_GOTOBOTTOM
Яusso-Soviэt Forum: WWII Soviet Armor
For discussions related to WW2 era Soviet armor.
Zvezda t-34/76 1942: What Battlefield?
ebergerud
Visit this Community
California, United States
Joined: July 15, 2010
KitMaker: 297 posts
Armorama: 164 posts
Posted: Friday, December 17, 2010 - 12:55 PM UTC
Bought a Zvezda T-34/76 Model 1942 (ZVE 3535). According to a piece written for Modeler Site it is a 41/42 STZ model from the Barrikady factory. (Greek to me frankly.) Cookie Sewell wrote a review of a Dragon STZ 1942 Dragon kit and if I get the drift, it was a run made in 1942. Depending upon what is meant by the technical details a tank like this could have been in the Moscow counter-attack of late 41-early 42 or Stalingrad late 42-early 43. I'm hoping this kit would fit the Moscow festivities, but either battle would do nicely: just would like to know which would be more appropriate. If it's Moscow, it gets whitewash if nothing else. Anyone know: would the tank modeled by Zvezda have been at Moscow or more likely at Stalingrad. (Kind of looking forward to it. Did a Zvezda ISU-152 that was a little rough around the edges, but came out looking a little crude and very menacing - just like the real item. I modeled that one for Poland in fall of 44.)
Soylent-Bob
Visit this Community
Canada
Joined: February 16, 2009
KitMaker: 2 posts
Armorama: 1 posts
Posted: Friday, December 17, 2010 - 03:20 PM UTC
STZ (or Barrikady factory) was also known as Stalingrad Traktor Factory, and as such produced T-34s in Stalingrad until the fall of 1942. So no Moscow for that kit my friend!
ebergerud
Visit this Community
California, United States
Joined: July 15, 2010
KitMaker: 297 posts
Armorama: 164 posts
Posted: Friday, December 17, 2010 - 03:51 PM UTC
Stumbled on a Euro model site that had the instructions. They've got markings for summer 42 and June 43. (One has cammo even.) That puts it at Stalingrad or Kursk I suppose. Really wanted to whitewash a 41 version: we'll save it. Odd: you'd think there'd be a blizzard of 1941 T-34s - talk about history matching man and machine - the most decisive battle in history. But those are hard to come by. Course there's no model of the USS Enterprise at all in the US, and it was the most successful warship in history. Figure.
Jacques
Visit this Community
Minnesota, United States
Joined: March 04, 2003
KitMaker: 4,630 posts
Armorama: 4,498 posts
Posted: Friday, December 17, 2010 - 05:38 PM UTC
DML has done three kits that could have been at Moscow:

6092 T-34/76 m40
6418 T-34/76 m41 cast turret
6205 T-34/76 m41

Also, for the USS Enterprise CV6 there are:

1/700 - Tamiya (not currently in production, but available on eBay)
1/350 full resin kit from Yankee Modelworks - ($700-$800...Yikes!)
1/350 conversion for a Trumpeter kit from Nautilus Models (about $65.00 + the cost of the kit to convert)

GeraldOwens
Visit this Community
Florida, United States
Joined: March 30, 2006
KitMaker: 3,736 posts
Armorama: 3,697 posts
Posted: Friday, December 17, 2010 - 07:53 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Bought a Zvezda T-34/76 Model 1942 (ZVE 3535). According to a piece written for Modeler Site it is a 41/42 STZ model from the Barrikady factory. (Greek to me frankly.) Cookie Sewell wrote a review of a Dragon STZ 1942 Dragon kit and if I get the drift, it was a run made in 1942. Depending upon what is meant by the technical details a tank like this could have been in the Moscow counter-attack of late 41-early 42 or Stalingrad late 42-early 43. I'm hoping this kit would fit the Moscow festivities, but either battle would do nicely: just would like to know which would be more appropriate. If it's Moscow, it gets whitewash if nothing else. Anyone know: would the tank modeled by Zvezda have been at Moscow or more likely at Stalingrad. (Kind of looking forward to it. Did a Zvezda ISU-152 that was a little rough around the edges, but came out looking a little crude and very menacing - just like the real item. I modeled that one for Poland in fall of 44.)


Zvezda's 1/35th scale early T-34-76 kit is a bit of a hash, as it has a 1942 vintage turret from STZ (the tank factory in Stalingrad), but the hull depicts a later one from Factory 183, which was originally in Kharkov, but had been moved to Nizhni Tagil in the Urals as the Germans approached. However, a late Factory 183 hull would probably not have all steel wheels, as the kit has. At best, the kit tank depicts a Frankenstein rebuild, where an undamaged turret has been mated to an undamaged hull by a field repair unit. Not unknown, though the wheel swap is harder to justify. If you want to know what it ought to look like, the box top painting shows an actual STZ hull, which had interlocking hull joints and the early hull machine gun mount without the mantlet. STZ hulls also had a rectangular transmission access panel on the rear slope plate, rather than the later round style as shown in the kit.
Dragon's Model 1940 and Model 1941 T-34 kits are pretty good, and could certainly be used in a Battle for Moscow scene. They have individual link tracks and photoetch in the box.
However, Dragon has screwed up some details when they later tried to adapt those molds to depict later T-34-76 versions. Those kits can still be built, but the corrections are a nuisance.
A couple of years ago, Dragon's Cyber Hobby subsidiary offered a a white box, "limited edition" kit of the late STZ version, but messed up the upper hull dimensions, making the kit impossible to assemble without serious surgery (this kind of basic engineering blunder is very unusual for Dragon). This version is highly desirable, both from a historical as well as esthetic point of view, and that mistake left Dragon's customers very unhappy.
AFV Club's recent T-34 kits have some nice features, including interior detail.
Slimedog1
Visit this Community
Wisconsin, United States
Joined: March 18, 2010
KitMaker: 637 posts
Armorama: 68 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 - 07:39 PM UTC
My suggestion is you do some research.
Surf the web for pics of the battle of Moscow,go to your public library and checkout some books or buy some books related to the battles you want to do dio's on.
I recently bought the Battles of Kharkov 1942-1943 by Jean Restyn.It costed me a arm and a leg,but it was well worth it.650 pics!!!I found almost all of the information I needed.
 _GOTOTOP