#4 DONE +++ T-34-122/T-34G, Battle of Kursk, 1943

[Dizzyfugu]

Serious question, and keeping up with my current plan to submit a wide variety of models I think that this landmark tank design deserves attention, too. Had the plan for this one long ago before the GB, but, once more, this is a good motivation to tackle the build. This one will be a rather unpectacular model, though: an 1:72 Zvezda T-34 (1943 model) snap kit, modded with a (whiffy) 122mm howitzer turret - an aftermarket (resin?) set from Sharkit, or fellow forum member renax, respectively.

AFAIK, only prototypes of this variant were built and tested, and eventually the turret-mounted solution was discarded in favor of a casemate style SPG, which became the SU-122 in 1943.

While the Zvezda kit is "only" a snap-fit kit, it is pretty new and with crisp detail. As far as I can tell so far, fit is very good, too, I just worry a little about the tracks and how to mount them during the building and painting process. The Sharkit turret looks simple at first sight (it's a markedly taller version of the T-34 turret with vertical side walls and a bigger gun), but fit is also very good - for a short run offering. I am just not certain about the material: it's soft like styrene, with thin walls, but can only be glued together with super glue? A bit weird, but otherwise easy to work with.

Stay tuned.

[NARSES2]

Wasn't aware of this stage of the Su-122's development. Looking forward to it

[Dizzyfugu]

OMG, I made the post and the kit is already nearing completion! 
O.K., it's just a snap-fit basis and a rather simple/straightforward conversion, but I expected more time for the building and painting process...

The thing looks like a brown-and-green mini KV-2! 

[zenrat]

Given your usual speed of building it's quite possible you could finish a snapper before you started it.

[NARSES2]

Which would of course confirm our time travel suspicions 

What does the track assembly consist of in these kits Dizzy ?

[PR19_Kit]

Given your usual speed of building it's quite possible you could finish a snapper before you started it.

Maybe almost before he's even bought it? 

[Dizzyfugu]

What does the track assembly consist of in these kits Dizzy ?

Well, I won't comment on my TARDIS leasing agreement from the BBC, but concerning the tracks (and the kit overall) the Zvezda offering comes as a postive surprise. The wheels consist of two halves each (just like standard tank kit), and each track is made from four IP segments: upper and lower rather straight part, and two short, bent pieces for the wheels in the front and the back. I did not insert them as the instructions suggest (because of the painting process), but fit of the segments is surprisingly good. Much better than anything I'd expect from a snap-fit kit, where wheels and tracks are frequently a single molded part. Positive surprise! 

[Captain Canada]

Given your usual speed of building it's quite possible you could finish a snapper before you started it.

And have the photoshoot done before even opening the box lol

[Dizzyfugu]

Before I started the modded T-34 I finished another tank kit which is actually waiting for photo shooting, too... 

[Dizzyfugu]

...and to add visual proof to the project, here's a look at the quick progress - so fast that I actually did only a few WiP pics!

The parts and the Sharkit conversion set:


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Military Wheels kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

One selling point in thjis case: the Sharkit turret fits perfectly onto the adapter that normally holds the OOB T-34/76 snap-on turret in place, so that the conversion is as simple as it could be!


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Military Wheels kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The Sharkit parts themselves appear bleak at first sight, but everything you ask for is there, including separate "Mickey Mouse" twin hatches, which fit well once properly cleaned and trimmed. The only questionable point is the material itself: the walls are thin, and the grey stuff is surprisingly soft – at first, I thought it was injected plastic, but you need super glue to put the few parts together.
Fit is – for a short run production set – surprisingly good, too, only little PSR was necessary to put the howitzer turret together. Anyway, a mini drill (like a Dremel) with a saw blade is highly recommended in order to get the parts off of the sprues and trim them. My only personal mod to the turret is the drilled-open barrel and four lugs on the turret's roof, made from thin brass wire.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Military Wheels kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Soviet WWII tanks offer little variety, most were finished in an overall dark green (which was not uniform and could differ from olive drab to grass green or even a deep forest green), and I found some specimen in an overall tan/brown. There's also always the whitewash option, but I wanted a vehicle from the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, so that this was – in this case – not an option.
Some T-34s were finished in a green/brown scheme, and this was eventually the route I chose. For the pattern, though, I referred to an interesting scheme I found on a BA-10 profile from the Battle of Kursk period: a deep brown basis onto which clearly defined, large mottles of grass green had been added. Not certain if that's authentic or just an over-artistic interpretation, but the concept was transferred to the T-34-122 here.

The basis is an all-over coat of a rich chocolate brown, RAL 8017. This was then painted over with thinned Lederbraun, RAL 8027. On top of that, rich green (RAL 6003) mottles were painted, leaving a spongy, brown net. The wheels were painted in uniform green or brown.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Military Wheels kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

After a dark brown wash, the basic colors were further lightened with French Earth Brown (ModelMaster) and Grass Green (Humbrol 80). After the few decals had been applied, the whole kit received a dry brushing treatment with Ochre (Humbrol 83) and some pure black ink around the cooler grates.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Military Wheels kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

Looking good, Dizzy!

[NARSES2]

Thank's for the info on the tracks Dizzy  I've seen a few of the wargame's style kits with tracks like that, good idea as far as I'm concerned.

[Dizzyfugu]

Yes, in this case this track solution works really fine. Probably no more WiP pics, but it might take some days for beauty pics. Looks a bit like a mini KV-2!

[NARSES2]

Looks a bit like a mini KV-2!

It does with that turret for sure

[Dizzyfugu]

Took a while, but now it's finished with some pics from 1943: a T-34-122, vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank that had a profound and lasting effect on the field of tank design. Although its armor and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential tank design of the Second World War. Replacing many light and medium tanks in Red Army service, it was the most-produced tank of the war, as well as the second-most-produced tank of all time (after its successor, the T-54/55 series).

At its introduction, the T-34 possessed an unprecedented combination of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Its 76.2 mm (3 in) high-velocity tank gun provided a substantial increase in firepower over any of its contemporaries; its heavy sloped armor was difficult to penetrate by most contemporary anti-tank weapons. When first encountered in 1941, the German tank general von Kleist called it "the finest tank in the world" and Heinz Guderian confirmed the T-34's "vast superiority" over existing German armor of the period.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The T-34 was the mainstay of Soviet armored forces throughout the Second World War. Its design allowed it to be continuously refined to meet the constantly evolving needs of the Eastern Front: as the war went on it became more capable, but also quicker and cheaper to produce.

The chassis was also used in a wide variety of different armored vehicles. Soviet High Command became interested in assault guns in 1942, following the success of German Sturmgeschutz IIIs. Assault guns had some advantages over tanks with turrets like a low profile, heavier armor, and the lack of a turret made them generally cheaper and easier to produce. They could also be built with a larger fighting compartment and could be fitted with bigger and more powerful weapons on a given chassis. However, assault guns generally aim by orienting the entire vehicle, and were thus less suited for close combat than tanks with turrets.

Which concept was the most suitable was the point of heavy debates. In April 1942, several design bureaus were asked to develop assault gun proposals with various armament, including the 76.2 mm ZiS-3 divisional field gun and 122 mm M-30 howitzers for infantry support, and 152 mm ML-20 howitzers for attacking enemy strongholds.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Many different designs were tested, including a prototype assault gun, armed with the 122 mm howitzer and built on a captured German Sturmgeschütz III chassis, designated SG-122.
Another route was a SPG based on the T-34 medium tank with the same chassis, superstructure, engine and transmission and was armed with (the then new) 122 mm M-30S howitzer from F. F. Petrov's design bureau. This vehicle also used the same gun bed cover and mountings as the SG-122, to keep costs low and simplify production, and led to the turret-less SU-122 SPG that entered service in 1943.

Another design route, inspired by the heavy KV-2 tank, was the same 122 mm M-30S howitzer mounted in a turret on the medium tank chassis. Several turret designs (both cast and welded steel) were tried. By 25 November 1942 the first T-34-122 prototype was ready. Trials ran from 30 November to 19 December 1942 and uncovered various faults in the design. These included insufficient turret bearings (the turret could only turn without a problem on level ground), a flawed shell transfer mechanism, poor ventilation for the turret crew and the fact that the commander had to assist in operating the gun which made him unable to successfully carry out his other duties. Visibility for the turret crew was poor, too, since there was no cupola for the commander for a free, direct view, just a panoramic telescope – a flaw the T-34-122 shared with its standard brethren.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Despite these shortcomings, an initial batch of forty pre-production T-34-122 (also known as the T-34G) were manufactured in early 1943 for field tests. Not only the howitzer's field performance was to be tested, it was also a direct competition against the turret-less SU-122 SPG that had been developed and tested in parallel. Production of the new turret with the M-30S howitzer for the standard T-34 chassis had already started, though.

The pre-production vehicles were immediately sent into frontline service. Being too late for the Battle of Stalingrad, the initial T-34-122s were sent to the Battle of Kursk where most of them were quickly destroyed or disabled. Unlike the Stalingrad battle in a tight, urban environment, where the more flexible turret would have offered a tactical advantage, the open field confrontation at Kursk proved to be disastrous to the T-34-122 with its high silhouette, high center of gravity and almost vertical turret armor which made it very vulnerable to direct gun fire. Only a few tanks in a supportive artillery role, several kilometers behind the front line, survived the battle and proved the effectiveness of the gun and the general soundness of the tank's concept.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Anyway, the massive failure of the T-34-122 in direct combat situations once more stirred up the discussions about the most effective SPG concept, and the disappointing results from Kursk (as well as the operational failure of the heavy KV-2 at the same time) led to a complete stop of any T-34-122 production plans in September 1943. Until then, though, almost 200 turrets had already been built and outfitted, so that T-34 hulls could be quickly converted on the production lines and in the field workshops.

Eventually, and also in order to focus production on as few tank types as possible, the SU-122 was chosen for further development and serial production. Service SU-122s incorporated several modifications, including slightly less sloped front armor to ease production, modified layout of the fighting compartment (the location of crew member stations and ammunition racks were changed), fewer vision slots, and a periscope for the commander.


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


T-34-122 production was not resumed, even though the surplus turrets were mounted on recovered or repaired T-34 chassis', and primarily used in the supportive heavy artillery tank role, while the SU-122 was rather used in the assault gun role and even served as tank hunter. In the course of 1943 and 1944, a total of roundabout 1.150 SU-122 SPGs were built.
Soviet industry would eventually produce over 80,000 T-34s of all variants, allowing steadily greater numbers to be fielded as the war progressed despite the loss of thousands in combat against the German Wehrmacht.



Specifications:
    Crew: Five (commander, gunner, 2x loader, driver)
    Weight: 32.5 tonnes (35.7 short tons)
    Length: 6.12 m (20 ft), hull only
                6.77 m (22 ft 2 in) with gun facing forward
    Width: 3.00 m (9 ft 10 in)
    Height: 3.02 m (10 ft)
    Suspension: Christie
    Ground clearance: 0.4 m (16 in)
    Fuel capacity: 820 l (180 imp gal; 220 US gal)

Armor:
    15–47 mm (0.6 – 1.85 in)

Performance:
    Maximum road speed: 45.5 km/h (28 mph)
    Operational range: 300 km (186 mi)
    Power/weight: 15.4 PS/tonne (14 hp/ton)

Engine:
    Model V-2-34 38.8 L V12 Diesel engine with 500 PS (493 hp, 368 kW)

Armament:
    1× 122 mm (4.803 in) M-30S howitzer with 30 rounds
    2× 7.62 mm (0.308 in) DT machine guns (1× co-axial with the main gun, 1× in the front hull) with 3.000 rounds




1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 T-34-122 (with welded turret); vehicle "23" of the Soviet Red Army's Independent 10th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Army; Stary Oskol, during the Battle of Kursk, mid 1943 (Whif/Zvezda kit w. Sharkit parts conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



A rather simple and subtle whif, but I like the result of this fictional T-34 variant. The changed silhouette through the tall, new turret reminds a lot of the bigger KW-2 tank? A mini KW-2!? The paint scheme did not come out as clearly or bright as originally planned, but I left it that way because the rich brown and the yellow-ish green are still discernable under the weathering and the pigment dust. And it's IMHO a worthy addition to my range of Group Build submissions.