I have had this Rubicon T34/85 sitting (partially built) on my "To-Do" table for a while.

Various factors have caused it to be looked over (I do not really have a use for it, and I have thought about using it for post war conflicts across the world) and also I was looking for some inspiration.

A while back I bought the T34 NVA book from Tankograd (NVA is Nationalen Volks Armee, the army of the East Germany).

On page 31 there is a rear view of a T34/85 stacked high with stowage (something that tends to be missing from most photographs of T34s - well property is theft).

So having found all the bits I began to think about what needed to be done.

If you have seen this model previously on the blog, you will have seen that it has previously had hand rails added to the turret. One of the features of the NVA tanks is a large box on the turret bustle, this will of course cover the previously added hand rail.

I looked through my stock of bits, and decided to use one of the tool boxes from the Rubicon German Stowage set. It is not an accurate model of the NVA addition, but is square (or rectangular - you know what I mean).

Having added hand rails to the turret, I decided to add some to the hull.

I used a Bill Bedford Models hand rail bending jig to make the hand rails and the holes in the hull.

I bought mine at a model railway show many years ago, they are available on the Internet.

One of the distinctive features is the Notes light on the glacis and its brush shield.

A 1.5mm hole was drilled in the glacis and a piece of 1.5mm plastic rod was pushed through and cut horizontally. A piece of 2mm by 0.8mm plastic strip was cut and shaped as the top of the light.

The brush guard was made from 0.7mm brass rod, again holes were drilled for the rod which was bent using the jig.