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Background
The T-34 is one of the most recognized tanks due to its longevity on the battlefields. There have been many kits of this tank and the best so far are those from Dragon’s stable. It took a while for Dragon to finally release an early T-34 with the 76mm gun so all interior sets prior to this one have been for Tamiya’s renditions of this classic tank.
The Set
This interior set was mastered by Mike Kirchoff. It provides for a rather complete interior designed specifically for Dragon’s early T-34. Packaged in an attractive box with a photo of the contents, we find all the parts neatly separated into sections and in Ziploc bags. These are then photographed separately for the parts map. Great idea guys!
There was some minor warping of the compartment floors but nothing serious. No broken parts, bubbles, blemishes or lumps but plenty of flash. The flash is easily removed.
Photos
Photo 1 – These are the contents of the bag for the walls. To the left, we see nine 76mmm rounds in their distinctive stamped holders, to the right of the main components are a group of four machine gun drums in their holder. At the top of the center are the radios and two switches. Below them, are the side walls with the incorporated fuel cells. Please note that the one on the right is showing the outside so one can see that the suspension detail is there. Under them is the firewall followed by the driver’s compartment walls.
Photo 2 – Contents of the bag holding the Driver’s compartment details are shown. They include the seat and base, armrests to their right, floor with escape hatch, driver’s levers, brake pedals to the left with the clutch below them, air cylinders with the hand pump to their left, and the lower glacis wall.
Photo 3 – Second driver’s compartment detail bag’s contents.
Photo 4 – Fighting compartment floor with ammunition boxes, battery and electrical box.
Photo 5 – Contents of the bag holding the turret interior. These include a complete breech, coaxial MG, single and double MG ammunition racks, turret visors, pistol ports, gunsight, periscope, crew seats with mounts, hatch actuator piston, handwheels, and replacement glass blocks.
Photo 6 – Close up of fighting compartment walls showing the interior side on both.
Photo 7 – Close up of firewall.
Photo 8 – Close up of breech block.
Accuracy
Not many books cover the T-34 in such detail as to know which version is being shown. Luckily, photos from Bovington show a reverse lend-lease T-34 Model 1942’s interior and has been published in AFV Modeller Number 19. For those capable of reading Polish, there is the second volume of T-34, Mythical Weapon (or one can wait for AirConnection’s soon to be published English translation).
Starting with the driver’s compartment, the floor is correct and depicts the T-34s produced during 1940-42(ref. 2 p. 436). I will build up the hinge a bit using scrap PE runner. The seats are correct but the head pad above the driver’s hatch seems small (ref. 1 p.24). This is really easy to correct with a square of epoxy putty. I will also move the seats a little further apart to be able to put an ammo rack for four drums between them (I will copy part 24). I will not remove the cylindrical section between the seats, even though the torsion bars did not cross from one end to the other, so as to provide a base to mount the ammo box. In reality, there were to “L” shaped brackets that held the box above the linkages from the driver’s controls (not depicted in the set nor missed by me). See interior section of reference two.
The driver’s panel has seven instruments, while most of my references show only three or four with two mounted to the driver’s left and, for when the three instruments panel is used, another instrument to the driver’s right. This is correct as a photo (ref. 2, page 47)shows. The instruments themselves are merely indentations and would benefit from dial decals. I have some from Cutting Edge that will work well.
The left driver’s compartment wall is nicely detailed and the right wall has a radio mounted. This makes the tank a rare variant. The radio is of the 9R which was introduced in 1942 (ref. 2 page 445 & ref. 3) and not the 71-TK-3 used during 1940 until replaced by the 9R. however, this makes it more flexible since there are many more variants that used this radio and it matches well the photo in reference 1.
The fighting compartment floor seems fine as is. The modeler may want to cut a piece of lead foil to replicate the rubber matting placed over the ammunition cases. Make sure that the turret electrical connection, part 11, is not covered by mats.
The side walls also seemed fine as they were. I will make no alterations. The firewall is of the type used from 1942-1944. The main visual difference of the firewall used on during 1940 and 1941 is that the pentagon had parallel vertical sides. The center panel below the pentagon was a simple flat plate with a smaller hatch hinged on the bottom, on the upper left side (ref.2 p.441). For a true 1942-1944 firewall, you will need to remove the first aid box from part 5 and put it on the upper right corner of the pentagon panel.
The main gun provided is very well done and matches the references. Surprisingly, no ventilator is included nor lights for the turret or hull. The ammunition layout is different than shown in my references. I doubt the ammunition would be stacked this way on turrets with a removable rear turret hatch.
Fit
Removing the casting pours was not difficult in most cases but the driver’s compartment walls needed the use of a motor tool to speed up the process. Even the box top photo does not show the right wall in place.
Light sanding was needed to get the items to line up and a dip in hot water removed the slight warp of the floors. When doing the dip method, do so BEFORE removing the part from the casting block so as to have somewhere to grip the part while dipping.
Recommendation
This set provides what it claims. While designed for Dragon’s kits (which at the moment are only Model 1940 and 1941) this set is a pretty good representation of a T-34-76 built during 1942. It will come in handy for the many conversions available for the kit. While the ventilator was forgotten, it would be hard to see even through the large turret hatch. The packaging is a marked improvement and this is Trakz best interior so far!
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to David Parker for providing me some files before I got the magazine from my local distributor as well as my Polish friend who bought the Mythical Weapon books on my behalf and the folks at VLS for the review sample.
References used
1. AFV Modeller Issue 19
2. T-34 Mityczna Broń, by Robert Michulec, published by Armagedon Books
3. T-34 Mityczna Broń Tom II, by Robert Michulec & Mirosław Zientarzewski, published by Armagedon Books
4. http://www.armyradio.com
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