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Soviet SU-122 w/Full Interior. 1:35


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Soviet Self Propelled Gun, SU-122 w/Full Interior

MiniArt 1:35

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History

Soviet High Command became interested in assault guns following the success of German Sturmgeschütz IIIs. Assault guns had some advantages over tanks with turrets. The lack of a turret made them cheaper to produce. They could be built with a larger fighting compartment and could be fitted with bigger and more powerful weapons on a given chassis. However, assault guns generally aim by orienting the entire vehicle, and were thus less suited for close combat than tanks with turrets.

In April 1942, design bureaus were asked to develop several assault guns with various armaments: 76.2 mm ZiS-3 divisional field guns and 122 mm M-30 howitzers for infantry support, and 152 mm ML-20 howitzers for attacking enemy strongholds.

A prototype assault gun, armed with the 122 mm howitzer and built on the German Sturmgeschütz III chassis was developed, designated SG-122. Only 10 of these were completed. Production was halted when the vehicle was found to be hard to maintain and judged to be unsuccessful.

Simultaneously, a SPG based on the T-34 medium tank was also developed. Initially the T-34's chassis was selected for the 76.2 mm F-34 gun. This vehicle, the U-34, was created in the summer of 1942 at UZTM (Uralmashzavod – Uralsky Machine Building factory) design bureau, by N. W. Kurin and G. F. Ksjunin. It was a tank destroyer with the same armament as the T-34, but without a turret. The vehicle was 70 cm lower than a T-34, had thicker armour, and was 2 tonnes lighter. It did not enter production.

UZTM then worked on combining features of the U-34 and the SG-122. Initial design work was completed between July and August 1942. The project emphasized minimizing modifications to the platform and the howitzer. It used the same chassis, superstructure, engine and transmission as the U-34 and was armed with (the then new) 122 mm M-30S howitzer from F. F. Petrov's design bureau. This vehicle also used the same gun bed cover and mountings as the SG-122, to keep costs low and simplify production. It had 45 mm thick frontal armour. The M-30S howitzer could be elevated or depressed between −3° and +26° and had 10° of traverse. The five-man crew consisted of a driver, gunner, commander and two loaders.

By 25 November 1942 the first U-35 prototype was ready. Trials ran from 30 November to 19 December 1942, and uncovered various faults in the design including insufficient elevation, a flawed shell transfer mechanism, poor ventilation for the crew compartment, and the fact that the commander had to assist in operating the gun which made him unable to successfully carry out his other duties. The U-35 entered service with the Red Army as the SU-35 (later renamed SU-122) despite these faults.

Production SU-122s were based on an improved prototype built after trials were conducted. They incorporated several modifications including slightly less sloped front armour to ease production, modified layout of the fighting compartment (the location of crew member stations and ammunition racks were changed), fewer vision slots, and a periscope for the commander. The first production vehicles were completed before 1943.

The first SU-122s produced in December 1942 were sent to training centres and two new combat units, the 1433rd and 1434th self-propelled artillery regiments. Initially, each of these mixed regiments consisted of two batteries with four SU-122s each and four batteries with four SU-76 tank destroyers each. Each regiment had an additional SU-76 tank destroyer as a command vehicle. It was planned to raise 30 self-propelled artillery regiments operating within armoured and mechanized corps.

In January 1943, the 1433rd and 1434th self-propelled artillery regiments were sent to the Volkhov Front near Leningrad as part of the 54th Army. On 14 January they saw combat for the first time in Smierdny region. After that it was decided SU-122s should follow between 400 m and 600 m behind the attacking tanks; sometimes this distance was shortened to between 200 m and 300 m.

The use of SU-76 tank destroyers together with SU-122s proved unsuccessful. Based on combat experience, the organization of self-propelled artillery regiments was changed; the new regimental organization consisted of two batteries of SU-76 tank destroyers and three batteries of SU-122s, for a total of 20 self-propelled guns. In April the organization of self-propelled artillery regiments was again changed. Separate regiments were created for SU-76 tank destroyers (light self-propelled artillery regiment) and SU-122s (medium self-propelled artillery regiment).

The medium self-propelled artillery regiment consisted of four batteries of four SU-122s each. Each regiment was also equipped with either an additional SU-122 or a T-34 for the commander and a BA-64 armoured car. This organization remained in place until the beginning of 1944 when the SU-122 started to be replaced by the SU-152, ISU-122 and ISU-152 heavy self-propelled guns and the SU-85 tank destroyers.

The SU-122 proved effective in its intended role of direct fire on strongholds. The massive concussion of the 122 mm high explosive round was reportedly enough to blow the turret off even a Tiger I if a direct hit was scored, a trait shared with the larger 152 mm howitzers. A new BP-460A HEAT projectile was introduced in May 1943; however its primitive warhead design was only minimally more effective than brute concussive effects of the old high explosive shell. However, like most howitzers the accuracy of the M-30 was less than that of contemporary weapons designed for the anti-tank role.

The Model

This kit has been out a little while now, but this is the first chance we’ve had to see what’s inside the box, and boy is there a lot in the box.  MiniArt are on a roll at the moment, and their products are improving with every release, even with the boxes.  This kit comes in a nice sturdy box with a great study of the vehicle on the front.  Inside, is filled to the brim with sprues, all contained in a large poly bag, inside of which the various combinations of sprues are in other poly bags, not quite separate, but in bunches. Now, the way MiniArt mould their sprues means that there are in fact seventy three in total, most other companies could probably have moulded the parts onto about twentyish, but that’s the way they like it.  The reason for so many sprues and parts, this kit has a full, and I mean FULL interior. Even with so many sprues, the parts are all moulded beautifully, with no sign of imperfections, short shots, surprisingly few moulding pips, and certainly no flash. Seeing as there are literally hundreds of small parts it’s nice to note that the sprue gates are small and the parts look like they will be easy to remove and clean up.  The only really awkward parts are the suspension springs, which will need to be trickier to clean as the gates are on the spring sections themselves and the track links, but more on those later.

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So, where the heck do you start with building? Some modellers will construct the various sub-assemblies in their own way before adding them all at the end.  This would certainly aid with the painting and weathering, but if you go by the instruction booklet, which is surprisingly clear to read, the modeller needs to start with the engine.  As with most things in the kit this is a very complex part, and is assembled just as a real engine would be.  Every parts is included, all you‘d have to add are the ignition harness and some of the hoses. The assembly begins with the eleven piece block, onto which the two, six piece cylinder heads are attached before being finished off with the starter motor, coolant hoses, exhaust manifolds and the four piece engine mounting box.  Each of the two large radiators are made up from three parts, glued to the sides of the engine assembly, then connected up with five hoses.  The gearbox/transfer box is next, with the main section requiring fourteen parts, before being glued to the aft end of the tank floor.  The drives for the sprockets, each made up from four parts and fitted with a PE brake band are then attached to the gearbox, supported by two five piece brake linkage cradles.  The four piece, impellor style, flywheel is then attached to the rear of the gearbox.

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With the gearbox attached, the floor is then detailed with numerous parts, most of which I don’t recognise, not being au fait with the intimate details of tank internals. What I can identify, are the control sticks and brake pedals, and their associated linkages, oh, and the fighting compartment floor. The seven piece drivers seat is next, followed by various covers for the drivers control links.  The engine is then attached to the dividing bulkhead, between it and the gearbox, and the fitting of the two air intake pipes and their filters. The whole engine assembly is then fitted to the floor and the gearbox mounted universal joint. On each side of the floor there are four, seven piece spring dampers for the suspension, the rear pair of which are joined together with two PE straps, which do look a little awkward to fit, seeing that the radiators are in the way, so dig out your finest tweezers for the job.  The fighting compartment and drivers compartment are then fitted out with a number of spare shells, shell stands, control boxes and the idler axle fittings.

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The lower hull sides are fitted out internally with crew seats, fire bottles, fuel tanks, radios, escape hatches, and various other unidentifiable items.  The sides are then attached to the hull floor. On the outside, the sprocket gear covers are attached, followed by the torsion spring suspension/axles are fitted, these also attach to the spring dampers.  There more shells fitted to the rear of the fighting compartment, ten, in fact, each of two parts and kept in place by a long beam. The front armour plate is fitted on the interior with various sights, hatches, hatch fittings and two large springs, which I presume are part of recoil system to prevent the plate from cracking when the gun fires.  The completed plate is then attached to the hull, along with the lower glacis plate, and rear mounted drive cover. 

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The main gun is assembled from separate slides, barrel, recuperator, and breech block before being fitted to the two trunnion mounts, complete with elevation wheel.  The recoil guard is then attached, along with the elevation spring units, seven piece sight, and sight mounting frame. Nineteen more shells are then assembled and fitted to their storage rack, which is then fitted with a supporting beam and three cordite bags.  The gun assembly is then slotted into position in the front plate, which is also fitted with the lower gun recess. The bulkhead separating the fighting compartment and engine compartment is then glued into position, followed by the shell stowage assembly and rear hull bulkhead and its attachment frame.  The gun barrel is then attached, along with the inner mantlet, and four piece outer mantlet section. The fighting compartment side panels are fitted out with more cordite bags, pistol ports, vents, and stowage boxes, whilst on the outside they are fitted with pioneer tools, air filters, and a single headlight. The completed panels are then glued into position.  The roof panel is similarly fitted out, with a selection of ports, vents, sights, and the main hatch.

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With the model slowly looking more like the vehicle it portends to be, the sprockets, twin road wheels and idler wheels are assembled and attached to their associated axles.  The exhaust pipes are fitted to the rear bulkhead along with their covers, and the engine deck intake gills are each assembled from four parts.  The main engine deck, complete with track guards, is fitted with spare track links, the two engine intake grills, before being fitted to the hull, along with the fighting compartment roof panel and the numerous shackles, lifting eyes, engine hatch, and stowage boxes.  The tracks are each made from seventy two links, with each link held onto the sprue by four gates, so there will be quite a lot of cleaning up required. Looking at the links, they are rather plain, particularly on the inside, but having checked out a few images on the internet, they are accurate.  Looking at the links closely, the ones with guide horns have small pins, whilst the plain ones are moulded with corresponding holes, so they “should” just click into place.  The pins do seem rather fragile, so whether this works in practice is another thing.  It’ll probably be best to run some glue on the joints once the tracks are fitted, just to make sure they don’t fall apart. 

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With the kit almost complete, it’s just a matter of fitting the front and rear mud guards, rear mounted rolled tarpaulin with its PE straps. The fighting compartment rear panel is then attached; along with the various grab handles, spare fuel tank supports, four fuel tanks, their associated PE straps, and the PE straps for the spare track links. Lastly the aerial is glued into position.

Decals

The small decal sheet contains markings for five vehicles, The decals themselves have been printed by MiniArt and although looking rather matt, they are well printed, in register and with good colour density. Some of the decals have even been printed with a well worn appearance. The five options are:-

  • SU-122 from the 1433th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment of the Red Army which fought on the Volkhov Front in March 1943
  • SU-122 from the 5th Guards Tank Corps of the Red Army from the Voronezh Front in August 1943.
  • SU-122 from the 1434th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment of the Red Army, which fought on the Leningrad Front in December 1943.
  • SU-122 from an unidentified unit of the Red Army from 1943 to 1944.
  • SU-122 captured by an unknown unit of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in 1943.

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Conclusion

Well, what can you say? MiniArt sure like to give us modellers a challenge, and they’ve done it again with this kit.  The sheer number of parts will make some to whimper, but for anyone who wants a highly detailed kit in their collection this is certainly the one to go for.  The full interior also gives the modeller plenty of options, whether it’s a cutaway museum piece, or in a diorama, all opened up, engine out etc, the world is your lobster.

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Review courtesy of

 

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That's a really interesting history Dave.  The description of all the parts for the kit, especially the interior, made me check to see if it wasn't actually a 1:16 scale tank rather than 1:35 scale.   The detail of the engine and gear units sound as if they could be a model in their own right on a separate display.  A most enjoyable review to read. :clap2:

 

Mike

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