T34 AVLB Construction Continues

The side hull is looking better, not done yet though.

Bottom is a little ratty and it may stay that way.

The port side view of this HO 1/87 scale model.

The new lower hull plate.  The Mir is very slightly larger than the Roco T34 but mostly it is a bit taller.

The new tracks are waiting in the upper right of this photo.  Lots more work to do!
 

More T34 AVLB

The bridge launching gear is from an old T54 AVLB made somewhere behind the Iron Curtain.

Now it is going onto a Mir T34 tank upper hull.  Mir was made in the old Soviet Union.

Like this.  I like the structure on the bridge.

Gluing more side hull plates to fill the gaps.  I am using a nicer looking track on this model than the original which was destroyed decades ago.

Looks pretty patchwork, because it is.  Mostly it will be hidden inside the hull or behind the tracks so it should be fine.  Mostly.
 

T34 Bridge Launching.

The Mir T34 has a very big engine hump on the rear upper hull.  This means the bridge launching gear mount has to be raised up a bit to clear the hump.  I used some sheet styrene to fix the problem.

This is the bridge I am using.  It's upside down it looks odd.

This is the bridge launching gear, note the white sheet styrene on it to help get the gear over the T34 engine hump.  One plastic bit on the hull and one on the launching gear should be enough.

The top of the launching gear.

This shows the launching gear receiving the bridge, again, it's upside down.

Just waiting for all the glue to dry.  My intention is to use these for late WWII and early Cold War for my Soviet forces.
 

Painting APCs and a Tank

Painting some Cold War Soviet armored personnel carriers.

BTR 50.

MTLB.

Some of these models are die cast, some are soft metal, some are resin.  Nearly all have been in my collection since the early 1980.

They have waited a long time for primer and paint.

My Chinese T54 upgrade.  See here the lower hull has been glued on and a bit of sheet plastic covers the gap between the front and rear lower hull parts.

I changed the pin on the bottom of the turret to fit a new tube on the upper hull.

If the outdoor lighting is not just right these sometimes look gray when they are dark green and vice versa.  I think the upper photo shows the tank in gray primer and the lower photo shows the tank in dark forest green.  Probably.
 

Chinese T54 Tank Modifications

Most of the parts from my new T54.  Turret and hull from a Chinese toy.  Engine deck from another Chinese toy, with an M60 style Continental AVDS-1790 engine deck.  Tracks are from a Roco M-60 tank and so is the main gun.

I trimmed down the front of the tracks.  I would be hidden by the upper hull.  The upper hull had a bulge where the tracks fit onto the hull sides.  Since the bulge was metal, it was easier to trim the track connectors and about 1mm of the plastic track then trim the metal bulge.

Trim from both track assemblies.

I had a Roco T54 lower hull that I was going to use instead of the original metal hull, since the original lower hull was too wide for the Roco M60 tracks to fit.  Note the T54 lower  hull has a gap in the middle.  The metal tank hull is about 3mm longer than the Roco T54 and so I had to cut the lower hull in half to make it fit to the ends of the metal upper hull.

Test fitting most of the parts.

I had an extra  T54 turret that had no gun barrel, and so I took the gun from the metal tank, cut down the fume extractor at the end of the barrel and inserted it into a mantlet of the Roco T54.  Not exactly like the original, but close enough.  Due to the weight of the metal barrel, I glued the mantlet inside the turret so the gun will not raise and lower.

Not perfect, but good enough.

The lower hull from the Chinese metal tank, the breech end of the metal gun, and the antenna mount with antenna and the rather weak M2 machine gun from the metal kit.  I will reuse the antenna and mount, but these other parts are surplus.
 

The Work Yard

As I prepare the tanks for rehabilitation, they each get their turrets removed.

Any markings, or decals get scraped off.

An inspection is done to see if any parts are missing, damaged, or deformed.

Missing hatches are replaced, and other parts are either sourced immediately, fabricated or the tank is pulled from the yard and sent to the spares pile.

My intention is to have all my T54 tanks, variants and spares back into full operation before the project is considered complete.  Right now I am waiting for a few new T54 tanks to come in the mail, and I also need some rubber and resin to cast a few missing parts.
 

T-54 Tank Upgrade

Roco T-54 tanks getting their upgrade.  These tanks were spray painted but with the turrets on, and so when the turret is turned, the unpainted space is revealed.  So I am touching up these tanks upper hulls.

Here is a green T-54 that had the same problem.

The junk pile.  Many of these tanks have mold flaws, missing or broken parts and other problems.  So some of them get tossed into a stack to get fixed later.  I am trying to get as many into service as possible in the shortest period of time.  However, my plan is to get as many fixed as possible.

My tank collection had solid green, camouflage green, tan, camouflage tan, and chocolate brown, and unpainted.

Here is a camouflage green tank.  It has what I have been told are Syrian markings on them.  I am painting these out.

Note the tan tank with the sheet plastic glued on the upper hull, with two of the boxes cut off.
 

Painting Soviet Vehicles

I am going through my Cold War Soviet Union collection, sorting, repairing, upgrading, and painting.

Many of my vehicles are die cast from China and from the former Warsaw Pact nations.

We have days here that have great weather, warm, but not hot, and low humidity, and reasonable wind speed.  So I am painting about 75 of these little truck and vehicles all at once.

For weeks now I have been repairing vehicles.  Then taping the windshields with masking tape.

So a few here and a few there that are getting primer paint.

Waiting for the perfect day to paint them the base color.

I lay down a mat in case I have to kneel down, kneeling on gravel is not comfy.

Here the gray primer vehicles are waiting for their new paint.