10th Guards Ural Tanks Corps, Ukraine, Summer 1944.

T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 1:Introduction
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 2:Assembly
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 3:Painting
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 4:Weathering (chipping and rust)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 5:Weathering (wash)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 6:Weathering (streaks)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 7:Weathering (dust and rain marks)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 8:Tracks
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 9:Weathering (dirt and mud)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 10:Weathering (oil and fuel stains, final effects)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 11:Figures

I wanted to use the tank rider figures, all the time accepting that I am no great figure painter! Their poses are decent and fit around the turret very nicely. It’s perhaps a little odd that they are wearing gloves and furry hats on a tank dated to Summer 1944 (for the markings I used), but that is how they are moulded.

I painted them the various paints shown in the images, followed by an oil wash in selected places and some light dusting with pigments.

• Tamiya “Soot” weathering powder was added to the end of the exhausts and the surrounding area.
• The machine guns and gun barrel end were lightly brushed with AK Interactive “Dark Steel” (AK086) pigment.
• Dilute mixtures of Abteilung 502 “Engine Grease” (ABT160) and “Bitumen” (ABT004) oil paint in enamel thinners were either painted in small patches or flicked from a brush onto the surfaces of the hull and running gear, to represent the subtlest stains or patches.
• Engine Grease” oil paint – dissolved in enamel thinners to a much higher concentration – was added to parts of the running gear, certain wheels (to represent leakage from a seal) and parts of the engine deck to represent older oil stains.
• The same oil paint, in similar concentration but with added Humbrol “Gloss Cote”, was added to certain parts to represent newer oil stains.
• A dilute mixture of “Bitumen” oil paint and Humbrol “Gloss Cote” in enamel thinners was added to various parts of the engine deck and hull to represent diesel stains. In some places, such as around the fuel filling hatches, this was repeated later.

Medium colour pigments were brushed onto the wheels, running gear, lower hull, upper hull and turret top and fixed with a 1:1 mixture of AMMO “Pigment Fixer” (A.MIG-3000) and enamel thinners, added by brush.

• Friulmodel tracks (ATL-124) were linked with Albion Alloys’ 0.4 mm brass rod – 76 links per side. As usual with T-34 paired tracks, I had a bit of a struggle getting them to fit and look right (either very tight or much too loose). This time I have tried to get them less “flappy” – on one side I pinned the upper track down somewhat with the aid of a 0.5 mm drill bit, discreetly driven into the side of the hull.
• Treated with UMP “Ultimate Burnishing Liquid”.
• A mixture of medium color pigments were dropped onto the tracks and fixed with a 1:1 mixture of AMMO “Pigment Fixer” (A.MIG-3000) and enamel thinners, added by brush.
• Darker (wetter) patches on the tracks were created using dark brown oil paints in enamel thinners.
• The parts of the external side of the tracks in contact with the ground and the guide horns were brushed with AK Interactive “Dark Steel” (AK086) pigment.