As I’m coming to the end of the build of this not uninteresting vehicle, I thought I’d open a second thread within the Cold War section; the main build and progress is covered within the campaign site “Best Tank That Never Was – Part 3” where you’ll find a few more details. This is not an attempt to garner extra plaudits (or criticism come to that) but it occurred to me that some may not delve into the campaign threads that often, and the T-74 would pass you by.
Just be aware that Trumpeter have produced a model of a model; the real thing, as far I was able to find out, never actually saw the light of day; it remained a concept and that, given the state of political infighting amongst Soviet designers and Generals, was that. The replacement tank ended up being the T-80.
However, a fascinating design by Morozov, who was also responsible for the lethal T-64. This time, all the crew were in the hull. The weapon was a 125mm as per the T-64 but a 130mm gun was also planned. I imagine the vehicle was quite lively and agile, probably a touch faster than the T-64, as sans a full turret could probably get a move on.
Anyway, my idea was to display it as a prototype only, on trials somewhere in the Byelorussian Military District of Soviet Russia. In other words, enhance the model by adding all the stuff we’ve come to know as representative of Soviet tanks; as I say, the build is just about complete. Details are probably self-evident, but I’ve added, headlights, IR equipment(30mm one secured by adhesive putty at the moment), fuel drums, and also tweaked generally the rather bland Trumpeter offering. I decided in the end not to produce a Schnorkel; I couldn’t quite work out where it would go; I imagine it would have been fastened atop the fuel drums for real, as per the habit on T-62s. I used dowel to replace the plastic unditching beam (temporarily secured with adhesive putty). Other small enhancements were some etch gizmology to the 2 x MG ammo boxes, ammo box reinforcing on the 30mm, wipers on the sight units, a Schnorkel cover plate to the crew compartment, a hatch to the sponson’s rear, and that was about it. I couldn’t decide where the tank’s tarpaulin would go, and initially decided to cram it in at the LH hull rear, and manufactured some rather crude wire brackets for the securing straps, but thinking on a bit, I’ll remove them. Any tarp positioned there would become so sodden and dirty it would end up useless (which is why I’m sure, they were normally positioned on the turret).
All glue splodges and poor construction practices etc are mine, and mine alone!
