MiniArt TACAM T-60 Romanian Tank Destroyer (36230) 1:35

[Mike]

TACAM T-60 Romanian Tank Destroyer (36230)

1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

The T-60 was a Soviet light tank design, and the Romanians pressed captured examples into service, hacking some about to create the TACAM, which was a shortening of the Romanian for Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Gun, and frankly much easier to say if you’re English.  The design was rushed through in a very short space of time, literally days, and on a small chassis such as that of the T-60, the compromises were many and varied.  Using yet more captured Soviet equipment in the shape of the F-22 field gun with a three sided splinter-shield and recoil guard to protect the crew from incoming fire and the rapidly moving gun breech respectively.  Only a handful of these were made due to the less-than stellar performance that gave it quite the reputation as a poor fighting vehicle, mainly due to the reused technology and the engineering challenges that arose from the increase in weight and the stresses placed upon the chassis by firing the relatively oversized gun.

 

The Romanians switched sides in 1944 and after that the exploits of the two armoured regiments that were equipped with the type are vague, and it is entirely likely that the Soviets retook their hardware, although what use it was to them is unclear.  You’d think that would be the end of the TACAM type, but there were other variants on different chassis and using alternative guns.

 

The Kit

The kit comes in a shrink-wrapped top opening box, with an artist’s impression of the vehicle ploughing through snow on the top.   Inside are thirty eight sprues of grey styrene, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a decal sheet and instruction booklet with integrated painting guide at the rear.  As with most MiniArt kits there is a huge amount of detail contained on the sprues of various sizes.  A lot of the sprues contain common T-60 parts and others hold TACAM specific parts, with a few new ones for the different wheels and other parts on this boxing. The kit is a full-interior edition which explains the high parts count, and should keep you busy for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the lower hull floor, to which the drivers position is attached, complete with detailed gearbox, levers and brake drums. Then there is the comprehensively detailed engine, the two batteries and battery tray are added to the left hand side of the hull adjacent to the drivers position, followed by the right side panel which is fitted with a fire extinguisher and four support brackets. The rear bulkhead is decked out with several parts on the outside before it is attached to the lower hull, as is the lower glacis plate. The engine assembly is then glued into position and connected to the transmission via a drive shaft and auxiliary hand-starter shaft behind an armoured cover. The interior is slowly built up with bulkheads, ammunition racks with spare drums, boxes and another fire extinguisher. The left hull panel is then attached, along with the final drive covers, idler axles, internal engine compartment bulkheads and several pipes and hoses.

 

The hull roof is assembled from several panels before being glued into place while the five part driver’s hatch and his vision block is made up from six parts.  Both assemblies are then glued over the driver’s position, and can be posed with the flap either open or closed for comfort or protection. Additional ammunition is stowed along the interior hull sides for access by the crew, plus even more in the extra stowage box on the rear deck next to the separate engine cover.   The suspension arms are then glued to the hull, followed by the road wheels, return rollers, drive sprockets and idler wheels.

 

 

The tracks are each built up from eighty six individual links that are of the glue-together type, which must be wrapped around the road wheels while the glue is still supple. Each link is attached to the sprue with three gates, has hollow guide horns, and a complete absence of ejector pin marks, which is nice.  The sprue gates should be quick to clean up, but due to the small size of each link and their delicate moulding, it will be important to treat the parts gently both during clean-up and construction, taking care not to over-glue things and risk turning them into a melty goo.

 

The track fenders are fitted with a number of triangular PE brackets, as well as large storage boxes, pioneer tools and other small parts. The 76mm gun, its breech and its mounting carriage is then built up and fitted with the barrel having a hollow tip thanks to a little slide-moulding.  The part count here is high, and every aspect of the gun is supplied, some of which are PE and all are highly detailed.  The inner splinter shields for the gun are then fitted along with the elevation mechanism and its manual controls, with this assembly fitted to the mount that bisects the lower part of the crew compartment, then shrouded with the external splinter shields that wrap around the sides of the emplacement to further protect the crew from flanking fire.  A selection of PE brackets and straps are applied around the hull and splinter shield, then the large “bed frame” antenna is assembled and added to the upper hull around the gun position and engine deck.  This, the different road wheels and additional ammo with crates are the main differences between this and the earlier boxings.

 

The small decal sheet contains markings for three of these peculiar and unloved (at the time) vehicles:

 

• Romanian Army, Autumn 1944
• Presumably 2nd Tank Regiment Romanian Army, Eastern Front, February 1944
• Presumably 1st Armoured Division, “Greater Romania” Army Group “Veler”, Lasi District, August 1944

 

 

 

 

The decals are predominantly black, with a few white ones, and two red stars on a white circular background, which have been printed to look as if they were hand-painted, complete with runs where too much paint has been applied.  They’re printed by DecoGraph, and have good registration where it counts (only on 2 decals), sharpness and colour density, so should cause no problems.

 

 

 

Conclusion

This is another excellent kit from MiniArt, bringing more of the lesser known military vehicles to the mainstream modelling community.  With the high part count and detail, this kit is really aimed at the more experienced modeller and should build up into a superb model that is absolutely full of detail, so much so that there shouldn’t be much need for aftermarket parts.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of