Historical Background
In the mid-1950s, Soviet military commanders realised that the 100 mm gun of the T-54/55 was incapable of penetrating the frontal armour of Western tanks such as the M48 and the Centurion. While a 100 mm HEAT round could be the answer, such rounds are less accurate than an APDS round due to low velocity. Therefore a bigger gun, which allows a higher muzzle velocity was needed. A 115 mm smoothbore D-54T gun was integrated into the T-55 but the trial failed as the higher recoil of the gun require a bigger turret and turret ring to absorb it. This in turn require a larger hull. At the Uralvaganzavod (UVZ) factory in Nizhny Tagil, engineer Leonid Kartsev was working on a design dubbed Ob'yekt 140. However due to its complicated construction, it was deemed too expensive for series production and the project was terminated. Some features of Ob'yekt 140 however were incorporated into Ob'yekt 155 (which became the T-55).
At the end of 1958, Kartsev revisited Ob'yekt 140. He added cartridge case ejector and mounted it onto a modified T-55 chassis. The hull modifications include a redesigned central hull and re-arranged torsion bar suspension and was known as Ob'yekt 165. In the meantime, faced with the Royal Ordnance L7 105 mm gun, attempts were made to recaliber the D-54TS 100 mm tank gun. The modifications include the removal of the rifling, producing a new 115 mm caliber, reducing the profile of the ammunition chamber, eliminating the muzzle brake and adding bore evacuator at the middle of the gun. In effect, this is the world's first smoothbore tank gun Known as U-5TS 'Molot' Rapira, the gun was fitted onto Ob'yekt 140 and Ob'yekt 165 and received the new designation Obyekt 166. Although the U-5TS is less accurate than the D-54TS, the higher muzzle velocity and greater range more than makes up its inadequacy. With the failure of Morozov's Ob'yekt 430 and intelligence reports on the US M60 and the new British Chieftain tank, Marshal Vasily Chuikov, the Commander-in-Chief of Soviet Army's Ground Forces demanded that the production of Ob'yekt 166 be started immediately. Production of the T-62, as Ob'yekt 166 was now called, began in July 1961.
The T-62 is basically a stretched T-55 with the conventional layout for a tank. The wheels are still mounted on the same five torsion bar suspension but there are uneven gaps between the roadwheels, with larger gaps between the last three pair of wheels. The T-62 is powered by a water-cooled diesel engine developing 581 hp at 2,000 rpm. This is the same engine as the T-55 and as the T-62 is heavier, power-to-weight ratio is lower than the earlier tank. Fuel capacity is 960 liters which can be boosted to 1,360 liters with the addition of two 200-liter jettisonable fuel tank at the rear. Operational off-road range was 320 km - 450 km. Maximum off-road speed is 40 km/h. The frontal armour is thicker than the T-55 (102 mm for hull front and 242 mm on turret front) although thinner for the roof and lower side armour. As mentioned, the main armament is the 115 mm 'Molot' Rapira smoothbore cannon firing APFSDS, HEAT and HE rounds. The gun is fitted with a two-axis 'Meteor' stabiliser and can be elevated or depressed between +16 to -6.The gun is manually loaded and gets automatically reset to +3.5 after firing. An automatic cartridge ejector then ejects the empty cartridge through a hatch at the rear of the turret. A 7.62 mm PKT machine gun is mounted co-axial with the main gun while a DShK 12.7 mm heavy machine gun can be mounted on the loader's hatch.
In July 1961, the T-55 was partially replaced at the production lines at Uralvagonzavod (Nizhny Tagil), Malyshev Factory (Kharkov) and at Factory No.183 at Omsk. More than 20,000 T-62s were built by the production ended in 1975. Unlike the T-55 however, the T-62 did not enjoy the same export success. In the Warsaw Pact, only Bulgaria purchased the tank while only a handful of other Soviet client states bought the tank. Apparently the higher cost (more than twice the T-55), while only slightly better than the T-55, puts many prospective customers off. Furthermore, in 1968, a 100 mm HVAPDS round capable of penetrating Western tank armour was developed. This made the T-55 gun almost as effective as the T-62, undercutting the T-62's selling point of a bigger, more powerful gun. Elsewhere, only North Korea produced the T-62 under licence and since the early 1990s, the Second Machine Industry Bureau have designed a derivative of the T-62, known as the Chonma-Ho series. Nevertheless the T-62 saw service in a number of countries including Egypt, Syria, Angola, Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Ethiopia, Yemen and Mongolia.
The T-62 saw combat for the first time during the 1969 Sino-Soviet border conflict where tank No.545 was disabled by projectile fired by a Type 56 RPG. The tank was captured by the Chinese, studied and became the basis for their Type 69. Egypt and Syria used their T-62s quite effectively against Israeli M48 and Centurion tanks during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Large numbers were nevertheless captured by the Israelis at the end of the war and were put into Isareli service as the Tiran-3 while modified T-62s were given the designation Tiran-6. A number of these captured T-62s were sent to West Germany and the USA where they were examined and were used to help develop the Rheinmetall 120 mm gun. Iraqi T-62s also performed well against Iranian tanks and took part in Battle of Dezful where 214 Iranian tanks were destroyed in exchange for 45 Iraqi T-62s. I Africa T-62s were used by the Libyans during the Toyota War of 1987 where they were bested against Chadian forces equipped with MILAN ATGWs and Panhard AML-90 armoured cars. Angolan T-62s were also defeated by South African Eland and Ratel-90 AFVs. T-62s also equipped Ethiopian and Cuban forces during the Ogaden War. The T-62 also equipped Soviet forces during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s.
The Kit
In 1/35 scale, modellers only have Tamiya's 1979-vintage kit of the T-62 (labelled 'T-62A' by Tamiya; misnamed because T-62A is the limited production version of Ob'yekt 165). The Tamiya kit suffer from a number of rather glaring inaccuracies especially with regards to dimension and the general shape of the turret. However since 2009, Trumpeter has come to the rescue with a new-tool T-62. Starting with Model 1962, the Trumpeter version of the T-62 is not perfect but it was way better than the vintage Tamiya kit. The Trumpeter kit I use for this build is the 2015 'Model 1975' (on the real T-62 Model 1975, this particular version is the T-62 Model 1972 with a KTD-1 or KTD-2 laser rangefinder mounted over the main gun). The kit reflected this by adding parts for the laser rangefinder and also adding sprues for figures. The kit parts are spread among ten light grey sprues, seven brown (the tracks), a lower hull, five black sprues (four for the tyres plus one for sidearms), one clear sprue, one rubbery, DS Styrene-like sprue for crew helmets, three sheets of brass PE, a turned aluminium barrel, a length of braided copper wire plus a small decal sheet.
Construction
As usual, construction started at the lower regions. Trumpeter has you assemble the road wheels first but I decided to do the lower hull instead. As mentioned elsewhere, some modifications were needed to ensure an accurate rear hull. I'm however quite satisfied with the status quo and cemented the rear hull plate to the lower hull as instructed. There are two options for the lower front plate - one plain, the other with mountings for the mine-clearing device moulded onto it. I chose the latter as it is more visually interesting. After dry-fitting the upper hull plate to the lower hull pan, I decided that it wouldn't interfere with the track-link assembly process later on and therefore I moved to the upper hull. The relevant holes drilled first (some are actually pre-drilled) and the driver's periscopes were cemented in place. The turret guard rails were also cemented at this time but their fit is slightly off. Most of the fittings on the front upper glacis plate were then cemented into place. The engine deck assembled without a hitch although I did not use the PE engine screen as the covers (Parts E1, H2 and H3) completely obscure them.
Now comes my love-hate part of building armour models : the driving gear, specifically the tracks. I find pre-painting and assembling them tedious. Nevertheless assembling the road wheels did not take long as the are only 10 road wheel pairs. Still, Trumpeter did not include poly caps to secure the wheels (including the idler) in place and they need to be glued to the suspension arms. The sprocket fits well in place and can still be rotated despite not having poly caps. Trumpeter dd not specify how many links were needed to complete the track run although I found that you need 91-93 by counting the links in the illustration. I however, follow a fellow modeller's advice of 'as many as it takes', especially considering that the T-62 has 'dead' tracks. Speaking of dead tracks, it was quite hard to achieve a convincing sag as the tracks are not workable. However they are still better than the rubber band type. Some weathering work was done on the upper run of the track before the fenders were put in place. I was thinking of adding fuel lines for the fender-mounted tanks but scrapped the idea as I have run out of brass (and even plastic) rods.
For the turret, like the the earlier parts of the build, Trumpeter has you build up the sub-assemblies and this time I stick to the instructions. Afterwards, various holes were drilled into the turret shell. Some of the holes need to be drilled from the outside, no problems really but the locations were not cleanly marked. Then Parts L4, B46, B56 and G9 were cemented into place they location would be inaccessible once the lower part of the turret is in place. The various fittings and the earlier turret sub-assemblies where then cemented to the turret. The tie-downs to the right of the ammo ejector port were placed a bit further than the one in instructions, according to photos of the real T-62. For the thingie at the back of the turret (loader's machine travel bracket?), I used the plastic instead of the PE assembly. To ease painting, the KTD box was left off at this time. I used the turned metal barrel while the covered mantlet was used. (Note: the parts number for the mantlet was reversed in the instructions). Part B22 however did not fit the metal barrel at all and I had to make a small cut at the 6 o'clock position to make it fit.
Painting and Decalling
The tracks were painted AK Interactive Track Primer while still on the sprue. After they were assembled, an application of the same company's Track Wash was used. As for the main colour, Trumpeter still has Tamiya's XF-20 Medium Grey as 'Light Green'. Anyway, the actual colour for post-World War 2 Soviet tanks is named 'Zashchitniy Zeleno'. I do not have this particular colour and had to look for alternatives. My usual choice of Tamiya XF-65 Field Grey has run out some time before (and my usual hobby shop did not stock that particular colour). Browsing the internet, I found that XF-67 NATO Green can also be used for post-war Soviet tanks. I do have this colour but I chuckled at the irony of using a paint named "NATO Green' on a Soviet tank model! Anyway after the base paint has cured, a lighter layer of the green was applied to raised and ópen' areas. The decals were applied next. Although Trumpeter a 'number jungle', I just used '720' as in the instruction as it has already pre-arranged on the decal sheet. I also added the tactical markings although it was not mentioned in the instructions.
Finishing
Not much was actually done at this time. I just cemented the AA MG on the loader's hatch, gun cleaning rod onto the engine deck, the spare ammo boxes on the right-hand side of the turret and the log and the spare track on the rear lower hull panel. The model then received the usual wash using stuff from AK Interactive. The same stuff was also used to create the streaking effect. The model then received an overall layer of 'dust', which was created using highly diluted Tamiya XF-57 Buff. The lower hull and the running gear then received sprinklings and dabbings of WWP Aqualine Brown Mud to represent dried mud on the model. A bit of variation to the weathering was done using AK Interactive Earth Effects Wash. The commander's hatch was glued in the open position (earlier on) as I wanted to have a figure in it. I chose the one with the right hand against the headphone. The guy is just given a basic painting step as I am not good in painting figures. The model then received an overall coating of Flat Clear to finish the build.
Conclusion
Trumpeter's 1/35 kit is a very nice scale rendition of the T-62. Sure, it has some shortcomings especially the angle of the rear plate against the engine and the angled loader's hatch (it should perpendicular with the commander's hatch), but it was way better than the old Tamiya T-62. I don't have the rest of the T-62s in the series although I believe they all share the same problems. Nevertheless they are not deal breakers and can be safely ignored by the out-of-the box crowd (the straight rear plate is more or less hidden/disguised by the external fuel tanks and the log).
