The T-34/85 platoon shows off their freehand slogans.
Well, I finished my first official Bolt Action models – a platoon of three Soviet T-34/85s. It took a little longer than I’d originally planned/hoped, since I wanted to get the markings more-or-less right, while still making the models look good. I found some information that the red star was used sparingly, (and that a white star was even used at times) and that individual unit markings were often left up to the company commanders, so after a fair bit of looking around, I decided that the red star added an attractive bit of spot colour to the models, as did the Guards Tank badge. I also added some freehand slogans, which was a lot of fun.
I chose to use freehand for the slogans because I wanted to have something a little more unique than the decals provided, and because I really enjoy doing things like that. I also freehanded the ID numbers on the obverse side of the turrets (but not the diamonds). I did those in freehand because I’ve seen many images where they were clearly painted on by the crew as well. I felt making them deliberately a little wonky also works well for what they are. I can paint more uniform than that – though not nearly as perfect as a stencil, obviously!
Now, LOTS of pics.
T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”
T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”
T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”
T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”
The commander is removable, he’s blu-taced into the hatch for a bit of variety, and for use in games where the “lead” tank might matter – to keep it obvious for the players.
T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”
T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”
T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”
T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”
One thing that really got me going with these tanks was their simple assembly. I often find myself getting distracted when working on models that have overly-complex assembly, as my favourite part of the hobby is really painting – and specifically completing painting – the detail work. Followed by gaming (which I don’t get to do nearly as often as I’d like). Modelling and assembly can be fun, but as much as I love multi-part HIPs figures and so forth, I’d be just as happy to have almost all figures come pre-assembled so I can just get to the painting. These really are very simple kits, so the assembly for all three was done in a day so I could get onto the fun of painting them.
T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”
T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”
T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”
T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”
These kits aren’t super-detailed, and won’t win any prizes in any modelling shows – nor will this paint work – but for the purposes of gaming they’re just fine. I also found I enjoyed painting these up with their military greens, rough damage and weathering more than I’ve ever enjoyed painting any 40k tanks.
And now – some action shots!
A glorious unit of Soviet tanks retakes the ground tainted by the fascists just a couple of years ago!
The sun shines on our glorious boys as they heroically push back the opressors! За Родину!
Commander of the unit, Starshina Yarik, beckons to his platoon to look beyond the dusty dragon’s teeth at their destination.
A ruined building provides no obstacle for the Heroic Liberators!
So yeah, I had a little bit of fun here. It also shows off some of the terrain I finished recently to provide some sense of their scale with the Bolt Action armour.
I guess now I need to get hold of a platoon worth of German Armour, so these guys have someone to fight. Panthers? PzIV? Both? Hmm…
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Great work on those. They look exactly like I – someone with mainly a Hollywood level of “knowledge” of the Eastern Front – think they should look.
I agree about complex kits: they give plenty of options for people who want to spend all their time cutting things up and sticking them back together again, but my main motivator is to get them painted and on the table. Simple kits for me too please.
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Thanks! The wide variety of Soviet markings means that while the above tank deco would not have been common at all, it’s still very feasable. And let’s face it, there were a LOT of Soviet tanks out there. I’ve had a look at some other kits and have an eye on some of Warlord’s other plastics. It’ll depend on price and simplicity. I simply can’t be arsed with resin/metal tanks for the most part. Some of them look like they’re sculpted out of chewing gum…
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These look really, really cool. Great job. Why did you enjoy painting these more than 40k tanks though?
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It’d be a combination of them being real tanks, with suspension and tracks that look like they could work (because they did!), easier to paint if you’re keepingit simple but with the ability to put just as much work into the weathering, and the fact that they look and feel much more enjoyable to work on, research and paint than a tank painted bright blue or red. Don’t get me wrong, I still think 40k tanks are cool, just real ones are cooler. I mean, these ones helped to defeat the Nazis!
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Hehe great answer
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Reblogged this on Azazel's Bitz Box. and commented:
The Imperfect Modeller’s post featring his US Willy Jeep got me thinking about my own limited assembly of WW2 plastic kits. I then found that this post was still Photophucked, so I repaired it, noticed it was nearing 4 years old, and decided to shine the spotlight on it again, however briefly.
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They do look good! In my experience painting numbers, letters etc that are meant to look hasty or temporary (as opposed to neatly stencilled and all the same size) is way more difficult, but you’ve done a good job there! I like ’em!
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Thanks – trying to get them in that middle space was a bit tricky, but they came up pretty decently in the end.
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