Saturday, June 9, 2012

T-34: Upper Hull Construction


The hull top was a single, crisply-molded piece to which I added the front and rear plates, exhaust pipes and covers, left-side rail, two tool boxes, engine fan screen, driver's hatch, machine gun, and various hooks and handles. Still to be added are the antenna mount, headlight, and the two rear small fuel tanks. Assembly went smoothly but two issues merit mentioning.

First, the instructions illustrate two holes that need to be opened for the attachment of the rail that runs along the left side. These holes are indicated by detents on the inside of the hull; however, the distance between the detents is incorrect for the mounting pins on the rail. I opened the front mounting hole, glued in the front rail support, and then measured the correct distance for the rear hole and drilled it there.

Secondly, Dragon includes two engine fan screens: the first has a molded screen and supports and is extremely well detailed; the second has a PE screen which is to be mounted in a molded frame. However, the PE screen lacks the detailed supports. Since the screen as molded is not badly reproduced, I opted for the molded piece with the detailed supports. Much more tank-like to me.

I've been working on the turret in tandem with the hull and will post more pictures later.

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