Soviet
76mm Regimental Gun Model 1943
ICM
| Catalogue No.: | 35101 |
| Scale: | 1/35 |
| Media: | Styrene |
| Review Type: | In-Box |
| Rating: | Highly Recommended |
S u m m a r y |
|
| Contents: | 71 parts in olive green styrene |
| Price: | around US$6.95 |
| Advantages: | First kit of this weapon in any scale |
| Disadvantages: | None noted |
| Recommendation: | For "redlegs" and Soviet Red Army fans |
F i r s t L o o k |
One of the good things about the advent of Eastern European manufacturers -- primarily
those from the former Soviet Union – is that subjects that would never be covered are
picked up and brought into being. This is one of those nice little models which pop up
from time to time.
The Russian Imperial Army, and the Soviet Red Army which followed it, like most European
armies, classified weapons by their usage. There were light "company" and
"battalion" guns, for use at those infantry echelons; heavier
"regimental" and "divisional" guns, and then heavy "corps"
and "army" level siege weapons. The lower end was marked by guns in the 25mm to
47mm range, but regiment was the first echelon which jumped to the 76mm level. In 1927,
the 76mm Model 1927 Regimental Gun – in reality a very light howitzer – was
produced at Factory No. 9 in Perm. This was a popular and useful small howitzer, similar
in size and utilization to the German 7.5 cm howitzer and the US Army 75mm Pack Howitzer.
But when the Great Patriotic War broke out, while guns like the Model 1927 were useful,
they took too much time to manufacture. As a result, the Soviets continually looked for
ways to standardize and simplify their artillery weapons. The result at the regimental
level - for division and medium antitank weapons were standardized on the excellent ZIS-3
design – was to take the barrel of the Model 1927 and mount it on the carriage of the
Model 1942 45mm antitank gun. This resulted in two basic advantages: one, they only needed
to produce one light carriage and one light limber, with only minor changes needed to fit
the barrels and stow rounds; and two, the very useful Model 1927 got a much more
functional carriage. Also thrown in was a "cumulative" projectile, which was an
early type of HEAT round.
The weapon was quite functional, having a range of around 8500 meters and throwing a very
handy 13.7 pound shell. This type of weapon survived World War II, and it and the Model
1927 were used elsewhere in the world, such as in Korea.
ICM has captured the diminutive size and delicate parts of this weapon well; while sharing
some of the parts from their earlier Model 1937/Model 1942 45mm AT gun kit, this is a
wholly new sprue with all of the parts for the new
weapon on it. (Pantographs work wonders!) The gun comes with an ammo case and 16 rounds
– eight full and eight empty cases.
Overall, this is a handy "little" model which can either fill in the corner of a
diorama very nicely, or stand on its own merits as a "foreground" piece.
This kit is available from Squadron Mail Order.
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