Revell T-34/85 (03319) 1:35

[Mike]

T-34/85 (03319)

1:35 Revell

 

 

The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in incredible volume by extremely crude methods, and thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front. The designers combined a number of important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without grinding to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the successes in the summer of Operation Barbarossa. The part count and cost of the tank was continuously reduced during production, with plants turning out up to 1,300 per month at the height of WWII. The initial welded turret was replaced by a cast turret with more room, and later the 76mm gun was replaced by a more powerful 85mm main gun in the T-34/85 with an enlarged turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought.  After WWII the type continued to be improved as far as it could be, and was sold to a number of soviet aligned customers, seeing service into the 80s in some instances.

 

 

The Kit

This is a reboxing of one of ICM’s many T-34 recent kits, which is no bad thing.  The model arrives in an end opening box with a painting of the tank on the front, in one of the more exciting camouflage schemes.  Inside the box are five sprues in grey styrene plus two hull parts in the same colour, four lengths of black flexible plastic “rubbery” tracks and two towing cables still on their sprues in the same material, a clear sprue, and a small sheet of decals.  Detail is good throughout, although the rubberband tracks may not be to everyone’s tastes, and there’s a little flash on them and the towing cables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the lower hull and fitting of the eight Christie suspension boxes, the final drive housings and five stub axles on their swing arms are glued to the hull sides as are the idler wheel axles at the very front of the hull.  Two comfortable-looking seats for the driver and machine gunner are made up and slotted into place, then the engine cover drops into the rear decking and the bow machine gun is inserted into the glacis plate with its armoured fairing. The two intake covers are then assembled and also fitted to the rear deck.  Four plates are added to the underside of the rear decking to blank them off, with the large radiator panel fitting over the aft portion of the deck, then having the rear bulkhead detailed and attached. The drivers hatch is made up from two parts plus a couple of smaller covers before being glued into position either open or closed, then the two hull halves can be joined together. The road wheels are made up from pairs with moulded-in tyres, while the idler wheels are bare, as are the drive sprockets, all of which are fitted to their respective axles.

 

The rubbery plastic tracks are moulded in black, and are made up from two half lengths that are glued together with epoxy or super glue (standard liquid glue doesn't work), then draped around the road wheels to complete the run.  If you are looking at making them more realistic, painting them is a great start, and you can also glue some sections to the road wheels to give them the correct sag.

 

 

Towing hooks are attached front and rear, then grab handles, stowage rails and smaller lifting eyes are added to the upper deck, then the additional cylindrical fuel tanks are made up and fixed to the rear, plus spare track links, pioneer tool boxes and aerial base, clear headlight, horn, the two flexible towing cables and a large saw.  The towing cables are suffering from a little flash, so it’s worth considering making up your own braided cable using the styrene towing eyes, as removing flexible flash can be quite tricky and unsatisfying.

 

This isn’t an interior kit, but you get a fairly detailed breech and coax machine gun, which fits to the back of the pivot that is hidden behind the mantlet once they have been attached, leaving the pivot unglued to allow movement after completion.  The lower turret with integrated ring is glued to the upper, and if you check your references, you’ll see that some were an absolute mess, so be careful not to make things too tidy!  The mantlet fits over the front and is joined by the mantlet cover with the single part barrel and hollow muzzle tip slotting into position.  Hatches, vision ports, lifting eyes and stowage rails are all scattered over the surface of the turret, which incidentally has a cast texture moulded-in, in case you didn’t spot it.  Speaking personally, I would wash it with some liquid glue to stipple and soften the texture a little and give it a more irregular height in places.

 

 

Markings

There are five markings options in the box with quite a variety of scheme and operators included.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Unidentified unit, East Prussia, Winter 1944/45
• Unidentified unit, East Prussia, Winter 1944/45
• Mod.1969 202nd Armoured Regiment of People’s Army of Vietnam, 1971
• Civil war of Lebanon, Pro-Syrian militia units, Beirut, 1982
• 1. Kompanie, 9. Panzer-Regiment, 25. Division, Fürstenwalde, Feb 1945

 

 

 

 

Decals are printed for Revell by Zanetti of Italy, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

Conclusion

It’s an exterior kit, with good detail and a disparate variety of decal options that should please many folks, including some quite fancy camouflaged vehicles from WWII and one in Lebanese hands as late as 1982 in Beirut.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Currently, Revell are unable to ship to the UK from their online shop due to recent changes in import regulations, but there are many shops stocking their products where you can pick up the kits either in the flesh or online.

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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