Dragon 1/72 T34/76 Model 1941
Dragon 1/72nd Scale T34/76 Model 1941 Review
History
I will not go into much detail here since the history of the T34 has been covered in detail by many authors. Suffice it to say, when introduced in 1940, the T34/76 Model 1940 was one of the finest tanks in the world. In spite of having some faults, the T34/76 managed to combine the three qualities of any tank design – firepower, mobility and protection- into a superb combination. Every tank design is a compromise between these three factors but the T34/76 designers did it far better than anyone had ever done.
Kits Available
There are a plethora of injection-molded T34s available in 1/72nd scale. Kits have been or are available from Revell, Eastern Express, Italieri, UM, Military Wheels and AER. Now Dragon has given us both the T34/76 Model 1940 and the T34/76 Model 1941. Although UM has already given us these two variants, I believe the Dragon kits are superior.
Dragon T34/76 Model 1941 Construction Review
When you open the box the kit is packaged in the usual Dragon manner. Individual parts sprues are wrapped in cellophane. The kit has a very nice set of decals and a photo-etched engine grill. The slide molded road wheels are a nice touch but the need to drill out the holes in the idlers and drive sprockets is a bit of a chore. The turret interior is very nice and should be modeled open to show it off. The construction of my kit went very smoothly with no problems encountered. Dragon has engineered the kit very well. During construction I added lift eyebolts to the turret top, MV Products lenses to the headlights and drilled out the idlers and sprockets. The kit gun barrel looked a bit too short so I used one of the new Armorscale F34 gun barrels. These barrels are new on the market and very affordably priced. The engine screen was a nice touch but it would have been nice if Dragon had given us a rudimentary engine and transmission. Construction and painting proceeded quickly. Unfortunately, I now realized that the tracks were designed too small. Wings n Treads notified Dragon and I soon received a new, longer track in the mail. Once I painted and weathered the tracks they were installed. I super-glued the track down to the upper road wheels to replicate the realistic sag.
Conclusion
In my opinion this kit has the edge over the UM T34/76 Model 1941. Although I have built UM kits and was very impressed with their link and length tracks, the Dragon kit is much sharper in detail. For those that must have link and length tracks, I suggest combining the Dragon and UM kits.
Reference
Zaloga, Steven and James Grandsen. T-34 in action. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1981.
Zaloga, Steven. T-34/76 Medium Tank 1941-1945. London: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 1994.