As World War II progressed, German tanks became harder and harder for Soviet tanks to engage and destroy. German tanks had thicker armour and bigger guns, and could easily destroy the Soviets before they could close to effective range. The Soviet answer initially was to place bigger and heavier guns on their tanks as self-propelled weapons -- the 122mm and 152mm guns.
Eventually German tanks began to be able to defeat these weapons as well, so the Soviets introduced a powerful new 100mm gun called the BS-3. This gun could penetrate up to 192mm of armour at 450 metres, and was able for the first time to have a reasonable ability to engage the Tiger II and Jagdtiger at combat ranges (except head-on). Unfortunately, this was a towed gun which weighed over 3,400 kilograms, and as a result was not the most mobile weapon to use on the battlefield. The solution was to design a lighter version of the weapon which fit in a tank. The initial result, now called the D-10 gun, was initially mounted in the Su-85 SP weapon chassis. With a few minor changes, the Su-100, as it was now called, was ready for German tanks. It provided good service against them, and was selected to remain in production after the war.

The D-10 went on to become the armament of the T-54 and T-55 tank series, and was the initial "Red Menace" during the early days of the Cold War. The Su-100 remained in Soviet production until 1945, when it was modified to become the Su-100M. This had an improved hull layout, new radios, modifications to the drive line, and most obviously, a large stowage bin on the right front fender. This remained in production until 1953 in the USSR, and under license in Czechoslovakia until about 1956. The Su-100 served with at least twelve countries, and a few remain in reserve with several small countries today. In theory, with the changes to the ammunition fired by the D-10 series guns, the Su-100 has some capability yet on modern battlefields.

Tamiya had a kit of this vehicle out in the early 1960s, and a 1/25 scale one around 1970, but like their T-34-85 of the time, it was a crude toy. Several resin kits have come and gone, but until the release of this kit, there has been a dearth of them around. There is some evidence which indicates that Tamiya planned to release a 1/35 scale kit in the mid 1970s with its other T-34 kits, and even as late as 1987 when the last two Tamiya T-34 kits (T-34-85 and T-34 Model 1943 ChTZ) were released. Happily, Zvezda has proceeded to make this kit their second release after their excellent T-34 Model 1943.

The good things first: this is a very nicely done kit, as good as the T-34 was, and has the correct late solid rubber wheels with dished disk centers. The fuel tanks come in four parts -- two end caps and two center sections -- which means that they can be assembled without the gaps found in the Tamiya kits (this is the same design as found in their IS-2 kit). The gun barrel is formed of a tube and cap -- note not one sinkhole was found in my tube, which is a solid plastic part -- and the entire gun is completely flexible thanks to an ingenious mounting.

However, it is missing some details, and is a post-war Su-100M, not an Su-100. Based on comments from the Internet (USENET: rec.models.scale) most modelers want to make the Arab ones anyway, which were nearly all Su-100M versions built in Czechoslovakia, so that is not going to be a big problem. It has the same lower hull pan and tracks as the T-34, which means that it will certainly require most modelers to get an after-market set of tracks for it. (See instructions on assembly below if you want to keep the kit tracks.)

I did some basic research, and all angles and dimensions on the kit are correct. The only thing missing for the Su-100 are the projections at the rear of the casemate where the sides project beyond the rear casemate wall. These are only about 25mm long in real life (.030" in scale) and can be made from strips of .030 deep x .050 wide styrene. It will need to be lined out at the bottom with weld bead where the casemate sides attach to the rear of the hull. For the Su-100, there is a fillet which adapts the casemate to fit on the T-34 hull. The best views of this are found in the book "Soviet Mechanized Firepower 1941-45" by Steve Zaloga and Janusz Magnewski, published by Arms and Armour Press in 1989.

The real vehicles show lots of weld bead, most of which is not on the kit. Most obvious are those at the rear of the casemate (noted above), around the lower edge of the bulge for the commander's cupola, around the cupola itself, the front and top edges of the casemate. The ones around the driver-mechanic’s hatch mountings are provided. The sides are 45mm thick (.050") and the front plate is 100mm (.120" or 3mm) to give you an idea of where to set the beads.

Decals are provided for three vehicles, all Su-100s in 1944, which as noted, is an unfortunate choice. They are high quality, but not apropos.

In regard to the overall kit quality, let's compare the Zvezda/Italeri efforts with Tamiya ones. I received Peter Brown's thorough review of the T-34 Model 1943 (which was published in the January 1996 issue of the BORESIGHT). I had a chance to read all of his comments prior to building my own T-34 kit. To see what else can be said about the kit, I did a study of the five T- 34s on APG (a Model 41, a Model 43, and three Model 45 T-34-85s) to see both how close Zvezda came and to compare their kit with Tamiya's 20-year-old effort. Tamiya's kits (the Mod 42, two Mod 43s, and Mod 45) all have a number of small errors of 0.5 to 4mm throughout them. While many modelers say, "so what?", the overall result is that none of their kits capture the flavour of the real vehicles and as a result are disappointing. (Look at it this way: a square plate 10 mm x 10 mm with an error of 1mm in length and 1mm in width is now 9 x 11, and that's no longer square.)

The first thing which pops out is that each factory which assembled the real T-34 tank did things its own way, so there is a wide variety of assembly means used. Some T-34 upper hulls were assembled using butt joints (i.e. flush fit) and others with a lap joint (creates grooves). The Zvezda hull is a butt joint hull and Tamiya's is a lap joint; this is the reason for the two different upper decks. Comparison with the APG vehicles show that the Zvezda kit is dead on the money, whereas Tamiya forgot to compensate and took deck width as the overall width of the upper hull, resulting in one about 2mm too narrow. The result is that Tamiya had to "fudge factor" by increasing the splay of the upper hull sides to fit the dimensions, resulting in a hull which is too flat (correct side angle is 40 degrees, and the Tamiya angle is 45).

The Zvezda turret, while also a "hard-edge" Mod 43 turret, is differently proportioned than the Tamiya one. However, a study of photos in several different books (US, British, and Russian) show that the shapes of the Zvezda turret are about right whereas the Tamiya one is too bluff and wide at the back. The Zvezda kit's gun is also more accurate -- it sits high in the turret and has a crowned muzzle, which Tamiya's does not.

The biggest difference is the running gear. While Tamiya's wheels have nicer proportions, the Zvezda wheels are correct in overall size (Tamiya's are all a shade oversized) and in correct relationship to each other (Tamiya's is 3mm too long in wheelbase and 4mm too short from the front idler to first road wheel position). That Tamiya 4mm error is caused by the motorization purpose front axle, which prevents the modeller from getting the idlers in the correct position. The Zvezda kit has a faithful copy of the cammed adjustment device in the T-34, so the modeller can set the idler to a position he likes to replicate the real vehicle's suspension at various times in its life span.

After reading Peter's comments, I experimented with the tracks for some time. I discovered that they WILL fit on the model if you plan ahead. Due to the large mounting shaft for the drivers, simply leave the drivers off until you wish to mount the tracks. Slip them over the other wheels, and then gently push the driver into place and tighten them up; once installed,cement the driver retaining pin (parts 9B) into position. You then have the problem of inducing sag, but the same thing exists with the Tamiya kit.

I built both kits side-by-side as a comparison and installed most of the same features and options for comparison. The Tamiya kit has better fine details, but the Zvezda looks more accurate (as well as measuring that way). Since the Zvezda kit uses a different factory's hull, none of the after-market brass or detail sets, let alone the conversion kits based on the Tamiya kit, will fit the new model, and this will hopefully be answered by the manufacturers. Note that I used a set of Model Kasten tracks on the Zvezda kit and then used the Zvezda tracks on the Tamiya kit, tossing the stretchy Tamiya ones into the parts bin.

Overall, I find this as exciting for me as a Russian fan as a new Pz. IV kit to the German fans. Zvezda/Italeri have done a good job, and with Italeri's influence and technical assistance, they should improve as they go. The Su-100 is a nice follow-up to the Model 1943; next up are a T-34 Model 1945 (85mm) and a new kit of the Model 1942.

References:
Soviet Mechanized Firepower 1941-45, By Steven Zaloga and Janusz Magnewski. Arms and Armour Press, 1989. ISBN ???.
"Zvezda T-34, Model 43", By Peter Brown. Boresight, January, 1996.
In-depth review with "how to" references.