Background

For the past couple of years, MiniArt has been producing some exquisite, super detailed kits of Soviet/Red Army armored vehicles from the Second World War and immediate post-war period. The company has decided to take various components of these kits, and repackage them as “Up Grade” sets for the kits of other model companies. In the case of the set under review, MiniArt has taken the running gear (road wheels, idler and drive wheel, plus tracks) from their T-44 tank kit, and reboxed them as T-34/85 Late Type components.

Background

The T-54/55 series of Soviet tanks are the most important tanks to see operation in the Cold War era, if for no other reason than sheer numbers: some estimates put total production at over 100,000 units. This series of tanks have also been used in almost every conflict of the second half of the 20^th century, large and small, beginning with the invasion of Hungary by Soviet forces in 1956, the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967, 1973, 1982, the Vietnam war from 1967-75, the Iran-Iraq wars of 1980-88, the conflicts in Afghanistan, the Yugoslav Civil wars, and conflicts across Africa. This new, super detailed kit from MiniArt represents the initial production variant of the T-54 which started rolling off production lines in 1947, but suffered from a great many teething troubles. For a superb blog on the T-54, please check here: https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/t-54.html

The original BMPT Terminator was designed to be a combat support vehicle for urban combat. It seems to have been conceived from combat experience gained in the first Chechen War and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The BMPT itself was built on a modernized T-72 chassis with the main armament consisting of four 9M120 Ataka missile launchers and two 30 mm 2A42 autocannons. The BMPT-72 Terminator 2 is the successor to the original BMPT Terminator 1 and like the original is built on the T-72 chassis. However, the BMPT-72 is only being built as a retrofit kit for export to countries that have old T-72s. This new kit from Tiger Models is the first kit of this very unique vehicle.

Dragon Models offers a complete lineup of the Sd.Kfz.142 Sturmgeschütz family tree in 1/35 scale. The subject of this review is the Sd.Kfz. 142 III Ausf, C/D, an upgraded offering from their ‘Smart Kit’ series.

The ‘Sd.Kfz.’ in the name, short for ‘Sonderkraftfahrzeug’, identifies the vehicle as a ‘special purpose vehicle’, and the Sturmgeschütz (StuG) was Germany's most produced armored fighting vehicle during World War II.

The StuG was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank, replacing the turret with a fixed superstructure mounting a more powerful gun. Initially intended as a mobile, armored light gun for direct-fire support for infantry, the StuG III was continually modified, and widely employed as an assault gun as well as a tank destroyer.

Dragon has recently released five new kits, none of which have been available in plastic before, at least not in the released versions. Instead, modelers would have had to scratch build them or buy expensive resin conversion sets.

This review covers one of the kits; the 15cm s.IG.33/2 (Sf) auf Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer. This Czechoslovakian 38(t)-based vehicle looks unusual, sporting the large-caliber, 150mm field howitzer used on a variety of other (mostly larger) German AFV’s. Just imagine the recoil from that gun when fired from the diminutive Hetzer!

Intended as a replacement for the Grille, only 30 were built, from December 1944. Operational history is scarce, but based on the few images available it was apparently used in combat on the Eastern front.

This is an unusual armored vehicle and promises to build into an unusual subject for German WWII armor fans.