Mr Potato-Head

[raafif]

Just had to get this final version of the venerable T-34-85 for my collection -- The Yugoslav Type-A Tank.
Marquette kit with new resin upper-hull & turret.

In 1944 Tito was determined to make the post-war Yugoslavia a technological force.  To this end he insisted that the Armoury build the T-34-85 in house – they had previously modified German SdKfz-250s & US M-3 Stuarts.
Only six of the new Jugo Type-A’s were built & tested proving that the new upper hull & turret were a better ballistic shape, the turret a bit more spacious & the gun improved.  Unfortunately the engine was not up to the engineering standards of Russian-built engines & the whole project was too expensive for the improvement.  Despite this they later tried the same improvement programme on the T-54.

[Frank3k]

That looks both good and different!

[Kerick]

Very interesting!

[Claymore]

  

[raafif]

This kit is basically accurate & only needs some fine work on a few parts like the ‘D’ fuel tank ends.  As usual with these combined resin & plastic kits, the instructions could be better so good reference photos are necessary.

Assembly - the basic hull & turret.
The flat plastic bottom & side plates of the Marquette kit went together ok with only a few gaps to fill.  Had to do much trimming of the lower hull sides to get the resin upper hull to join properly at the front.  Some fudging of the rear end was needed as the resin upper hull was 1mm short, so I had to replace the hinges & add a filler bar to look nice.
After slight trimming of the excess resin from the molding process, the turret top & bottom halves went together well only needing some putty along the join.  Said join is a bit rougher than in reality & lacks the raised bead which I may add later.  I replaced the commander’s cupola with the parts from a spare Tamiya T-34-85 turret as the resin part was molded shut – surprisingly the Tamiya parts fitted perfectly.  To finish the turret I still have to fit the mantlet & barrel properly and add tie-down loops, lift hooks & periscopes.

[raafif]

Started on the suspension – consisting of 40 parts, most of them needed extra trimming & cleaning up.  All 20 of these “spider” wheel halves have sink marks around their circumference, varying from shallow to deep & several have blocked holes.  For the first set of Marquette wheels I used (on a Tamiya kit), I went to the effort of puttying the sink marks but never again.  I should be able to put the better ones on the outside or take some from a second kit which will get a different style of wheels.  Covering the wheels with mud is a good option for these Marquette kits as the molds are completely worn out, you should only buy these to get any of the unusual special resin conversions they come with.
The individual-link tracks have previously proved ok, just tedious to assemble.

[Frank3k]

The Maquette kit dates from 1996, which is surprising. They also made the BT-5 and BT-7 that were reboxed by Italeri, Zvezda and many others.

[GTX_Admin]

Some info on this:  https://warhistory.org/@msw/article/teski-tenk-vozilo-a-heavy-tank-type-a

[raafif]

A couple of pics of the Marquette wheels & their problems ...

[raafif]

The inner & outer wheels are the same part.  I found 10 good wheels for the outer ones (a mix of those from two kits), though all needed re-drilling of the small holes for a uniform look.  Assembled them with several reject ones hidden on the inside & added the bearing caps.  A few of the rejects had bad sink marks on the inside the rims too but someone may have a use for these spares.

[Frank3k]

If you weather this, mud could hide some of the worst of the sins. Otherwise, paint the wheels black first, then add the tank color on the outwards facing wheels.

[Frank3k]

Some info on this:  https://warhistory.org/@msw/article/teski-tenk-vozilo-a-heavy-tank-type-a

Truly a real life whiff. Good article.

[raafif]

If you weather this, mud could hide some of the worst of the sins. Otherwise, paint the wheels black first, then add the tank color on the outwards facing wheels.

  Done.  Fitting one, I found that the axles are a bigger diameter than the hole in the wheels so I will now have to drill out 10 axle holes too

[raafif]

Slowly getting there.  The mantlet & barrel are a bit fiddly - I had to clean up the barrel's mini pepper-pot muzzel-brake - still needs more attention.
Really only the tracks to do now.  I usually add 95% of the track run then to help a good fit, I add the adjustable front idler last.

[Old Wombat]

That looks very ... "chonky"!

[Frank3k]

It almost looks like a "super deformed" T-34!

[raafif]

Perverted it is ... but you can't have a collection of odd T-34's without it

[raafif]

Finally !!  finished the tracks, so tedious, I might prefer watching the wood on my fence warp.

Added exhaust pipes & a bow MG.  Fitted the mantlet, barrel & added an MG then a final coat of paint.
Put on some Jugoslav emblems from an old (1970s) Esci decal sheet – there were many such 1/72nd aircraft sheets for other nations including the U.N., each sheet covered up to 7 countries.  Unfortunately these ones were printed on a vinyl base not straight on clear decal film and had to be glued on as their glue had dried out & they curled up.
Added a standard Tamiya Soviet commander.

I have one other of these Marquette T-34s to build for another conversion but now know all the pitfalls of these kits.

[apophenia]

Very nice  And a build of a tank variant that I had never heard of before you mentioned it!

Also, your 'fence wood' diorama was equally convincing   

[Frank3k]

Wow, that looks like a bruiser! The decals/vinyl look good.

[raafif]

Very nice  And a build of a tank variant that I had never heard of before you mentioned it!

Also, your 'fence wood' diorama was equally convincing   

Thanks.  The fence diorama is in 1:1 scale & I can't really claim any credit.