I'm gearing up for my first Flames of War tournament on the 10th, and am planning to bring a Guards (Red Army) Tankovy Battalion into the fight. That being said, I needed a lot of T-34's in a hurry, and on a budget. PSC seemed to be the way to go. At $25 for a box of 5, vs a blister of 1 tank for $15 or a boxed set of 5 for $60... we all can do the math.
Assembly wasn't bad, but the track can be a bit fiddly, and I tried many different methods of getting that track on without too much trouble or the gaps that everyone seems to be getting. I think I solved the problem to about 80%, by gluing the tracks on prior to installing them on the running gear. It takes the patience to allow the glue to fully dry and cure, with a combination of "super" glue, and proper plastic cement.
Painting was easy, the PSC had good clean lines, but had little detail. BF had less rear-deck detail, but more storage and clutter to catch highlight colors. Still, I think they both turned out fine. I used Krylon "Camoflague" green spray paint. It's a primer, geared for plastics, and is WELL worth the expense. It sprays very smooth, covers fantastically, and in this case comes out looking most like the US Olive Drab spray paint put out by BF. I used that as my darker base, and higlighted liberally with Polly-S "Panzer Olive Green". Two black oil washes for depth, and a brown wash for weathering, and here we are. I still have some work to do, with one track still needing to finish assembly and basecoat/priming, the rest need attention to the track and tow cables. I'm debating whether or not to add dust effects, or just keep them clean.
The Dedov model I'm using for my battalion command track, the rest I'm using for the line companies. Right now, for the tourney I'll have to sub some Shermans, but another box or two of PSC tanks and that problem will be solved. Wish me luck!
