T-34 mod. 1940

Inspired by Doug's enthusiasm for playing What a Tanker at the gates of Moscow in late 1941, I decided to place an order with Army Group North Miniatures in Ontario.  Yes, another Canadian company making 1/56 scale tanks!  I managed to get my order in just before AGNM went on hiatus so the owner could deal with some pressing personal matters (Andy hopes to have AGNM back up and running sometime in spring 2020).

AGNM vehicles are resin with metal fittings (things like MG and main guns).  The resin pieces are the hull and turret, and wow are they solid!  Each model has a nice heft to it.  The tanks have bases sculpted on, which adds to the heft, and will probably make them a bit more durable as well.  The masters were originally made by Tony Ashcroft of New Zealand, who I actually met when I lived in Wellington a dozen years ago.  I wasn't into WWII at the time, but I have several of his Great War models in my collection.

This post is about the AGNM T-34/76 mod. 1940, the earliest of the production versions of this popular Soviet tank.  It first saw action in Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941.  I'm thrilled to have this version, as most other T-34 models available tend to be later production versions (mod. 1941 or later).  Of course the T-34/76 is going to be functionally the same in WaT whether it is a 1940, 1941, 1942 or later, but I like that this one is "right" for the intended battle.

The tank comes with hull and turret in lovely butter-coloured resin, with metal gun barrel, MG and headlights.  It also came with some stowage.


                                      

Turret hatches are closed, so I don't have the opportunity to give this tank a removable commander as I did with previous tanks (and no, I have no intention of chopping or sawing away at the hatch to try to open it!).

I gave the tank a very basic paint job.  I'm not keen on mucking about with painting camouflage patterns; I would likely make a huge mess if I tried, so I'm quite happy that for the most part, Red Army tanks went into action with a basic green.  As you can see in the comparison photo, I wasn't able to match the shade of green I used on last year's T-34/85, which I will explain away with excuses like, "well, they were different batches of paint, they weathered under different circumstances, they're not even supposed to be on the same battlefield" and any other justifications I can come up with off the top of my head.

As you can see, I once again went overboard with the decals.  When I paint British or Canadian tanks, I will try to include all sorts of tank markings, but the Russians tended to use far fewer markings.  But I've got the decals and I want to use them!!!  And of course the red star is crooked :P

Here is a comparison shot with the Rubicon T-34/85.  Short of pulling out the calipers to try to measure some tiny difference, it's clear that the tanks are the same size.  

Here are the Red Army tanks to date.

Also, a few weeks ago my wife gave me a Zvesda 1/100 T-34/85 for my birthday!  It is teeny tiny compared to the 1/56 monsters, but was fast and fun to assemble and paint.

And here she is with her bigger sister, the Rubicon 1/56 T-34/85.