T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

[phil fitzpatrick]

Fitting the Rear Deck Lid to the Rear Deck

I put a couple of pics on to show the way round the hinges went,the drawings and pic's in the
manual werent to clear,hope they save someone a bit of head scratching

[phil fitzpatrick]

Had a go at making the Beefy Tow Hook
I am pleased with the way the cable colours show through although it doesnt show up clear in
the pic's,its very subtle.
I used a couple of light red oxide coats,then green,then black so each colour still shows.


Tow Hooks Sun bathing on the patio to dry out quicker.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Fitted my rear deck assembly to the hull

[robert michael hilton]

Hello Phil, you are really motoring now, I note that you are adding welds as you build.

Good idea, I wish now I had completed the welds on my Comet as the build progressed.

I am following your build with great interest......Mick

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Mick
Yes its the first time for doing welds for me and I think I am
improving a bit as I go.
But this Tank is very forgiving for the quality of welds(within reason)
with the quality of the welders in the factories and the speed they
had to knock em out I suppose.
Cheers
Phil

[Robert E Morey]

Phil,
Your cables look fantastic! Are they kit supplied or did you make them yourself (forgive my ignorance, I don't have a T-34). The business end of the cables look like they should. She's looking good overall - the weld detail is looking great. Following your build with interest!
Best regards,
Bob

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Bob.
I used the cables supplied with the kit and made the rest myself.
From the books I have and photo's posted on the forum I have seen about 6
different styles of end,so there may be even more types and possibly different
diameters of cable.
I dont have any casting equipment so I used material to hand and easily available.
The cables supplied with the kit were fine for the early T34/76 type tow hook,but
they wouldnt sit right on my new T34/85 tow hooks.
I cut the loops off the kit supplied cables and left about 20mm of the aloy crimp,
this was just a nice size for a 10mm die to put a thread on.
The loop end is a chain link with a gap cut in the one end but leaving a little
curl on,because the cast body was formed from milliput and shaped when
dry and nice and hard.
The curly bit on the chain link will stop that pulling out and I drilled and tapped
the other end 10mm to suit the cable.
I coated the inside of the threaded whole with 5min epoxy and the thread before assempling
them.
I did some tests before I used milliput and a 3mm cap head tapped into a well hardened
piece of milliput and attatched to the towing hook on my Panzer 111 I pulled it allong on my
patio.
I also tested 2 peices of milliput glued together with 5 min epoxy and the following day I
couldnt break the joint.
So I think they will be working tow cables and not just for show.
Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Trying out my Turret base for clearance,now its just nice
I had a slight gap between my front deck and rear deck and my rear deck lid overlapped the
upper rear plate a bit,so I moved my rear deck assembly forward slightly so that the gap
wasnt there and the rear deck lid was nice and flush with the rear upper plate.
This might not affect everyone but it worked for me.

[John Fitzsimons]

Coming along nicely. Hope the eeather stays fine and cider dos'nt run out. I had usrd quite a bit of milliput to biild up my tiger cable collars also. Rock solid.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks John
Yes weather great for working outside on the T34,no danger of the Magniers
running out
Thats all I did yesterday evening relax in the sun with the cider and take
photo's of the next stages to look forward to.
Here is a few.
Admiring the lovely turret castings and pleased that I got my rear deck handle just right
with a fraction of clearance when folded down


The Turret top just clicked into place without the touch of a file,a perfect fit.









Another one showing the close clearance.


Nice Stuff

[phil fitzpatrick]

Turret base and ring gear

[phil fitzpatrick]

Fixed my Pivot Block and Pins
I did it the only way I could figure it out,see my other posting re Mantlet and Turret front.
But dont copy it without checking with Mark as it wasnt an Armortek fix.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Back to gether and fitted to the Turret Base

[phil fitzpatrick]

Fitted the Turret to the Base




Just a bit of grinding and filling the joint at the front not much

[phil fitzpatrick]

Done a bit of work on my Tracks