I started this particular Armourfast T-34/85 (No. 99009) when I was living in the Bay Area. How, you may ask, can someone make so little progress over two years with a model that consists of only eight pieces? To which I would have to reply, that this model needs a lot of work to make a passable T-34. The first thing I had to do was to thin down the treads. The treads were so thick that they made the tank tower over other 1/72 T-34s. The next step was to drill holes in the wheels and add bolt heads on the road wheels. I used the little beads from the inside of a Brita pitcher filter cartridge for bolt heads. Unfortunately I lost all the beads when I moved, so only the right wheels have bolts in them. I added some fuel drums from a PST tank kit, a scratchbuilt headlamp, and wire grab handles.
Recently I decided to try and make some progress on this kit, so I shaved off the turret ring that was molded into the hull of the tank. This ring should be part of the turret. I affixed a 22 mm washer to the turret using CA glue, and applied Kneadatite to fill in gaps. The diameter of the washer is slightly large, but I could not find anything 21 mm at the hardware store.
If the washer looks asymetrically positioned, it is because a) I needed it positioned so that the turret could rotate freely, and b) because the turret actually is asymatric on this model.
