Academy 1/35 T-34/76 No.183 Factory Production Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

In the late 1930s, Soviet forces engaged the Japanese around the Manchurian border, and while the Japanese Ha-Go light tanks were technically no match for the Soviet BT and T-26 tanks, the poor construction of the Soviet armor along with gasoline-powered engines made them vulnerable to any ignition source. Soviet planners replaced the BT and T-26 with a better design that would become the T-34. The first iteration of the T-34 was the model 1940 armed with the L-11 76.2mm main gun, and while the basic design was sound, the gun did not prove effective. Production was quickly shifted to the model 1941 which incorporated the F-34 76.2mm main gun as well as receiving additional armor plate thickness. While the T-34 still suffered from quality control problems with welding and materials during construction, the tank was mass-produced across several factories. One such factory had been relocated east to the Ural mountains to become Tank Factory 183 and the largest producer of the T-34.

According to the top commanders of the German Wehrmacht, the Soviet T-34 was the finest tank ever produced. While technically classified as a medium tank, the T-34 out-classed everything that Germany could build and send east until the arrival of the Tiger and Panther tanks, and even then the Soviets simply up-gunned the T-34 with an 85mm main gun in place of the original 76mm gun. Had the war lasted any longer, Germany might have been able to field one of several heavy tank designs that might have been a match for the T-34, but it is just as well that didn't happen as they would have encountered the Josef Stalin heavy tanks and still lost the tank war.

Last year, Academy released their first installment in the T-34/76 series with the T-34/76 747(r) which incorporated a number of engineering changes made by the Wehrmacht when they pressed the captured tanks into service. This time we have the kit based upon the model 1941 with the details typical of No.183 production.

The kit is molded in light gray styrene presented on 26 parts trees plus two trees molded in gray and a small fret of photo-etched parts. Among the features and options:

• While there is no interior in this kit, the hull does have the suspension troughs as well as a firewall between the engine and crew compartments
• Choice of T-34 or OT-34 turret
• Commander and loader hatches are positionable (but no interior)
• Choice of flat hatch or cupola for commander
• Optional stowage boxes on rear of hull
• Positionable driver's hatch (but no interior)
• Photo-etched engine deck grille
• Link and length track
• Choice of road wheels (see below)

The kit provides markings for the following subjects:

• T-34/76, 27, unknown unit, Prokhovka, 1943
• T-34/76, 37, 264th Armored Brigade, Ukraine, 1943
• T-34/76, 103, unknown unit, Kursk, 1943
• OT-34/76, 111, unknown unit, Pskov
• OT-34/76, C-6, unknown unit

One of the interesting features of this kit is with your choice of road wheels,. Included in the kit are three styles of T-34 roadwheels: stamped 'dish' wheels with rubber tires; butterfly wheels with rubber tires; and butterfly wheels without tires. There are 10 sets of each type of wheel included in the kit, enough to build the model with all of one style wheel or to mix and match wheels as the Germans did when remanufacturing captured vehicles. If you are a T-34 modeler, you'll have many extra wheel sets to use for future projects.

As usual, this is another nice offering from Academy and will be a relatively quick and easy T-34 project. The simple link and length track with make that task easy (but can be replaced with aftermarket individual track links) and with the only photo-etch used in this kit covering the engine deck, this is a good kit for basic modelers wanting to ease into the more advanced building techniques such as photo-etch.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this sample!