Dragon Models, Ltd.

1/35 T34/76 Model 1941 Cast Turret

Kit Number: 6418

Reviewed by  Robert DeMaio, IPMS# 45186

MSRP: : $45.95 Dragon Web Site: www.dragonmodelsusa.com . Brief History Soviet Russia went into production of its T34 Front Line tank in 1940, prior to the invasion of Russia by Germany in 1941. The T34 tank went through several redesigns for improvements. This Dragon T34/76 kit represents the 1941 production version of the design of the one piece cast turret. In order for the armor penetration resistance to remain as resilient as the welded plates, the cast turret had to be about 15% thicker. The textured surface of the turret is obvious to its manufactured look. What's inside the box? The box has a great artist rendition of a T34 painting, with side panels of some sub-assembled parts in white, though the parts are molded in light gray. The quad folded instruction sheet has the artist painting, line drawings of 22 sprue trees, one photo-etched tree, one turned aluminum gun barrel, and two twisted wires for the tank cable. Dragon indicates a total of 654 pieces; 153 of which are etched brass, and 160 molded track links. The shaded blue areas are the parts not used in the kit. There isn't a historical background of the tank to be found anywhere and left to the modeler to have his own research material. The instruction sheet has the usual International Icon Symbol descriptions that are used throughout the kit assembly, along with a color code chart. The rest of the instructions are photos of the actual sub-assemblies as you build, and include line drawing inserts to replace plastic parts with the photo-etched pieces. Though overall nicely done, I suggest you study the entire instruction sheet and understand what you intend to do before you start assembling the kit. The back page displays color schemes and markings for five tanks: one winter scheme, 3 green schemes, and one unidentified German unit on the East front in 1942. Both plastic and photo-etched parts are provided in this kit for your building choice. Looking at the plastic tree parts, I have to say that Dragon knows how to design their mold injections, but I can not say they are 100% injection mark free. The track shoes have an ejection mold circle on each side of the shoe tooth. Even if you do not pick up the mold marks while scanning the kit for detail, the mold marks are clearly visible in step six in an insert view of a few tracks being assembled in the instruction sheet. There are large sink holes under the fenders that have to be filled and sanded smooth. Other than these parts, the kit is very nicely molded. I haven't built any other T34/76 version kits yet, but knowing Dragon, I'm looking at some of those parts in this box that belong to those different versions. Long rounded fuel can halves are in this kit but not shown in the art work or instructions. I do not feel these are a choice since the superstructure has raised locating marks for the rectangle fuel cells. The decal sheet provided is very small with numbers and slogans. The Russians weren't concerned about painting and insignias in the factory when they had to push them into battle on yesterdays schedule. In fact, as the war progressed, many couldn't be painted before leaving the factories. Building the Kit! What I learned about Dragon kits in the past is to study the instructions thoroughly. Focus at first on the blue razor blade symbols to remove any pieces. In step 2 on the chassis, there is a removal on each side. You have to do it before you add any parts to the chassis. On the tank sides, I found slightly raised locating marks where the tie strap hooks will be glued. It's best to remove them, for you do not want to do this when the kit is half assembled and have tighter spaces to scrape. The front axle pieces do not have a locating pin and caution is required; the part can be glued in any 360 degree rotation position. Leave a slight air space when you glue the axle arms to the chassis. Otherwise, downstream when you glue the wheels on and add tracks, the tracks will be too close to the chassis and cause hitting. I glued the interior PE parts, engine frame and louver breather doors, to the rear superstructure. In a test fit of parts, the PE louver doors are not visible through the engine screen and are not necessary. One of the plastic engine covers has a cutout for the PE screen and frame to mount on the top. If you do this, the screen sits too high and that leaves a surrounding gap. If you use these PE parts, you have to file down the plastic frame first; small details on the cover do not make it easy. Either engine cover you use has long underside posts that have to cut down, that are not instruction indicated. I glued on the solid plastic engine cover and moved on. The rectangular type fuel storage containers mounted on the superstructure also provided the use of several PE two piece straps with tiny PE hooks super-glued to the superstructure, but found the straps very short to work with. I glued on the plastic straps and moved on to the tie down hooks for the spare track links where they were to be mounted on the superstructure and fenders. Plastic parts are not supplied for the fender tie-downs and PE parts are required. The PE grab handles for the tie straps on the superstructure were so thin, that the superglue didn't hold them in place. Plastic parts to the rescue again, but shorten the legs so that when you thread the strap, it will not be too high and leave air between the strap and track links. Unless you have superb eye sight you will need a set of Optical magnifying glasses and good dexterity with tweezers if you want to work well with very small PE parts. Just when you thought it was safe for a cruise to the finish line, along comes the turret. If you button up the hatch cover, you avoid quite a few PE parts, but I didn't expect the gun mantle and gun breech on either side of the turret to be such a loose fit; the barrel kept falling down. I had to make two new plastic styrene friction shims to cement in place (see picture). This was not an easy task due to the inside curvature of the turret and try to hold two sub-assemblies for test fitting. I made these parts so I can elevate the barrel to various positions. I finished the model in overall Russian Armor, green. Since the wheels on this tank are rubber tire rimmed, I painted them a deep dark gray and used steel for the tracks. The airbrush was used with a chestnut brown color for the dusted driven road wheels and then I dry-brushed steel around the track again to highlight the facial tracks. The decals used are from the 116th Tank Brigade on the Eastern Front in 1942 that came in the kit. Water and Solvaset set them down like they were painted on. A very nice and detailed kit. With the photoetch, I recommend this to modelers that have a couple kits under their belts and are not uncomfortable with photoetch. My thanks to Dragon Models USA and IPMS/USAfor the review kit..

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.