T-34/85
4th Guards Tank Brigade

Here's one of my earlier builds.

This model should represent a tank belonging to 1st Batallion of 4th Guards Tank Brigade, 5th Guard Tank Army, from the period of the fall of 1944, somewhere in Lithuania.

This tank was actually a replacement for the canceled T-43 tank, which should be the successor of the T-34. However, T-43 was canceled because it was inadequate (mostly due to the low mobility), and the Soviet command made the decision to retool the factories to produce an improved version of the T-34. Its turret ring was enlarged, allowing a larger turret to be fitted supporting the larger 85 mm gun. The prototype T-43's turret design was hurriedly adopted by Vyacheslav Kerichev at the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory to fit the T-34. This was 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.

T-34/85 soon became the main tank of the Soviet army.