now expecting it to drag into 2012. I do not have T34. Just interested in all the builds in general. Mine will be a Normandy Late Tiger. I have a Panzer IV reserved and might do that as Eastern front.
Lovely day here. You should get lots more done.

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:59 pm

Hi John
I know,my mistake as soon as I posted that reply I realised I had been following your Tiger build along with the others.
Your Zimmarit,details and painting are excellent work.
Cheers
Phil

John Fitzsimons · Post by **John Fitzsimons** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:13 pm

Thanks Phil. Learning a lot through the forum. Need to learn some weathering techniques. Whould love to achieve somthing like your Comet.

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:44 pm

Thanks John.
Before the Comet I did my Panzer 111L and only went as far as air brushing a 3 colour camoflauge.
Untill Phil Woodall explained the techniques of aplying wash's and dry brushing,I thought wash's were what
you did with your clothes and the dishes and dry brushing was what you did on the patio

I had loads of fun experimenting and learning and I plan to do the same with the T34/85.
Cheers
Phil

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:46 pm

Rear Deck Lid ready for fitting the hinges

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:58 pm

It took a while to find a picture of the hatch handle that I knew should be there but it is
under the turret which sits quite low,then I found a pic showing a fold down handle

Brown Hawkins · Post by **Brown Hawkins** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:11 pm

phil fitzpatrick wrote:Finaly finished my front suspension and got a full rate of movement now.

Phil,

Am I correct in assuming you cut the head of the connecting bolt off entirely? I can't see any of it in the photo above.

Just making sure before I start grinding.

Brown

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:32 am

Hi Brown
Yes you can see from the picture how close it is to the underside of the glacis plate.
I described what i did on page 4 for reference.
You will see that just cutting the head off still would not be enough,I cut 40mm
off measured from the top of the head,I rounded it off nicely and greased it.
There was enough left inside the spring adjuster about 15 to 20mm and it cannot pop out
because the inner arm would be resting on the floor as pic.
So with full travel the cut bolt cant hit the glacis.
It would be a much easier job doing it without the glacis plate on,I had already done some welds on
mine,but I managed it with a lot of persiverance and blood

Cheers
Phil

John Davie · Post by **John Davie** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:34 am

Am I correct in assuming you cut the head of the connecting bolt off entirely

You do need to remove the head and make it into a 'stud' otherwise you will have no suspnsion travel. This 'stud' only needs to be long enough to locate into the upper mount tube as it only really locates the spring to stop it falling out - I made mine about 70mm long.

Brown Hawkins · Post by **Brown Hawkins** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:00 pm

Thanks for the additinal information. I went ahead and cut the heads off in frustration last night just to get something put together and secure the glacis plate. Not much room for the hull machine gun after all this.

Brown

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:47 pm

Hi Brown
I posted a picture and little vidio of my MG Traverse mechanism so there is
room if you are putting one in.

Also another stage that is easier with the Glacis plate removed is the Idler
shaft and adjustment mechanism.
Hope thats a help
Cheers
Phil

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:44 pm

I tried some of that spray filler that was recomended on the forum,but just using a stipling
brush like I did on my MG Housing.
It took a few coats to build it up and get the hang of working quick,its a lot more subtle

Bodo Langbehn · Post by **Bodo Langbehn** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:13 pm

Hi Phil,

the best method with the carfiller is to sandblast after applying 2-3 a few coates patches away and repeat the process if you not happy with the result. On the idler I have applied the filler with a putty knife. On the van cover I have only sprayed one coat of filler and you can see, it`s very thin.

Bodo

phil fitzpatrick · Post by **phil fitzpatrick** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:45 pm

Thanks for the pictures Bodo,your parts are excellent and sand blasting looks to
be the best method,but I havent got any sand blasting equipment,I will have to
look into it.
The photo's are very helpfull because you can really see what can be done with
this product using different techniques
Cheers
Phil

T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

Photo's

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

Rear Deck Lid

Rear Deck and Deck Hatch

Re: Front Suspension finished

Front suspension

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

suspension etc

Exhaust covers

Re: T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

sand blasting filler