I am going to build a dio depicting a buried Is-2 tank that is beong dug up. i am having difficulty nailing down a CIVILIAN tractor. I can be flexible on the time frame. I think there is a resin Zestorer ? and Hasagewa makes a couple modern crawler excavator/dozer. Maybe a Stalinez post war? If i cant nail down the tractor i may just use the farmer and some friends and animals but i thought having the tractor would be cool. I want to completely bury the tank and have parts of it exposed with vegetation and grass pulled back. Thanks for any help and suggestions!

Chris

There are a few in resin, not cheap if you know what I mean ..
http://www.balatonmodellshop.co.uk/K-700A-1/35
Kirovets K-700
Youtube for some inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22UfGUWX18A
they can get stuck if the ground is too soft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuz0eVsb33A
They also have a few farm tractors:
http://www.balatonmodellshop.co.uk/spl/937184/AFVs-vehicles-1-35

Some Zetor (Czech made) tractors:
http://www.tbmodels.cz/1-35---zetor-crystal---info.html

There is also the Belarus tractor by PlusModels:
https://www.modelchoice.net/catalogue/afv/afv-kits/soviet-earthmover-belorus-pm-338.html
A similar one in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5R7LG3jX8
Possibly exectly the same type as the resin kit mowing snow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgVTkH-U1NQ
similar one moving dirt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwb13jqnzzk

SKP has one tracked and two wheeled tractors:
http://www.skpmodel.eu/category.php?id_category=5&p=2
Maybe one of them is not released yet ...

/ Robin

Plus Models:
No.: 062 Scale: 1/35Complete kit
Lanz BULLDOG 35 HP, caterpillar tractor

Chris, nice plot ! I was thinking that if somebody were to find a buried tank that the military would get involved. Unexploded ordinance and the such. Maybe there would be a cheaper/easier plastic option, a BW, M88 for instance. I don't know how hard it would be to de-militarize Meng's D9R Caterpillar but they are exported worldwide.
Good luck with your project and please post some pictures !
Tom

Robin, Grrreat links as usual.. I want to keep the cost down that's why I was thinking of the Hasagewa options... They are about 23.00 USD but I don't know if they are exported to eastern Europe. Even in the 90s etc. I want to depict the initial finding not really the removal of the tank. I know most farmers don't have the equipment for removal and the military would be involved for sure.

One suggestion:
Farmer Ivan Ivanovitch is extending or reworking a ditch from his field into the edge of the forest (bushes and stuff) and then he digs onto something hard which isn't a rock. Now he needs to dig around the obstacle and the ditch widens out until he realises what he has run into.

Bushes as backdrop, straight ditch from the "front" of the diorama leading into a pit, 2-3 times wider than the ditch, no need to go deep to find a way around. Possibly some probing holes left and right to search for a way forward.
Ivan, his dog, wife, some kids, his neighbours being curious about why Ivan is digging a hole. He would have struck the barrel or the turret. Maybe the turret top blocking the lower half of the ditch and Ivan is now digging left or right to get past and then he realises that there is something more worthwhile than a simple ditch at the edge of his field.
No need for heavy equipment yet. Maybe a wheel barrow with his digging tools, spade, showel, pickaxe, crowbar for just in case it is needed, an axe to deal with larger roots, maybe something to drink/eat. Maybe there is an existing ditch, almost at right angles to the one Ivan is digging, and some fenceposts between the buried tank and the bushes.

/ Robin

Edit: One more thought. You could indicate that a farm tractor has been around by making tracks in the soil. Get some toy tractor and roll the wheels to make tracks.
A 1/32 scale tractor is close enough in axle width and the widths differed between different types and makes of tractor.

And another one: Scratches in the rusted turret/barrel made by farmer Ivans spade/pickaxe/crowbar. Either shiny metal or fresh (bright orange) rust against the dark brown rust.