T34/85 25th Guards Brigade No 234a

[Brown Hawkins]

Looking very nice!

Brown

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Brown
I just spotted your Patern for the MG Armor,I think it will turn out very good.
Cheers
Phil

[davebane]

Phil,
Looking real good... I can tell you guys from my personal inspection of at least 10 WWII T-34s and a few post war, it will be hard to overdo, or under do the casting variations. My turret is beautiful... cast of course, but the variations are in places hardly noticeable. On others I've literally seen pieces of steel that were "welded" into the hull where the casting had imperfections. Whole sections of welding rod, rebar, and other "donor" metal pieces were just welded into the turret. Just amazing!

Dave Bane
Eastern Indiana Tank Collection

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Dave
I had noticed from your T34 in the field and the other photo's of T34's
in the collection the difference in just those was great.
Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Had a go at the Turret Weld

I was carefull that my Turret top still comes out

[phil fitzpatrick]

A little bit more spray filler over the welds and a bit more work on the Mantlet

[davebane]

Phil,
WOW she's looking great. I ran down and took some photos for you on a couple details your turret is missing however. I have never seen a '34 without both of these features...

The first, on both sides of the turret in roughly the same place, at the mid line, in the bustle, this is the sprue used to mold the turret. This is where the steel flowed into the molds on both sides. Once cast, they were very roughly cut and ground away:



Next are what appears to be tool marks in the sand molds... these are also on both sides of the turret...



Not sure if you want to mess with them, I'm going to try to put them in on mine...

Later!
Dave Bane
Eastern Indiana Tank Collection

[Robert E Morey]

Phil,
That cast look on your turret is excellent, great work! I'm enjoying following your build progress,
Best regards,
Bob

[phil fitzpatrick]

Thanks Dave for the great pictures.
Yes that was going to be one of the next little jobs,What I thought were vertical
welds are the tool marks that you pointed out,but I never thought about the
size of the spru that would be needed, thanks for that.
Glad your T34 has arrived safe and sound

Thanks Bob for your nice comments,The T34 is a great Tank to build and learn about.
Cheers
Phil

[John Davie]

Hi Phil,

You're coming along well. I'm still plodding on with details.

I notice you have made the centre band round the turret as a weld, I've always presumed this to be a seam mark from the casting where the top and bottom halfs of the moulds would join - I assumed the body of the turret is a single casting, maybe Dave can confirm??

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi John
I will have to have another read of my books when I get home from work
to see where they mentioned the 2 castings and then welding.
I think the Swiss Tank at Thun looks to be welded and ground roughly and
also the Bivington Pics that was posted.
Yet as you say some of the Turrets like Daves are so neat and also the one
at Duxford is very smooth at the joint.
But the 2 mentioned above at Thun and bovington look as though the Weld has under cut
aswell as the rough grinding in all directions.
Hope Dave can shead some light on this one for us.
I have just done the Tool marks on mine and the sprue for the casting,I will put some more pics on later.
Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Hi John
I found a few peices out of my books and there were seems to have been both,
composite castings(2 peice) and single casting.
I have a 1/76 scale drawing in the one book showing a T34/85 model 1944 with
the composite casting,and it shows the thicker line where it was welded and
some grinding.
Also the flat bit on the Turret side is not as pronounced as the drawing of the
T34/85 model 1945 and this one just shows a thinner line where the joint would
be but probably just cleaned up.
I had softened all my sharp edges with a grinder and file so with the spray filler I have been putting
on the flat is only just seen.
I have done a couple of welds on some test peices that I did to practice the casting,and I might have a practice
at grinding the welds a bit.
Another good bit of info I found was that the book said the T34/85's produced in early spring of 1944
retained the rounded front mudguard,and the drawing for the model 1944 also shows the TDP Smoke
system fitted.
Cheers
Phil

[phil fitzpatrick]

Done some of the Turret Casting Tool marks and the big ground off Sprue

[John Davie]

Hi Phil,

Yeah, from what I've seen there are 3 main turret types, 'flatened' (which is what I think Armortek provide), 'composite' and 'angle jointed' thought to be dependant on which of the 3 main factories produced them. Early on they had the rounded mudguards but I believe there are so many variations with the factories making independant changes and then the factory and field repair/modification that you can model almost any combination you want without being far wrong!!

[phil fitzpatrick]

Couldnt resist placing some of the bits on top to see what it looks like


Turret Rear Hooks