I'll admit I'm out of my league here, so I'm asking for a bit of help.

I was just given a very nice set of Bison decals - set #35046, for the T-34/85 - by a friend of mine. On the decal sheet are markings for two Polish tanks, and the instruction sheet calls for them to be used on a 34/85 with the 1944 composite turret. Of course, I figure I'm going to use those on the next T-34 I build, because I don't have any Polish tanks on the shelf yet.

Now AFAIK, the Dragon T-34/85 1944 kits have the flattened-style turrets. I thought that Anubis was casting a composite turret for the T-34; I might have read that somewhere months ago, and have since forgotten the particulars. Am I wrong here? Do any of the Dragon kits have the composite turret? And if not, is the AM producing it?

Mind you, this information is not critical, since I actually haven't purchased any of the kits yet, and I'm nowhere close to actually starting this project...I just have the decal set burning a hole in my workbench.

TIA.

-YL

Yoni - This may help..... linkname https://armorama.kitmaker.net/news/2179

GMWS and R & J both have the line.

Chris

Thanks for the link, Chris. I knew I saw news about those turrets somewhere...and I have to admit, I didn't think about searching the site before I posted the question.

Some confusion remains, however. The Anubis composite turret listed is a 1945 series, and that means that one of the fans was moved to the front, compared to a '44 turret, which had both fans at the rear. Also listed is a corrected turret for the Dragon UTZ kit, but I don't know if the UTZ factory turret is the one I need for the aforementioned build. I don't believe it is.

The Anubis website is, sadly, not much help. I think they have the photos mixed up a bit in their product section; when one mouses over the small color pics, I believe they are for a different turret than the one initially pictured. (For example, the small pics for the 1944 cross-jointed turret look like they're actually photos of the 1945 composite turret.)

I've Googled the hell out of this, and I've come across a staggering amount of information on all the types of different turrets on the T-34. I think it's time to sort through it all, no matter how much it hurts my noggin'.

For those that are singing along, here is a good place to start: http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/russia/rpt34/rpt34.htm

-YL

The so-called composite turrets (a postwar appellation from the 1970's, when it was thought that they were built from multiple small castings welded together--it's now known that they were cast in one piece from multi part molds) were associated with Zavod 112. The RPM/Maquette styrene turret (sold separately as well as in their T-34-85 kit) features one of the narrower versions of the Zavod 112 two-ventilator turret. At least two different turret shells were seen in that configuration, with the last version being about eight inches wider (probably the version depicted by Anubis, though I haven't handled their product myself). You could backdate the RPM turret roof with the dual ventilator casting from another kit. However, there were also differences in the engine deck grills on Zavod 112 T-34's, so you need to do more than plunk it down on a Dragon hull. You can see this more clearly in the new book on early T-34-85's published by Wydawnictwo Militaria in Poland (it has an English summary and English captions, and lots of 1/35th scale drawings).