Jump to content

T-34C Turbo Mentor


Recommended Posts

I live about two hours south of Corpus Christi in McAllen, Tx and we get these little guys flying down here all the time. I've had this kit in my stash for about a year and when I saw there was a Texas Group Build going on I knew this was the perfect excuse to work on it.

776973d4.jpg

You gotta have the box shot first. The kit comes with decals for aircraft from P-cola so I'm gonna have to make the decals myself which will be a first for me.

997860fa.jpg

I scratch build the throttle and added a few wires to the cockpit. I know it's not a 100% accurate but at least it looks cool.

f3076946.jpg

Being that these planes are based in dusty South Texas I'm pretty sure they get pretty dirty inside. Those of you who have been to Corpus Christi NAS know how windy and dusty it is there, especially since the base sits right on the bay.

6e2b789e.jpg

And the seats all nice and dirty as well.

The resin that come with the kit is pretty nice and it comes from True Details which is a Squadron brand that is from Carrollton, Texas. So there's another Texas connection with kit it self.

Edited by xavi84
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Here's some progress on my little T-34 Turbo Mentor.

First up the IP. I used an finely sharpened white color pencil to attempt to draw on the gauges. It's kind of hard to tell in the photo but in person it doesn't look all that bad if I do say so myself. Then I added a drop of Testers canopy glue to simulate the glass for the finishing touch.

4ba4d0dc.jpg

7b8313c6.jpg

And here it is as it sits right now. I still need to do a bit of rescribing but now its starting to look like a air plane. The instructions say to add some nose weight so I have 30¢ worth of dimes super glued in the nose.

c513ea8d.jpg

After looking at photos of real T-34's I notice that when they are parted the elevators are down, so I decided to do a little bit of "plastic surgery".

effc8a21.jpg

And here we just a simple shot of the cockpit.

I also have a T-2C Buckeye that I have been working on for the longest time that needs to be re-scribed and re-painted so I'm gonna wait to have them both ready so I can kill two birds with one stone.

-xavi

Edited by xavi84
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

I haven't been able to get much work done on my T-34 lately since the semester is winding down for me and I've had a lot of projects that I needed to get done. Since my last post over a month ago I've rescribed some areas that were lost due to putty and last night I managed to work on the canopy. Vaccuform canopies SUCK! No pun intended.

1e3e801b.jpg

I managed to get this lump of plastic...

...into multiple lumps of plastic.

e9bebde1.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

Just a small update, now that the semester is over I'll have a lot more free time for building. In addition to this T-34 project and adding an other Texas Naval Trainer, the mighty T-2C Buckeye! I started this kit over 2 years ago and I wasnt happy with the way it was coming out so I decided to just rebuild the damn thing.

5f8359a3.jpg

9288dcea.jpg

and there it is with the Turbo Mentor

13177f8b.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...

It's coming along ok for the most part. Its in the painting phase as I type this.

IMG_0426.jpg

I gave it a primer coat with Testors spray paint then sprayed the white with Tamyia spray paint. I did all the masking today and was getting ready to airbrush the orange only to find out that after a good 8 years my Aztek airbrush has finally crapped out on me :bandhead2:

I'll probably go by Harbor Freight tomorrow to pick up one of their $20 airbrushes and see how that works out. I read some reviews on them and they seem to do a pretty good job for the price.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just got home from hobby lobby with my new toy as per Neo's suggestion.

airbrush.jpg

It was only 42 bones and is way better that what I would have got at harbor freight. . Hopefully I get some work done with it this weekend.

Edited by xavi84
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hope you like it but hum thats MY AIRBRUSH... SEE ITS GOT MY NAME ON IT :P

btw Don weiler made a review on his site on this AB

Edited by Neo
Link to post
Share on other sites

I finally got some paint on my T-34 today. My new Neo...I mean xavi84 iwata airbrush is freaking awesome! It has a great feel to it and it's the best 42 bucks I ever spent.

Well on to my progress.

IMG_0441.jpg

IMG_0439.jpg

IMG_0437.jpg

For some reason when I was peeling off the tape some paint came with it and ruined my straight lines. I've never had that happen before. Maybe I should have peeled the tape off while the paint was still wet. Oh well, I'm just gonna have to remask it and try pulling the tape off before the paint dries.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I finally got some paint on my T-34 today. My new Neo...I mean xavi84 iwata airbrush is freaking awesome! It has a great feel to it and it's the best 42 bucks I ever spent. .........

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I do believe a trip to Hobby Lobby is order. You have just sold another airbrush! :thumbsup:

Edited by mustanger
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...