From Russia With Love - Part Two

ukaszOrczyc-Musiaekpresents the secondinstalmentof his ambitious diorama project.

- Łukasz Orczyc-Musiałek

A Soviet T-60 has broken down...not beyond repair, but with damage to its tracks, and out of fuel. Eventually, a T-34 is sent to recover the vehicle, the operation attracting the attention of some local villagers.

Having completed the model of the T-60 (seen below, and featured in last month’s issue), it was time to make a start on the T-34. At the outset, I realised that there would need to be a noticeable contrast between the two vehicles: the T-60 heavily damaged, and with a significant build-up of dirt and mud; the T-34 (though showing signs of wear), generally intact, and capable of carrying out this task before returning to the battlefield.

Although I found the MiniArt kit to be the perfect choice for my T-60 model, the T-34 was from the Dragon range … ‘T-34/76 Mod.1943 (No.183 Factory) w/Commander Cupola’. While there are arguably more sophisticated kits of the T-34 on the market now (this one was released almost ten years ago), the quality of moulding and level of detail are perfectly adequate; adding after-market items is really down to personal taste. I did replace the tracks with a metal set from Friulmodel (as these would be better suited to my terrain setting), and a pair of more realistic towing cables were sourced from Eureka XXL. The tool boxes were resin items from Bitskrieg, and the antenna rod simply a length of wire.

Assembly