Stalin's Steamroller Part II

Historical Background

The T-34 was a shock to the invading Germans when they launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The tank has a good balance between firepower, mobility and protection. The Germans initially responded by upgrading the guns of their primary tanks - Panzerkampfwagen III and IV. This was followed by the arguably the most iconic tanks of World War 2 - the Panther and the Tiger. The Panther was almost a direct response to the T-34 with sloped armour and wide tracks. For firepower the Panther was armed with the long KwK 42 L/70 75mm gun while the Tiger was thickly armoured and armed with the excellent KwK 36 L/56 88mm gun.

To counter these new threats, the Soviet Main Directorate of Armoured Forces ordered the Morozov Design Bureau to design a new tank with increased protection, torsion-bar suspension, new gearbox and a three-man turret. The new tank was designated T-43 and was intended to be a universal tank replacing both the T-34 and the KV-1. The project however received a low priority and the two prototypes were only delivered in December 1942 and March 1943. To help ease production, the T-43 was to be armed with the same F-34 76.2mm gun of the T-34. Mobility however was worse than the T-34, being slower and that the armour cannot withstand a hit from an 88mm shell. Nonetheless the T-43 has a better ride and gearbox and the larger turret was appreciated by the test crew. However, combat reports following the Battle of Kursk pointed out that the new German Panther and Tiger tanks are impervious to the 76.2mm shells except at suicidally close ranges while their guns outranged the Soviets'. An existing anti-aircraft gun, the 85mm 52-K has the firepower to match the German tanks but with the T-43 already suffering from mobility problems, plus the need to completely retool the production lines, the project was cancelled.

On 25 August 1943, the State Defence Committee met and decided to upgrade the T-34 with a new gun. To ensure minimal disruption, only the turret would be changed, The 85mm M1939 (52-K) was again chosen as it had a muzzle velocity of 792 m/s. One design team was assigned to convert it for tank use and it entered production as the D-5, and was first mounted onto SU-85 tank destroyers. Other teams proposed the S-18 and the ZiS-53 guns. The S-18 was dropped as it was not compatible with the D-5 mount. The D-5 was re-tested and was found to have some minor defects and limited elevation. The ZiS-53 showed mediocre ballistic performance and had to be redesigned as the Zis-S-53. The D-5 (as the D-5T) armed the initial batch of the T-34/85 while the ZiS-S-53 was chosen for mass production. The long gun (55 calibres) without a muzzle brake, now necessitates a large turret to contain the recoil. The turret was adopted from the T-43 and was large enough to accomodate three crew members. This additional crew member frees the commander from loading duties, allowing him to concentrate on locating targets and to have a better situational awareness in combat. The T-34/85 gave the Soviets a tank that with a better armour and armament against the workhorse Panzerkampfwagen IV tanks and Sturmgeschutz III assault guns even though it was still inferior against the Panther with its KwK 42 L/70 gun.

The T-34/85 did not totally replace the earlier 76mm-armed versions and both versions served side by side, although the -85 eventually outnumbered the -76. The early batches of the T-34/85 were issued to the elite Guards units and were first used during Operation Bagration in June 1944. Against the Germans, the T-34/85 was used until the final battle in Berlin. In the Far East, the T-34/85 formed the spearhead of Soviet armoured columns during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation (alternately known as Operation August Storm) in August 1945. There, they totally outclassed the Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha / Shinhoto Chi-Ha medium tanks. Although production stopped at the end of World War 2, the production lines was reopened in 1947 and apart from the Soviet forces, the T-34/85 was exported to allied and client states of the Soviet Union. The tank was used by North Korean forces during the Korean War, Arab armies during the numerous wars in the Middle East, numerous countries in Africa during the various conflicts there, North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and by the warring forces during the 1990s Balkans War. From 1944-1945, 22,609 T-34/85s were built with another 2,701 built postwar. Licence production in Poland and Czechoslovakia accounted for another 4,565.    

The Kit

This is the first incarnation of the Dragon T-34/85, being released in 1997. The kit then formed the basis for later releases of the T-34/85, adding PE parts for the 'Premium Edition' releases and figures for the 'Orange Box' value pack. The parts are moulded in the standard Dragon light grey styrene and are spread between 20 sprues and a one-piece lower hull.The parts are well-moulded although the biggest weakness is that solid transmission exhaust cover. 'Magic Track' is still in the future when the kit was released and the links would have to be cut off the sprue. Road wheels are of the 'full spider' type. The decals provide markings for five tanks, all in 4BO Green:

1. Soviet Army, Minsk 1944

2. Soviet Army, Berlin 1945

3. Polish Peoples' Army, Prague 1945

4. Soviet Army, Rosja 1944

5. Soviet Army, Eastern Prussia 1945

Construction

As usual, construction starts with the lower hull. I followed the construction steps to the letter (almost). The suspension were first glued in place. Then the running gears (idler and drive wheels) were added, but not yet glued to the chassis. This was followed by the road wheels but I left off the outside wheels at this time, to facilitate assembling the tracks. Since the T-34 used the Christie suspension with large road wheels and with no return rollers, assembly was quick, Also to ease matters, the completed lower hull was painted at this time. As this is the original release of Dragon's T-34/85, there are no Magic Track links. The separate track links were cut off their sprues, cleaned, painted and kept in a container. Once all of the track links have been so processed, they were assembled. The links had tight fit and hard to get together. Furthermore I think I have goofed up when assembling the left-hand suspension, This in turn affected the track assembly - the were uneven numbers of the toothed and flat track links and I can't complete the track loop. So, I have to trim two of the 'toothed' link to act as 'cheaters' and complete the track assembly. 

Attention was then turned to the upper hull. While the plastic grilles for the side and upper vents were acceptable, the grille for the radiator cover was solid, making it the weakest feature of the model. The rear panel have the wiring for the smoke generators but curiously, the generators themselves were not included. The exhausts and their covers were not installed at this moment to ease painting. At the front glacis plate, the hull MG fairing and the driver's hatch were cemented. Boxes on the fenders were also affixed at this time together with the mountings for the external fuel tanks. The tanks and the tankovy desant rails were however not cemented at this time. 

Finally (before painting, that is) the turret was put together. The upper shell of the turret have separate cheeks which need to be cemented carefully to avoid unsightly seams. The gun mantlet was then placed on its cradle and the upper and lower shells were cemented together. Afterwards turret fittings such as ventilation domes, viewing slits, turret lifting hooks and tie downs were cemented. The rail was left off to allow placement of decals first. The commander's cupola was assembled and the hatch was set in the closed position as I have no suitable figures.  

Painting and Decaling

Painting Soviet tanks was simple : 4BO green. What's not that simple is to get that 'correct' shade. The model was originally painted a mixture of XF-61 Dark Green, XF-3 Flat Yellow and XF-2 Flat White.Afterwards it was time for the markings. I'm a sucker for Soviet WW2 tanks with slogans and therefore narrowed the choice to just two - the first and the fourth options. The latter was more unique by having kill marks (I presume) on the gun barrel but I decided to do the more restrained first option - 'Chevronny'. The decals went on beautifully although I dabbed a bit of flat white over decals to simulate the hand-painted design often found on Soviet WW2 tanks. And that basically completed my build.

Years later (early in April this year actually) while I was removing dust from the display cabinet I accidentally dropped the -85. Thankfully only a number of the track links came loose. However the accident prompted me to do a makeover on the kit, just the painting would suffice. This time, I used the Tamiya 'recipe' of equal parts of XF-58 Olive Green and XF-4 Yellow Green. There was a bit of difficulty painting round the turret markings as before but they still look good (to my eyes). The model was then given a wash with the tracks now given a wash of AK Interactive Track Wash. After that, I applied a green filter layer (more or less).


Finishing

The rest of the parts can now be finally fitted. There weren't many of them, just the rails and the external fuel tanks. I also noticed that the hull MG barrel has broken and I replaced it with a length of plastic rod. Once the glue has dried I touched the paint at the contact areas. Finally the lower hull was slathered with a mixture of Mig Production Rubble Dust pigment and water. The excess was removed with a stiff brush once dry.

Conclusion

This is the granddaddy of Dragon T-34s, especially the -85 versions. The kit is fairly simple but have adequate details. Sure, it has its shortcomings and that it wasn't really a Model 1944 and all but it definitely has its charms. The kit has since been upgraded somewhat with later releases which fixed some of the issues and also add PE parts for modelers to have a better-looking T-34/85. Hate it or love it, the re-issues also include Magic Tracks, reducing further workload.