Dragon

1/72 Russian T-34/76 Model 1942

Kit Number 7266

Reviewed By Jack Kennedy, #12511

This is a kit of the 1942 version of the T-34/76. This version saw an enlarged, cast turret.  In addition the rubber road wheels were replaced by steel wheels, although the rubber wheels were used on the first and fifth set.  Sometimes this tank was referred to as the T-34/76D.

Dragon has seen fit to produce an excellent model of this 1942 variant of the T-34/76.  The first thing I noticed about this kit is that there were two options for the rear deck.  The first was the molded in rear deck exhaust grills.  The second option was to use the photo-etched grills.  I chose to use the molded in deck, but it was nice to have a choice.  All of the parts were very crisply molded and lent themselves to washes and dry-brushing without losing any of the fine detail.

The road wheels were already paired so that lining them up was not an issue.  Another plus is that the gun barrel was molded with a hollow tip so that drilling out wasn’t necessary.  Nice touch.  Everything that you could possibly want was included in this kit, such as tools, handrails, tool boxes and rear aux fuel tanks.

I built this in three stages. The first was the turret.  It consisted of the cast turret, a top deck and the gun.  The two hatches were separate and fit perfectly, In addition four lift rings, hand rails and a periscope were to be attached.  Locating holes are on the turret so that placement was accurate.  The gun consisted of a mantlet, barrel and breech.  Once the turret is assembled, the gun breech and the periscope inside cannot be seen.  I left off the periscope.

The lower hull is pretty straight forward.  I painted the road wheels and attached them with CA glue.  The tracks were of a soft vinyl and fit nicely.  They were a little long to allow for them to be glued down to the wheels to show the proper sag.  That extra length was a nice touch.

The upper deck had a front and rear panel to which was attached tow hooks, mufflers, front hatch, front machine gun, lights, tools, storage boxes, extra track and the external fuel tanks.  Dragon has included braided wire to be attached to the cable loops for a more authentic look.  Everything fit perfectly although I had to cut off the locating pins for the external fuel tanks to make them sit right.

I painted this with Model Master dark green and added washes to bring out the details.  I also used these paints for dry brushing the highlights.

Decals were provided for many schemes and snuggled down nicely.  The finished tank looks just right.  The kit went together very well and was a snap to build.  I would highly recommend this kit, in fact, I plan on building a few more in different paint schemes.  I believe that this kit sells for about $10.

I wish to thank Dragon and John Noack for providing me this kit to review.

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