Hello, I'm thinking about taking the 1942 T-34 kit I have, and making it into a tank produced during the fighting in Operation Blue and Stalingrad. I've heard stories of these tanks going out without scopes, paint, primer, ect. I was wondering what some of the Forum members could confirm or disprove. What other items were the tanks missing? Exhaust pipes? Fenders? Grills? Stowage boxes? Were the lens missing on the sights, or was it the entire assembly? Any special messages or paint jobs anyone knows about? Just point me in the right direction!

Tanks produced at Stalingrad Traktor Zavod (STZ) had some specific features not seen on tanks produced at Kharkov, Gorky, or the Ural factories. The turret face on the welded version had a cutout at the lower left and right, and the gun mount lacked the vertical bend on its front face, giving the mount a sharp, wedge shape (very dramatic). Hull armor front and back was morticed, with interlocking tabs (the armor steel was quite hard and brittle, and this made weld failures less likely if it was hit--Factory 112 at Gorky used a similar method on the front plate of their tanks, as well).
Dragon offered an STZ T-34 kit through Cyberhobby a few years ago, but it was a mess, as the upper hull was too long to fit the lower hull. The kit has been partially fixed, and just rereleased as a German Beutepanzer with a Panzer III stowage box. Beware--it still has some nasty fit problems. You can simply leave the German box off and paint it 4BO Green. The STZ tanks mostly lacked radios, and most went into battle without turret numbers or other insignia. The all-steel wheels were usually of an earlier pattern than those used at Factory 183, and this is the only T-34 kit that has offered them, so far.
Zvezda also offers this turret on their T-34 Model 1942, but it's mated to a Factory 183 T-34-85 chassis with postwar features. You could mate it with a Dragon Factory 112 T-34 hull and modify the rear plate, if you don't want to mess with the Dragon Beutepanzer kit.
The stories of tanks going into combat painted only in primer (or even bare metal) has been variously attributed to Leningrad and Stalingrad, but the tales seem to have been the colorful product of Soviet propagandists. No photos to back this up have ever appeared, to the best of my knowledge.

The rear of the STZ turret also had a single flat plate welding it shut, without the access hatch to remove the gun (the turret was jacked up at the rear with hydraulic jacks and the gun was removed through the gap instead).
Do a Google image search for STZ T-34, and you'll get several good photos.

Here is a link to the only surviving STZ T-34.

http://pblinov.narod.ru/galleries/tanks/3476/stz42/bondarevka.html

T-34s produced at STZ in 1942 had almost nothing in common with T-34s produced elsewhere. The suspension is completely different, the hull construction is completely different and the turret is completely different from T-34s produced at other factories. Study the photos and you can see for yourself.

To build an STZ T-34, start from DML 6388. Chop the upper hull in half ahead of the turret ring and shorten it by about 3mm. Then it will fit the lower hull and the rest of the kit can be build more or less as provided. Any other approach is asking for a world of pain.

TMD have an excellent resin kit of an STZ T-34 if you want to go that route.

Regards
Scott Fraser

Thanks for the info, everyone. I had no idea. Doing a STZ might be a bigger project than I thought it would be. I'll keep sourcing out the parts. Appreciate the feedback.

Jacob,

Following Scotts advice on DML kit 6388 is the most sound by far, but it would be far easier to find the newer T-34-747(r) Panzerkamfwagen kit 6449 (it is kit 6388 with a few German parts you just ignore), unless you want the all resin kit from TMD at over US$200 a pop. I have put a call out to the aftermarket to make a corrected replacement upper hull to just swap out...we will see if anyone takes it up.