Specifically what are the list of “issues” with T-34 Mythical Weapon that makes it “worse” in some way?
I am not going to write a book review here. There are portions of the text that are quite simply laughable. Essentially the author argues that the T-34 was a junker until the Polish army began using them, and then, magically, they became excellent pieces of gear. I refer to my copy constantly for the photos; if the text somehow went away I wouldn’t miss it.
So again, could you please provide a link with concrete examples of vehicles being misidentified in Shock?
I no longer own the book so no, I can’t do that. There are some good reviews available as well as extensive discussion on the FB group “The T-34 Interest Group”. I recall a lot of misidentifications in the book. Again I am not interested in writing yet another book review. There is a frankly astonishing level of expertise in that FB group and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in T-34s.
Lazer pig is awesome and he’s spot on about the T-34, but I still think it’s a great tank.
Thank you, appreciate the discussion.
My only real concern with T-34 Mythical Weapon would errors that would effect model building using it as a primary reference.
If I understand correctly, you dislike T-34 MW author’s opinion of the T-34 and feel it is poorly supported. I understand you aren’t interested in detailing specifics of why the author’s opinion is poorly supported.
FWIW - WW2 era production T-34’s, I see as low quality due to the wartime corner cutting to maximize production numbers. The postwar T-34’s being better more reliable, more capable tanks than the WW2 era ones. Yet overall, the T-34 acquitted itself poorly in Korea & the long list of Arab-Israeli wars vs the Sherman from what I’ve read.
Open to other information.
I like T-34’s & T-55’s, due to aesthetics, but especially the 1942 T-34/76 STZ…aesthetic perfection! 
Cheers 
That’s a very useful distinction to make. T-34 MW has a huge collection of great photos so, yeah, I think it is fantastically useful to modelers. As I wrote above, I consult mine regularly.
As far as my concerns with the text, you’re quite right that it has little or no bearing on building models. For me, if I disagree with someone’s opinion, that’s not a reason to criticize a book. We all have opinions, some better-informed than others, and one can learn an awful lot from people with whom one disagrees. So my issues isn’t the opinions, it’s the very sloppy reasoning that makes those conclusions worthless.
We could write lengthy essays on all of this but frankly, if I were advising a brand-new T-34 fanatic I’d say buy T-34MW and join the FB group “The T-34 Interest Group” and ask all the questions you can think of; you will get great answers with plenty of backup. It’s free; it is top quality; it’s a friendly group.
