The Tamiya T-34s were designed to be motorized, and they were incorrectly scaled to fit the standard Tamiya electric motor and gearbox. They come out oversize, at about 1/33rd, and the angles of the hull sides are too steep, making the top decks too narrow. The proportions of the engine deck sections are all wrong, with a cooling screen area at the rear that is much too large.
The T-34-85 has a turret that is much too short at the rear, the T-34-76 Model 1943 has a turret with too narrow a top (and an undersized cupola to fit).
The vinyl track looks particularly bad due to the very wide pitch of the T-34 track--you can see the solid steel plate type links bend around the idler wheel.
Dragon's efforts are much better.

I noticed it's not the best, but I don't really know if it's correctly scaled...
I started building yesterday evening and I must say I'm not very satisfied this time, also because it's not as challenging as other models which feature more pieces, and the fit of some pieces, especially in the back, is not the best, and there are a lot of gaps between some pieces which have to be filled... tomorrow I'll get some plasticard and fix the problem
Anyway, once it's finished, with a good weathering, nobody will notice how bad is this model!

KV - Trumpeter
T34 - Dragon
No questions :-) :-)

Just finished building it!
Very easy and very few pieces!
Aniway, I'll try fixing the big gap above the wheels tomorrow, before closing it... Don't know whether to leave the commander's hatch open or not... what do you think?

Trumpeter is the best

Henrik Soerensen

Hi Guys: As this thread is moving off the original question (Whether Giacomo should get the Tamiya or Trumpter KV), I'm going to lock the thread. It seems everyone who has built the Trumpeter kit is coming in to recommend Trumpeter.

But seeing as Giacomo has ALREADY bought and completed building the Tamiya one, the question can be left alone. I hope you'll all agree. Rgards, RC (moderator)

I'm sure you had a great time w/your build Giacomo. If you have more questions on the Tamiya KV, please start a new thread.