Nice molding and great fit so far, although I have encountered a slight issue where the shafts on the axles of the suspension arms for the front idler wheels are slightly too wide to insert into the wheels.
Will need to thin them down a tad in order to fit.
31 October 2021, 16:02
James C I was able to thin the axles down quite easily in the end and it only took a couple mins per side with a 5mm sanding stick.
With that done, I moved onto the track assembly using the forms provided in the kit.
While they did make assembly a little easier, it's still a fiddley process that I dislike with these types of track, as I have yet to assemble them and be fully satisfied with the end result. You just cant beat workable links made from white metal.
While some people swear by link and length tracks, I find that I mostly just swear AT them!
Anyway, with the tracks assembled, I completed the assembly of the main hull.
Next up is the sponsons, then the enormous turret.
I finished assembling the sponsons today, then made a start on the main gun barrel and turret. The sponsons aren't secured yet as I will paint them separately from the hull and install them permanently after the wheels and tracks are painted and mounted etc.
2 November 2021, 05:22
James C Assembly is completed now.
Just a little clean-up still to do, then I will give it a coat of black primer.
It's a BIG beast!
3 November 2021, 02:08
James C I gave everything a coat of Stynylrez black surface primer yesterday and can now begin applying a bit of colour to it today.
@ Clifford - I find that building armour is a great way to switch things up a bit and learn new techniques. They generally go together much faster than aircraft, but also sometimes have their own unique challenges that you don't encounter on aircraft builds etc. I'd definitely recommend any 1/35 scale kit by Tamiya that was released after 1995 as it will have great engineering and few of the more common headaches of other kit manufacturers.
I got the base colour done yesterday and installed the road wheels and upper rollers.
I still need to give it a little post shading to pick out the highlights, then will move onto the detail painting on the tools and dust cover.
5 November 2021, 18:26
Murad ÖZER it's a behemoth. following with great interest. 🙂
5 November 2021, 18:30
Clifford Keesler Thanks James. I have a 1/35 Tamiya Bradley, I guess I will give it a try. I also have a load of submarines, and ships.
I got the tracks mounted and then installed the sponsons.
Have also begun the detail painting, including the canvass cover on the main gun which has received a base coat; but still needs a little dry-brushing to pick out the highlights.
Towards the end of WW2 the US Army requested a new design for a "Heavy" tank to better match, and combat against heavier German designs (such as the Tiger 1, King Tiger and Jagdtiger) that were being encountered on the battlefield.
On 1st March 1945, the T29 was proposed to fulfill this requirement, with an initial production run of 1200 units. The T29 was based upon a lengthened version of the T26E3 chassis, but would feature heavier armour protection, a more powerful engine, and would be armed with a 105 mm main gun in a massive, heavily armoured turret.
By April 12th 1945, this initial order was revised to 1152 units due to the conflict in Europe obviously drawing to a close, before being scrapped entirely by the wars end; with the exception of 8 already assembled units which were intended for post war testing.
Developed at the same time as the T29, the T30 Heavy tank was virtually identical, but was armed with an even more powerful 155mm main gun, of which two vehicles were produced. The final variation of the T29 concept, the T34 Heavy Tank (not to be confused with the Russian designed T-34) mounted a 120 mm (4.72 in) main gun, which was based upon the M1 anti-aircraft gun, to further increase the armour penetration capability, in much the same way as the Germans had done with their highly successful 88 mm gun. Extra armour plating was added to the rear of the turret to act as a counter weight for this heavier armament.
Ultimately, the vehicle would not go into production due to the design being deemed too heavy for practical use in the field. A surviving example still exists in the National Armor and Cavalry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The Kit:
A very nicely molded kit, with some superb detailing and a nicely cast texture on the turret.
While no photo-etch is included, the quality of the molding does away for any need for it, for all but the serious super detailers out there. I personally found the kit more than adequate right out of the box.
I didn't encounter any flaws/errors during assembly or in the instructions etc, but you will need to pay careful attention in places... particularly with the track assembly. There were a fair few ejection molding "towers" from the molding process that needed to be cleaned up on a couple of the larger components but these were all very easy to deal with and remove.
The inclusion of a "jig/form" for ensuring the suspension arms are straight and level, and for assembling the link and length tracks is a nice touch, but I still struggled with the track assembly and have never had much luck in getting them looking right... but I suspect that's just me.
You have the option of building it as either the T30 or T34 with the choice of three different main gun barrels. The 120 mm armed T34 can be built either with or without the canvas dust cover, while the lower velocity 155 mm T30 can only be built without the cover. It should be noted that if you opt for the T34 with the dust cover option (like I did) you will not be able to pose the elevation of the barrel as it becomes fixed at a very flat trajectory.
The only thing that I'd go to the extra expense of replacing are the tracks.
A set of metal workable links would be ideal on a kit like this, making it more robust while handling and giving you the option of painting with the sponsons securely attached rather than having to paint them separately.
Clifford Keesler Beautiful result. I have seen the real one in the musuem.
12 November 2021, 01:53
Simon Nagorsnik Turned out pretty good, nice weathering!
Exhausts looks great- well done rust effects!
The parts in the lighter green tones eliven the overall impression👍
12 November 2021, 05:07
Alex Rodionov WoW. Nice US-heavy and nice US team. Thanks for story. 👍
Robin (WhiteGlint) Awesome result, James! 👍 Now I want one too. 😄
Simon said it pretty much already: the different tones of green and the rust on the exhaust make it a real looker. A nice set of colours.
12 November 2021, 11:11
Neuling Top build and photography. Modelling at its best. And a cool juxtaposition of tanks.
12 November 2021, 11:18
James C Many thanks Clifford, Simon, Alex, Sebastian, WG and Neuling. I really appreciate the positive comments guys. 🙂
@ Clifford - The Tank museum in Georgia sounds like an interesting place to visit for a few days (along with the Bovington museum in the UK) Another one added to the bucket list 😉
@ Simon - Thanks mate. The different tones were achieved with oils and Tamiya weathering pastels. Olive Drab is a tedious looking colour on it's own and needed breaking up. But it's a fine line between too little and too much and I also didn't want to over-do it in regards to the final weathering either.
@ Alex & Sebastian - Cheers guys 😉👍
@ WG - It's an awesome kit and I'd highly recommend it. I've got the T29 planned for the new year 😉
@ Neuling - Thanks mate. For the last two pictures I wanted to give an impression of how large it is in comparison. In hindsight, maybe I should have pictured it with the King Tiger as well or instead?
12 November 2021, 16:51
Murad ÖZER Great result James. love the last shot with all 3 for size comparison. 😎
if anything, instead of a contemporary put it next to to something modern like an m1 or a leo.
the shapes on this tank would be a weathering dream or nightmare depending where you wanna go. so many tricks could be utilized, probably taking a year to finish... 😄
12 November 2021, 17:29
Rui S Great result. I realy like the birds eye views, beautiful waethering👍
Logan Eden Good day, James Thanks so Much for sharing the build. What can I say that was not already stated on the comments above. I echo all comments. Was looking at the T30/34 as I have just finished the build stage, and looking at some other work of inspiration. Yours helped immensely. Catch Ya, Logan
James C
Clifford Keesler
Simon Nagorsnik
Robin (WhiteGlint)
Neuling
Murad ÖZER
Logan Eden