Stalingrad Redux Part 3 - Dug in T34

This is one of those "I have a cunning plan" moments. Reading up on the battle it became clear that the German Panzers had a lot of problems with dug in Soviet T34s, mainly due to the difficulties in spotting them before they could get their shot away. Initially I was very sceptical about how powerful these would be in Chain Of Command (and said so on the Facebook Group), My experience with CoC over the years is that if you sacrifice your mobility you lose. Stationary tanks in CoC are very vulnerable to infantry close assault, particularly in close terrain. When I thought about it a bit more however I do see the point - in real life, and in CoC, the tank that gets the first shot usually wins against another tank, so being able to deploy and shoot with a tank near a Jump Off Point is actually very handy indeed (apols to the guys on Facebook).

Anyway I decided I needed a dug in T34. I didn't want to just put some earth banks around a normal full kit, I wanted to show it was properly dug in. I contemplated buying a kit and chopping the hull down, but that seemed like a faff too far. Then I wondered if Paul Davison could print me something suitable on his 3d printer? I explained \ badgered him about this and he went away and seemingly forgot, then a week or so later dropped off a pla print of a T34 that he had amended the files so as to cut the hull down to just above the running gear. I have to say it was almost perfect for my needs.

I decided to paint it as one of the alleged unpainted models that was rushed out of the factory onto the battlefront. I suspect this is a bit of propaganda but it certainly looks different. I built up some earth around the hull and a quick paint later here is the result - and most pleased about it I am.

Here it is cunningly hiding on my painting table!

The only problem now is I want to build and paint a full hulled version in a similar scheme - maybe a "bitser" with a painted hull and bare turret or................