[chascbv]

Dragon would have us believe this is a new model, but this same tank has been previously released - in fact, to make things even worse, as a special edition by Cyber Hobby! Nothing is wrong with the model - a very good T-34 obr. 1941 in fact - but something must surely be wrong with the manufacturer! What do you think of this sort of stuff?

The model represents a vehicle in 116th tank brigade, which fought at the Storozhevoy bridgehead across river Don during the summer of 1942. These were the initial stages in the fateful, bloody battle for Stalingrad, and the fighting was fierce in September, when our tank fired in anger to keep the bridgehead open, and ultimately advance to close the deadly pincer around the city that would not surrender, thus encircling a whole German army.

The real tank was photographed in March 1942 while on manoeuvres, and the version is roughly consistent with Dragon's model. One visible difference, though, is that the real tank had only one periscope on the turret top, while the model has two. The slogan reads "Lazo" after Sergey Lazo (stressed on the last syllable, if you care for that sort of thing), a communist leader during the Russian civil war. Even though he had been born in today's Moldova he became famous for his activities in the Siberian Far East, particularly around Vladivostok. In 1920 Lazo and a few other Red Army commanders were arrested by Japanese troops, and they all disappeared. Nobody knows for certain what ever became of them.

Well, a second chance to have a very good T-34 if you like the scheme and missed the special collector's edition by Cyber Hobby!!!