Search the Community

2C35 Koalitsiya-SV Self-Propelled Howitzer (5055) 1:72 Zvezda Soviet and post-Soviet Russia have long had a series of self-propelled guns (SPG) with catchy alpha-numeric names such as 2S3, 2S19 and so forth (I’m being a little sarcastic in case you missed it). The 2C35 is the latest in that long line, and was first seen in public by western sources in the rehearsals for the Victory Day parade in 2015, with more detail revealed as time went by. It is a highly mechanised vehicle, which has always been a goal of Russian AFV development, but with the advances in technology over the last few decades, the level of automation has advanced substantially, enabling the vehicle to operate efficiently with a reduced crew complement. The turret is un-manned, and is controlled from the command capsule in the main body of the vehicle, and like much of modern armour, they are part of a digital combat network that improves situational and battle-scape awareness, and the crew can even select the correct type of round for the upcoming fire mission without leaving the comfort and security of their cab. So far, the advanced turret has been fitted on a T-90 derived hull, but it is expected that it may be installed on the T-14 Armata hull in the future, which is in-line with the intended common-platform view expounded when it was announced. Changes to the auto-loader mechanism have already been made that have increased the rate at which the vehicle can put rounds downrange, with over 60 rounds able to be carried within the hull. As is common with modern SPGs, the onboard computers can instantly calculate various mission patterns, such as adjusting the trajectory of each successive round so that they all arrive at the same time, giving the enemy no time to scarper when the first shell of a volley detonates. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Zvezda, and it arrives in an end-opening box, but hold the groans, as there is an inner cardboard tray with captive lid that prevents the box collapsing if stacked. Inside are four sprues of grey styrene, one of black styrene, a small decal sheet, colour painting guide, and trifold A4 instruction booklet in black and white. The detail visible on the sprues is thoroughly modern, and there are plenty of aspects of kits of a much larger scale on view that will please any 1:72 AFV modeller. The black sprue contains the tracks, which are flexible enough to wrap around the road wheels, without having to deal with those nasty, flexible rubbery tracks of yore. Construction commences with the lower hull, which comprises the floor and two sides, with the self-entrenching tool added under the glacis along with various track-links and lugs. At the rear are another line of lugs and the rear bulkhead, then the road wheels are made up in pairs with rubber tyres moulded-in, a three-part pair of drive sprockets and two-part idler with tensioning axle at the front, which is inserted as you wrap the tracks around the running gear, so that you can obtain the correct tension once the tracks have been closed up into a loop. The track parts are well-detailed, and flexible enough to curve around the road wheels, although some heat on the subject will help this task go well and avoid snapping. A dip in hot water or a hair dryer carefully played briefly over the tracks will assist you with this, but take care not to scold or burn yourself firstly, and secondly don’t melt your tracks! With both tracks in place, the upper hull is added, and some detail painting will be needed for the pioneer tools moulded into the surface. It’s worth noting that the moulding is excellent for the scale, with fine vents on the engine deck, panel lines, raised details that will all add realism to the finished model when painted sympathetically. The side skirts also have a few tools moulded-in, and at the rear the mudguards and additional cooling grilles are fitted below and above the rear deck respectively. The gun’s travel-lock frame is similarly well-detailed, and it secures to the glacis plate along with the light clusters with their protective frames, a few additional track links, towing eyes, and three crew hatches at the front of the top deck under the gun. At the rear, the ubiquitous unditching log and two tow-cables are clipped to the bulkhead along with a pair of towing eyes. Speaking of guns, the big Kord 12.7mm remote weapon station includes a well-detail rendition of the gun, its turret, large ammo-can and the sighting box with protective lens cover moulded closed. This is fitted later to the roof of the turret, which is where the building of it begins, starting with sensors, smoke dischargers, and stowage boxes, with more dischargers added to the sides later. The main gun is first constructed from the barrel, which has a hollow slatted brake, thanks to a separate section, and another part is added to the width of the shroud before it is slotted into the curved mantlet. The assembly is then trapped between two vertical plates that are glued to the turret floor, the side facets are added, and topped off with the pre-prepared roof plus the aforementioned additional smoke launchers on each side of the gun. It’s not over yet though, as the complex loading mechanism needs to be made up from a good number of parts, before it is fixed to the centre of the rear turret wall, to be joined by two stowage boxes that have additional stowage attached to their lower rear. The remote weapon slots into the raised base on the roof, and the turret is twisted into place on the hull with bayonet lugs holding it in place, with a choice of a travel-locked barrel, or not, depending on how you would like to pose your model. A few additional parts are added to the glacis between the V of the stowed travel lock as the final gluey act. Markings There is only one camouflage option included on the sheet, although the turret number can be anything you like thanks to the large number of digits on the small decal sheet. Victory Parade, Moscow 2016 The decals are printed anonymously, but they have a red border reminiscent of Begemot’s usual design, which may or may not be the case. Suffice to say that registration, sharpness and colour density are good, and the stylised new Russian “logo” is nicely done. Conclusion This modern tooling of a modern Russian SPG is impressive for the scale, and the tracks are good, as is the detail throughout. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from e-Models Review sample courtesy of

To go with the S-65 tractor I have started to build this newish release from Trumpeter and reviewed http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234935865-trumpeter-135-soviet-ml-20-152mm-howitzer-mod-1937/'>HERE The main axle assembly and the main wheels went together very easily, as did the first of the trails, although I was surprised at the number of parts that had to be attached to it. The kit comes with some nice etch which means it doesn't really need any AM.

Russian 2S3 Self-Propelled Howitzer (Early) 1:35 Trumpeter Developed in the late 60s as a direct counterpart to the US M109 self-propelled Howitzer, the 2S3, which is known as Akatsiya by its users, was developed using a cut-down chassis from a pre-existing SAM system, and mounting a large 152mm howitzer in a turret set to the rear of the upper hull. It is NBC capable, diesel powered, and has a crew of 6 men in ideal conditions, with four inside the hull and 2 passing ammunition through the rear doors if it is safe for them to do so without them coming under fire. The initial prototypes suffered from a tendency to gas its crew as rounds were fired, but once this was solved, series production started, and over the years a large number have been produced in various forms, the latest being the 2S3M2, which has a slightly larger gun, and modern GPS and satellite guidance equipment that was added at the turn of the new millennium. It was used by the former Soviet Union, its allies in the Eastern Bloc and Africa, and has participated in Afghanistan and most conflicts that have plagued some Eastern European states since the dissolution of the Union, as well as taking part in Libya during the civil war. There are still a large number in active service of former Soviet Union countries, and more in storage "just in case" throughout the many current operators. The Kit This new tool kit is part of Trumpeter and Hobby Boss' current (perceived) bid to kit almost every piece of Soviet Cold War armour before the end of the decade. It arrives in a standard top opening Trumpeter box, and inside is a divider annexing the hull and turret parts from the sprues, of which there are quite a few - nine to be precise, all of them in a medium grey styrene. The hull halves and turret upper are separate due to their complex slide-moulded detail, and the tracks are supplied on 30 (yes, that many) three-dimensional sprues in bags of five. More on that later. A small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass is included, plus a small decal sheet, instruction booklet and an A3 full-colour painting and markings guide. As always with AFV kits, six of the sprues contain wheel and suspension parts, plus small parts that are required in greater numbers. The other three sprues are full of the upper hull, turret and entrenching equipment parts, and once you have completed the suspension, the model should go together quickly. Detail is excellent, and the major parts have been tooled using modern slid-moulding moulds to give detail on sides of parts that wouldn't normally be possible with older methods. There is no interior to the howitzer, but this is fairly common, and what is provided is of good quality. The lower hull is supplied as a bathtub with missing rear panel, which is on one of the sprues, and detailed with the rear doors for ammo supply, latches, shackles and armoured breathers before being added to the hull, which is festooned with bump-stops and return rollers, plus final drive housings and then the suspension arms with twin wheels on six sets of single axles on each side. The idler wheels are also paired and installed on a short axle which also acts as the track tensioner, while the drive sprockets are made up from three parts and installed in a hole on the final drive housing. The track links are all separate, and have been tooled in a way I have not seen before. Each sprue contains eight links with three attachment points and NO ejector pin marks, which have slide-moulded detail to the ends depicting the track pin ends, by cleverly splitting the sprue so that it resembles a ladder, admitting the sliding detail parts of the mould during manufacture. The result are very well detailed links that click-fit together, taking a lot of the hassle out of using individual links for the uninitiated, and needing very little clean-up. Full marks to Trumpeter here. The fenders attach to the lower hull on large tabs at each end and one in the middle, which seems a little flimsy to this reviewer, although in action the joint might well be strong enough. Jack blocks and small parts are added to each fender, and attention turns to the upper hull. A fording bow wave deflector is the first item installed on the hull at the front of the glacis plate, behind which is the driver's compartment with vision blocks and separate hatch cover. To his right is the engine compartment, which has two rectangular grilled, which use PE mesh to cover the openings, and then either two grids that cover the mesh, or an armoured cover to the rear-most grille, which requires a couple of holes to be drilled in the hull to accommodate the mounting pegs. A trio of hatches are installed on the port side, and the front headlight is first installed in a rather delicately moulded cage before being added to the hull front on both sides. At the rear under the turret are a few spare track links and other shackles, of which there seem to be a lot on the 2S3, some of which are made from PE. Grab handles are also numerous, as are filler caps on the engine deck, and the travel lock for the barrel is installed centrally on the glacis, just forward of the driver's station. The gun is supplied as two halves, split horizontally, and it is hard to see how this could have been done any other way, due to the massive size of the twin baffle flash-hider that adorns the end of the barrel. It assembles into a rather happy looking mantlet, with two recuperator cylinders sat above it and partially buried in the mantlet. It is trapped between the turret top and bottom, and has no breech detail whatsoever - just a cylinder with two pegs on the ends that allows the gun to elevate. The commander's hatch and close-quarters machine-gun station is built up with a complex remote-controlled mount and 7.62mm PKT general purpose machine gun with searchlight fitted to the front. Periscopes, grab-handles and tie-downs are added, before the mantlet surround is added, with a PE protector around the sight, and the side-access hatch completes the turret with detail inside and out, despite there being no interior. The upper and lower hull halves are joined together at the last, and optional self-entrenchment tools are added to the front and rear of the hull, before a pair of PE mudflaps are installed on the rear fenders, and the turret is dropped into place. Unlike kits of yore, the turret ring is smooth, having no retaining lugs, so should either be glued into place for all time, or care will be needed when handling the model in case the two parts come apart and are damaged. Markings It's not a case of "any colour as long as it's Russian Green" with this vehicle, and the Painting & decaling guide show two vehicles. One is in Russian Green with white detailing and a bright banner on the turret for parade purposes, while the other is painted in a tri-tone soft-edge camouflage with a green base that is overlaid with black and sand patches to break up the outline of the vehicle. The only decals shown being used are the CCCP banner, but a double set of numerals are included on the decal sheet in case you wish to model a particular vehicle. Decals are printed anonymously, and are in good register. The white numerals look a little thin however, so it would be wise to test one that you won't use to see whether it will allow the colour beneath it to show through. Conclusion A nice modern tooling of a classic piece of Russian Cold War armour, which is announced as "Early Version", with the possibility of the M, M1 and M2 versions to follow, as after the M variant when the rear bulkhead was changed, the small equipment fit was the main difference between the early version and the later marks, and a lot of this was inside the hull, so irrelevant for tooling purposes. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Soviet ML-20 152mm Howitzer Mod 1937 Trumpeter 1:35 History The 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20), was a Soviet gun-howitzer. The gun was developed by the design bureau of the plant no 172, headed by F. F. Petrov, as a deep upgrade of the 152-mm gun M1910/34, in turn based on the 152-mm siege gun M1910, a pre-World War I design by Schneider. It was in production from 1937 to 1946. The ML-20 saw action in World War II, mainly as a corps / army level artillery piece of the Soviet Army. Captured guns were employed by Wehrmacht and the Finnish Army. Post World War II, the ML-20 saw combat in numerous conflicts during the mid to late twentieth century. The ML-20 was officially classified as howitzer-gun, i.e. an artillery system which combines characteristics of a howitzer and (to lesser extent) of a gun and therefore can be used in both roles. This universality was achieved by wide range of elevation angles and by using separate loading with 13 different propellant loads. The gun was fitted with both telescopic sight for direct fire and panoramic sight for an indirect one. For ballistic calculations and meteorological corrections a special mechanical device was developed. The device, called meteoballistic summator, consisted of a specialized slide rule and a pre-calculated table. After World War II similar devices were introduced for other types of guns. The barrel was either monobloc or built-up. Some sources indicate that a third type - with loose liner - also existed. To soften recoil, a large slotted muzzle brake was fitted. The breechblock was of interrupted screw type, with forced extraction of cartridge during opening. A safety lock prevented opening of the breechblock before the shot; if there was a need to remove a shell, the lock had to be disabled. To assist loading when the barrel was set to high elevation angle, the breach was equipped with cartridge holding mechanism. The gun was fired by pulling a trigger cord. The carriage was of split trail type; with shield and balancing mechanism, leaf spring suspension and steel wheels with rubber tyres. During transportation the barrel was usually retracted. The gun could also be towed with the barrel in its normal position, but in this case the transportation speed was limited, about 4–5 km/h (compared to 20 km/h with barrel pulled back). The gun could be set up for combat in 8–10 minutes. The Model The kit comes in Trumpeters standard top opening, and quite attractive box, with an artistic representation of the gun in action. Inside there are nine sprues of beige coloured styrene, almost the colour of a Caramac candy bar. There is also a set of six rubber tyres, two small etch sheets and a turned aluminium barrel. The parts are really well moulded with no flash and only a few moulding pips needing removal. Although not to everyones taste, the rubber tyres are nicely done with finely moulded details on both the tread and the sidewalls. The build starts with the wheels, doubled up each side consisting of the hubs rims and rubber tyres. These attach to the axel assembly which in turn is attached to the central traversing section along with the central leaf spring. The two trails are made up of four parts making up a box construction onto which the trail hinge points are attached, as are the barrel cleaning rods on one trail and numerous ancillary parts along with the spade plates in either the travel or combat modes. The completed trails are then fitted to the wheel traversing assembly by long pins allowing them to be opened and closed depending on which scenario the gun is to be built in. Moving onto the gun itself, the elevating mechanism, trunnion plates and gun traversing socket are built up and fitted out with the various sights, control wheels and mechanisms. To this assembly the shield is attached and fitted out with various photo etched parts, cases and attachment bars. The gun is built up of the three part breech block, two part rear barrel assembly, to which the aluminium barrel is fitted; the two part muzzle brake is attached to the muzzle of the gun. The next assembly is the slide, built up of three parts, which, once built up, the trunnion fixture is added along with the ratchet mechanism, recuperating slide and the connecting fixtures for the elevation spring housings. Once the gun assembly is complete it is then fitted to the wheel/trail assembly, thus completing the main part of the build. The rest of the build is the construction of the rear trail transport assembly, made up of two smaller wheels, consisting of the hubs, rims and tyres. The axel and associated leaf springs are fitted to the trailer which is also fitted with the towing arm and spring assembly, and rotating transport pin assembly. If the howitzer is to be displayed in transport mode the trailer is attached to a socket fitted between the two trails with the slide locked with two shackles and the gun, in it’s maximum recoil position is locked in place with a large bar fitted between the top of the breech and a hinge point between the trail spades. If it is to be displayed in the firing position, then the trails are spread with two spade spikes per side driven through the spades into the earth. The trailer would be situated to one side of the gun, or near the required towing vehicle, such as a ChTZ 65, Komintern or Voroshiloverts heavy tractors. Etch In addition to the plastic parts there are two small etched sheets, which provide items such as the elevation spring housing outer plates, shield supports, various brackets and handles, strapping, shield view port covers and a tread plate. Conclusion I just love these big Russian guns from Trumpeter and this one is just great. There is plenty of detail and from the quick bit of research it looks pretty accurate. Whether it’s used in firing or travel mode this will look great with one of their tractors in a diorama. The only disappointment is that the gun crew aren’t included, although I’m sure Trumpeter will release a separate set of troops. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of