Hi all,
This is the Zvezda kit of the T-34 UTZM. Dirt cheap, but not a bad kit. I added a few upgrades to give it a little more detail.
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Text “Школьник Свердловска” (Translation: “Schoolchild of Sverdlovsk”. Transcription: “Shkol’nik Sverdlovska”.
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Thank you! I was wondering what that meant and was just about to ask if anybody knew. 
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Nice work on the model, but I’ll be an @$$-hole and would point out that the kit represents a tank produced at Uralmash or UTZM in Sverdlovsk, not ChTZ in Chelyabinsk (Tankograd).
Both factories used this turret, but it was popularized by Tamiya as ChTZ with their kit from the 90s. However, given the slogan and that ChTZ used only the tubular extra fuel holders taken from the KV tanks, this model (with some inaccuracies) represents an UTZM tank.
This is just a tanget and bravo again.
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Nothing @$$-hole-y about sharing knowledge. The T-34 is not my field of expertise, so I’m happy to learn more. Thanks! I’ll adjust accordingly.
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Hey, still looks outstanding.
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Telepathy - it exists! 
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Excellent job Jay! Love the finish and the weathering on the running gear.
What is the rusted box on the rear of the hull?
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It is a stove for heating up the engine and transmission of the tank during winter. In other seasons it was removed.
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The full history of this tank goes like this:
This tank is so called because the money for its construction was raised by schoolchildren from one school in the city of Sverdlovsk (now called Yekaterinburg). The initiator of the action was the girl Mara Koleva.
Mara was born in Ukraine in the city of Nikolaev. Her father was a Bulgarian political emigrant. He fled Bulgaria after the September Uprising of 1923.
Her family was evacuated to Sverdlovsk at the very beginning of the war. Mom worked at a bakery, and the workers of this enterprise raised money for a tank, which then went to the front under the name “Battle Girlfriend.” The idea struck the soul of first-grader Mara, and she decided to try to do the same at school.
They managed to collect 180 thousand rubles. To understand, the average monthly wage of workers during the war years was 339-442 rubles.
The money collected was enough for the local plant to produce another tank, which was called “Schoolchildren of Sverdlovsk”. He was brought to the school building to organize a festive rally before sending the car to the front. The girl Mara Koleva was placed on the tank.
Unfortunately, the tank did not fight for long.
“The tankers left, we began to wait for letters,” wrote Mara Koleva. - Soon the school received a telegram from Comrade Stalin. Joseph Vissarionovich thanked everyone for their patriotism and personally Mara Koleva. There were no letters from the tank crews, and soon we learned that the tank hit a mine and burned down as it approached the front line. We were all very upset. The school was in mourning for several days. Many children were crying.
On the other side of the tower there was a longer inscription: “Schoolchild of Sverdlovsk” from teachers and students of school No. 67 in Sverdlovsk.”
Full version of the original article “How a Ural first-grader raised money for a tank to take revenge on the Germans for her uncle (in Russian).
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Wow, that’s quite a history. Thanks for sharing that!
Thanks all for your responses.
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Excellent job Jay! That is an outstanding model and I love the rust work on the box. And what an amazing story behind the tank!
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Nicely done!
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