Zvezda

Soviet Medium Tank T-34/76 mod. 1943

This is an interesting kit. It is a snap-together kit that needs no glue. Zvevda is marketing it as “My First Model Kit”. Despite the fact that it is snap-together, it is very detailed and comes with decals, unlike the wargaming kits.

The main sprue is a light grey, and contains all pieces except the tracks and lower hull.

The first note of detail is that all the wheels are drilled. This is an impressive level of detail not found in–the-box of many other kits. Unfortunately, unlike the wheels, the barrel and exhausts are not drilled.

The wheels are a mix of tired and steel, with only enough for the one tank.

The tracks are a hard black plastic. Each track consists of four pieces – upper & lower sections, plus two “end caps”. They are fairly detailed on the outside, with some detail on the inside. They do have guide teeth.

The driver’s hatch is molded closed. The two turret hatches snap in; it would require some work to remove the large plastic snap-in pieces from them if you wished to display them open. Also, there is no detail inside the turret.

Other details are nicely molded tow shackles, bow MG, and some tread sections to be mounted on the side of the tank. Included are two tow cables.

The instructions are very good and very complete. As far as I can tell, all pieces contained in the kit will be used, leaving no spares for the parts bin. Decals are provided for two vehicles, one a standard green and the other a camouflaged paint scheme. A painting guide is provided in the instruction sheet.

All in all this looks to be a decent kit, with the marketing ploy of no glue needed. Zvevda has followed this kit with a snap-together German Tiger I, kit #5002. We’ll see if they continue to add similar quality kits to this line, and if modellers accept them as real kits (which, in my opinion, they are).

Article Last Updated: 27 April 2011