Dan_Egan

Unfortunately, ICM’s T-34 is about the worst kit out there in the current marketplace. Dragon, Zvezda and RFM all do much better T-34s. There is already an OT-34 from Dragon anyway.

This T-34 fanatic will pass.

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icm_news Verified

Dear Dan_Egan. Many thanks for your comment. Please send more details concerning ICM model to support@icm.com.ua. Thanks in advance!

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BringupthePIAT

That is very harsh, Dan. The Tamiyas are objectively speaking the weakest kits on the subject out there. I’ve built the ICM and it was fine. A nice amount of pieces, no fit issues really and where there were small issues it was easily solveable with a little putty. Pretty rare to find a kit that doesnt need this, no?

Accuracy looked pretty good to me. I’d say it is on a par with the RFM and Border and easier/less stress than the Dragon. The Zvezda is the best I’ve seen in the scale but no reason to expect ICM haven’t made something competitive here. I’d prefer to wait until I have the box in front of me before I judge. Renderings look pretty good, I have to say.

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Petition2God Supporter

It’s nice to see the manufacturer responding to a comment. My comment is separate from Dan’s. If I were to comment on ICM’s T-34 offerings, it’s true that the quality has been improving over the years, but the rubber tracks are the most disappointing part - then the lack of PE part for engine grills. It’s really difficult to depict that sag T-34 tracks have with a rubber kind. To me, the kit becomes not worth the cost compared to other more recent offerings if you have to replace them with aftermarket products.

Aos

I would also say that ICMs kit is not bad (built one in Revell boxing years ago). For my taste the only real letdown are the rubberband tracks.
Btw, Academy has also an OT-34 in their range, kit no.13505

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Dan_Egan

You’re right, Academy has a pretty nice OT-34. I built one of their T-34s a couple years ago and really liked it, but completely forgot about the included flamethrower option. In fact, one of the really nice things about Academy’s kit is the huge number of options they provide in the box.

Thank you so much for this reminder.

Dan_Egan

You are of course entitled to your opinions about the extent to which I am harsh or which kits are better or worse.

I did not even consider the ancient Tamiya kits here. While I completely agree with you that they are far worse than ICMs, they are also about 45 years old at this point so they are not current kits. ICM, Zvezda, Academy, Dragon and RFM are the ‘current’ T-34 kits worth considering here.

Of that crop of more-or-less current T-34s, ICM’s is easily the worst. And I say that as a fan of ICM’s kits, in general. Some of their figure sets are just superb. But their T-34s aren’t.

Here’s an in-progress ICM Factory 183 kit I built a while back. From the bottom up:

1. The tracks were useless junk. Great by 1970s standards; poor by today’s.
2. The idler wheel is quite a bit bigger in diameter than any other T-34 idler I’ve ever encountered. My own jury is still out on whether real T-34 idlers came in different sizes (it is unlikely but perfectly possible) so I will not necessarily call that an inaccuracy. but on a second ICM T-34 I built, I replaced the idler too.
3. Detail on the drive sprocket and road wheels is a little thick.
4. Fenders have soldi tabs where the tie-down loops for the ice cleats go. To be fair, Dragon kits have this problem too.
5. Exhausts and exhaust armored covers were very poorly molded. Replaced with Dragon spares.
6. The mounts for the rear fuel cells were poor & had to be re-done.
7. Bow MG mount was junk; replaced.
8. The bolt heads all over the rear plate are softly molded, not sharp at all. One my other ICM kit I replaced all of them and it looks vastly better.
9. The cooling vents for the engine are way too thick and I should have replaced them. Since they are still there you can see how bad they are. These vents are candidates for replacement with PE or printed parts on almost any T-34 kit, but, the ICM kit’s are by far the worst. I would say this is one area where Tamya’s 1975s kit is better.
10. The tool box has no handles on the ends. Dragon and Zvezda got this right.
11. The keepers on the tow shackles were shapeless blobs so I used Dragon parts here.
12. Driver’s hatch was molded smooth, although it was a cast component. Easily fixed but nevertheless a flaw.
13. Turret was very poorly textured (granted, this is a common flaw of many T-34 kits and is another thing Tamiya did fairly well in 1975).
14. Turret lift rings were blobs; replaced.
15. The whole gun mount and gun tube was poor and very misshapen. Replaced.

So no, I don’t think I was being harsh at all. Can you get a good model out of this kit? Sure, of course. You might even enjoy the work. But a Zvezda, Dragon or Academy kit is better. A Rye Field kit leaves them all in the dust.

Not quite finished but getting there.

Here’s a different ICM build.

Finished.