15 mm T34 - Work In Progress

In early February I bought a box of 5 Plastic Soldier Company 15 mm T34s. They looked great and stirred memories of the Airfix kits of my youth. The plan was to use them to see if I could, and enjoyed, painted tanks.

Needless to say they've sat on my shelf until this week when I decided it was time to build and paint a test kit. Here's a work in progress shot. The base isn't quite finished and I need to get some transfers for the turret but otherwise it's done.



Overall I'm pleased with the end result. I aimed for a cartoon representation of a tank that will stand out on the table. As always the build didn't go according to plan.

What went well:

• Sticking this together with super glue was relatively painless and the finished model seems reasonably solid and stable.
• I put some metal nuts inside the body of the tank to give the model some weight.
• I'm pleased with the colour scheme I ended up with. It's only two colours and a wash made with Burnt Sienna watercolour. It's useful that Russian tanks could be almost any colour green.
• The hand painted red star stands out really well and it was really easy to get the detail on the model to "pop".
• I also tried a new basing scheme: sand washed with Burnt Sienna watercolour and one colour dry brush. This was really quick and effective. I'll be using scheme this a lot more.

What didn't do well:

• The tracks! After I built the model I realised that the tracks have and inside and outside edges. Now I know what I'm looking for I'll get in right on the other four.
• The reserve tanks. These should have been placed a little higher up and not resting on the track guard. Not a major issue but it highlights the lack of any instructions with the kits. At least they will be a lot more secure.
• The command figure. This is very small for 15 mm. The detail is there it just takes a while to paint but it doesn't really fit in the left hand hatch as there's not split hatch cover in the kit.
• Compared to my usual medieval and renaissance subjects there's a lot of research in a basic model. The internet makes it easier but I'm concerned I'll get drawn into "rivet counting" territory.

Finally, here's a couple of more photos with different light settings: