T-43 Tank Company

The T-34M project, which had been cancelled with the German invasion in 1941, had a turret with a three-man crew and a cupola giving the commander all-round vision for the first time on a Soviet medium tank. When the Germans started fielding tanks armed with long-barrelled 7.5cm guns, it was revived with heavier armour as the T-43. The first two prototypes were finally completed in March 1943 and went through trials in August. As a result, the T-43 was recommended for production to replace the T-34. They could have been in combat in significant numbers by the end of the year. However, the appearance of large numbers of German heavy Tiger, Panther and Ferdinand tanks at Kursk highlighted that a bigger gun was more important than heavier armour. As the T-43 was already at its weight limit, the T-43 turret, re-armed with a long 85mm gun, was fitted to the T-34, while the T-43 was redeveloped into the T-44.

THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS:

• 2x resin and metal T-43 (76mm) Tanks