Maquette 1/35 Scale Kit No. MQ-35026;
T-34 Turret Set Early Version
by Cookie Sewell
48 parts in grey styrene; price US$8.95
Advantages: allows the builder to convert any early model T-34 kit into
a Model 1940, Model 1941 or Model 1941 with ZIS-4 gun
Disadvantages: "cottage industry" quality of plastic moldings
discourages many modelers; putty is a must with this kit
Rating: Recommended
Recommendation: for all T-34 fans
I haven't quite yet figured out the working relationship among the Russian
manufacturers Zvezda and Maquette and Polish companies Mirage and RPM,
but quite often they tend to either borrow each other's molds (or just
include sprues from the other manufacturers) or add resin parts to get
a specific variant of another company's kit. Zvezda, Maquette and Mirage
at least seem to have their own kit molds, so think they are ahead of
the game.
This is not so much a kit as an "instant conversion" set for
any Model 1940 or Model 1941 T-34 kit, which converts it to the pre-October
1941 welded (rolled armor) turret made at Mariupol before the great evacuation
of that month. This turret was fitted to both Model 1940 (76.2mm L-11
guns) and Model 1941 (either 76.2mm F-34 guns or the 57mm ZIS-4 antitank
guns) production tanks.
Maquette's kit provides three sprues that will produce the original and
early production Model 1941 turrets, as they provide details for both
the Model 1940's pop-up commander's periscope and the later Model 1941
flat welded plate that covered over that device when it was dropped from
service. It also provides the early PT-4 gunner's sight and the loader's
sight provided on early Model 1941s.
The kit provides the mantelet and barrel for the three variants –
the Model 1940 with the stubby L-11 gun, the standard production welded
turret Model 1941 with F-34 gun, and the limited production (sources say
from 25 to 50) tank-killing version of the Model 1941 armed with the ZIS-4
gun. This latter weapon was a tank mounting for the legendary ZIS-2 antitank
gun, and was for many years only considered to have been a prototype.
Photographic evidence and Russian researches now show that it did see
service.
The kit's main weakness is that the parts are rough in nature and also
show the problems endemic in eastern European "flat" molding
with old-fashioned injection molding equipment. Whereas the state-of-the-art
DML Model 1940/41 cast turret consists of five main parts – sides,
glacis plate, rear plate and roof – the Maquette kit requires seven
parts with a completely different breakdown – turret base, lower
turret floor, turret top, turret roof, turret backplate, and reinforcing
panels on the sides. The result is that this is a much harder assembly
to get a good fit on, and from personal experience requires putty and
patience to get a good smooth fit of parts. It also will require simulating
weld beads along most of the joint lines as well.
The L-11 and F-34 are provided with separate muzzle sections, but the
ZIS-4 is not. Maquette does provide separate mantelet and recoil assembly
covers, so each does match its prototype.
The kit does give a modeler with a DML or Maquette Model 1940 or 1941
kit another set of options, albeit the Maquette Model 1941 kit came with
both the Model 1940 and Model 1941 barrels and mantelets.
Overall, while it's not perfect, it does provide a way to use plastic
parts to create a unique model from an existing kit.
Cookie Sewell
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