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As a lot of people here know, I've been painting for quite awhile. Despite that, I've never actually painted any WW2 models until recently - specifically, these ones. Well, I did some 1/72 model kits about 20 years ago, but nothing really since then. I don't really paint much armour of any kind - I've barely even painted any of 40k vehicles in the time I've been painting and modelling.

So, 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.

Now, quite a few pics. Lots more on the Wordpress blog for those interested.

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85
T-32/34 321 "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.


Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85
T-32/34 322 "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.

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85
T-32/34 322 "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 found I enjoyed painting these up with their military greens, rough damage and weathering more than I've enjoyed painting any 40k tanks ever as well.


The T-34/85 platoon shows off their freehand slogans.
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!

And now - some action shots!


The sun shines on our glorious boys as they heroically push back the opressors! За Родину!


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...

Yes - this is cross-posted from my P&M blog, but it's kinda hidden away over there, since that forum is very 40k-centric. So being appropriate for this forum, I thought I'd throw it in here as well. I've been doing a fair bit of scenery that will work well in multiple eras as well recently, but posting that stuff here would be overkill, so I'll stick to proper historicals when I (cross)post finished stuff here.

Those look great mate, you must have a pretty steady hand to free hand on the turrets.

Very nice work, really well done.

I wont say a word about red stars... They do add colour though.

Well, from what I researched, they were used. Just not often. These are obviously from one of those relatively rare units that did. Right?

They look excellent. I can only hope mine will look a bit like this eventually!

Azazlex,

It certainly was in use, as you have it, here on this model 43,



It was rare, and seems very rare on T34/85s until post-war.

That said, im all for a bit of artistic management, especially when they look as nice as these.

Turret numbers would be on both sides of the turret though for ID purposes... as would the unit marking in general.

Very impressed with your lettering, looks as good as a decal.

Thanks!

Interesting, P. I found quite a lot of plates/guide images/etc that had turret numbers only on one side - or more to the point, entirely absent. I got the idea for the red stars on one side with slogans on the other from some nicely put together model kits I found on the web. Until then I was leaning towards not having any, but the small splash of colour looked too nice.

I won't go and touch these three up with additional numbers, as there's no space left on the left side with the Guards badge there, (the decal seems a little big, to me) but I'll keep it in mind for the next Soviet tanks I put together - and for my 15mm ones, when I get back to them. When you talk about unit markings, do you mean the diamond, or the Guards badge?