Jim takes a look at this recent release from Trumpeter, the T-10M Soviet heavy tank in 1/35 scale. Includes end-to-end individual track links, photo-etch, marking options for three versions.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

the t-10m this tank replace the j-3/3m stalin tank.

How does Trumpeter's T-10M compare to Meng's?

The T-10 tank is a messy affair. Here are the essentials to get your headache started:

Kirov and Chelyabinsk both produced the tank, and both were heated rivals who wanted their version to be the ONLY version. So they both ended up producing T-10's that were mostly the same, but different enough that replacing parts could be a headache. So you have:

T-10 (2 versions)
T-10A (2 Versions)
T-10B (2 versions)
T-10M (2 versions)

At the end of the T-10M production, the Kirov version was officially approved...not sure if any changes were made once that was incorperated, so the T-10M could have 3 (!) versions.

The MENG kit is based on, IIRC, the Chelyabinsk blueprints.

It has not been confirmed, but the Trumpeter kits (T-10 and T-10M) are thought to be based on the Kirov vehicles.

I play World of Tanks and am happy to see kits like these. Any company that produces high quality kits that can represent the historical or game version is a champion.

Hi, Jacques!

"Kirov" you are mentioning is not a plant in a city Kirov, but Kirov Plant in Leningrad (Ленинградский Кировский Завод) :-)

So it would be more correct to say that T-10 was produced in Leningrad and Chelyabinsk rather than "Kirov and Chelyabinsk".

there is a wrong number of ribs on the front mud flaps in that kit. also no rain water channel at the rear of the turret and 4 small smoke drums were not present on vehicles from 1968, Danube operation.

Hey Dmitry,

I often hear it presented as Kirov rather than Leningrad maybe because of the design bureau being the source of the problem in the dispute rather than the production facility? Because Kirov's factory was relocated to Chelyabinsk, and then removed and reformed later? It can be confusing, so I often just refer to them as Kirov and Chelyabinsk in regards specifically to the T-10 tank saga.

Plants are/were located in Leningrad (Leningrad Kirov Plant Ленинградский Кировский Завод) and in Chelyabinsk (Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Челябинский Тракторный Завод). The latter partly being a child of production relocation during WWII. The tank design bureau is from Leningrad Kirov Plant. It was relocated during WWII together with the plant, but then returned home forming Leningrad's clan ( or school say as You like ;-) of tank design. It is being referred to as Kirov's bureau but it has it's name after Kirov Plant and has nothing in common with the city of Kirov (former Vyatka).

Factory No. 100 or Factory No. 185?

Much to get confused about. Pesky Russian History.

In short:

Factory №100 was a design-test plant in Chelyabinsk - one of many forming "Tankograd".
Factory №185 was one of design-test plants initially formed in Leningrad and then moved to Omsk during WWII (It was not a part of Leningrad Kirov Plant though for some time it was named after Kirov too " Leningrad Factory of Experimental Engineering №185 name of S.Kirov" (Ленинградский завод опытного машиностроения №185 им С.Кирова) 8-) ).

Design of T-10 initially was made in Factory №100 in Chelyabinsk.
T-10 were produced in Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and later since 1953 IIRC in Kirov Plant in Leningrad

To exclude confusion - Leningrad Kirov Plant was an industrial giant since XIX century. Before the death of Kirov it had another name: Putilov's Factory. It never had any "number".

That's in short :-)

Dmitry, do you think we have completely confused our fellow readers yet?

Ultimately, I think the big takeaway from this is that internal Soviet tank design/production politics were VERY serious that, in this case, lead to some problematic production issues.

And there is still more info coming out about the entire design and production story. This tale is only in the middle of its telling.

Let's point out that not every single T-10M had the "rain water channel" attached... There are some good pics of vehicles in parades with and without the rail.

But I must say that almost all references I've seen of the T-10M during Operation Danube had it, together with different combinations of smoke and fuel drums.
Easy to fix, anyway