ICM OT-34/76 WWII Soviet Flame Tank (35354) 1:35

[Mike]

OT-34/76 WWII Soviet Flame Tank (35354)

1:35 ICM via Hannants Ltd

 

 

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.

 

The flame variant depicted in this model mounts an internal ATO-41 flame thrower that is fed from the tanks at the rear, and would doubtless put the fear of whatever deity the opponents were fond of, as all soldiers are very easily dismayed by the appearance of a flame thrower of any type, never mind one that also sports a 76mm gun and thanks to the heavy armour can’t easily be destroyed like the man portable devices could.

 

 

The Kit

The model arrives in a top opening box with ICM's usual captive inner lid with painting of the tank and gun in a combat situation, blasting an unseen opponent with a stream of flaming jellified fuel.  Inside the box are six sprues in green 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 small sheet of decals and an instruction booklet that has colour profiles at the rear.  Detail is good throughout, and the new sprue provides the parts for the replacement for the bow machine gun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the fitting of the engine cover onto the rear decking and the missing bow machine gun’s armoured fairing. The two intake covers are then assembled and also fitted to the rear deck.  Four plates that are fitted 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. An adaptor is attached to the outside of the bow machine gun opening, then the flame throwing gun is inserted from within, having some nice detail moulded into it.  The driver’s hatch is made up from two parts plus a couple of smaller covers before being glued into position.  The rear bulkhead is a flat panel to which the armoured exhaust covers are fixed, with the tips of the exhausts glued within, then the assembly is added to the back of the upper hull, ledging on ridges inside the hull.

 

Inside the lower hull the eight Christie suspension boxes are fitted and the driver’s controls sit justified to the front left, whilst the rear mudguards are fitted to the rear.  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 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. Towing hooks are attached front and rear, then grab handles, stowage rails and smaller lifting eyes are added to the upper deck, then it’s time for the tracks.  These rubbery plastic tracks are moulded in black, and are made up from two halves 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.

 

 

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 to the hull, leaving the pivot unglued to maintain 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 and tip of the coax MG fit over the front and are joined by a 3-part mantlet cover with the barrel halves glued together then threaded through.  Hinges, hatches, mantlet rain-cover, vision ports, lifting eyes and stowage rails are all scattered over the surface of the turret, which incidentally has an improved cast texture moulded-in, in case you didn’t spot it.  Speaking personally, I would wash it with some liquid glue to soften the texture a little and give it a more irregular height in places.

 

Final assembly includes two boxy additional fuel tanks at the rear for the flame thrower, spare track links, pioneer tool boxes and aerial base, plus a folded tarpaulin, headlight, horn, the two flexible towing cables and a large saw attached before the model can be sent for painting.  The towing cables are suffering from a little flash, and as the instructions give you an alternative of using your own braided cable and plastic towing eyes, this is probably your best option.

 

 

Markings

There are three markings options in the box and they’re all Russian Green.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• 509th Independent Flamethrower Tank Battalion, Summer 1943
• 509th Independent Flamethrower Tank Battalion with different markings, Summer 1943
• Factory Test vehicle, 1943

 

 

The decals are printed in-house, colour density and sharpness for the sheet is good.

 

 

Conclusion

A nice alternative to the usual T-34 that are probably ten-a-penny out there.  With a few extra parts ICM have made this kit much more interesting to us, and a lot scarier for any 1:35 scale German figures in the cabinet.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

[bootneck]

A nice, and interesting, review Mike; both in historical data and build recommendations.  Tanks are not my thing per se; however, that does look to be a fearsome beast and should look good on any military modeller's display.

 

cheers

Mike

[morfman]

I bought this from a local store as I was trying to steer clear of the usual Airfix/Tamika armoured kits. 
 

I’m looking forward to building this later in the year. Excellent detailed review. Thanks for sharing it.

 

morfman