T-34/85 Model 1944 No.174 Factory

Rye Field Model plastic model kit, for the construction of a Russian T-34/85 Model 1944 No.174 Factory of modern WW II, in 1/35 scale. Includes sprues with plastic parts, assembly instructions, P.E. parts and decals.

The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940, famously deployed with the Red Army during World War II against Operation Barbarossa. Its 76.2 mm tank gun was more powerful than its contemporaries while its 60 degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. After improved German Panzer IVs were encountered in combat in 1942, a project to design an entirely new Soviet tank was begun, with the goals of increasing armour protection while adding modern features like a torsion-bar suspension and a three-man turret. Production of the T-34-85 began in January 1944 and changes introduced in the new tank were a bigger turret ring enlarged from 1,425 mm to 1,600 mm, allowing a larger turret to be fitted and thus the larger 85 mm gun. It had a larger three-man turret, with radio (previously in the hull) and observation cupola in the roof.

Now the tank commander needed only to command (aided by cupola and radio systems), leaving the operation of the gun to the gunner and the loader. The turret armour was much thicker, 90 mm, even if bigger and less sloped than the original T-34 turret. This made the turret, overall, a bigger target (due to the three-man crew and bigger gun), but more resistant to enemy fire. The ammunition load shrank from around 90-100 to 55-60 shells, but the projectiles were 50% heavier (9 kg) and were much better in the anti-armour role, and reasonable in a general purpose role. The resulting new tank, the T-34-85, was seen as a compromise between advocates for the T-43 and others who wanted to continue to build as many 76 mm-armed T-34s as possible without interruption