SU-85 WW2 Soviet Tank Destroyer by CDW - MiniArt - 1:35 Scale

[CDW]

This is the 1:35 MiniArt SU-85 Soviet tank destroyer from the WW2 era. The kit reproduces the model with a full interior. There are more than 700 parts, making this kit a big heavy box of plastic.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

The SU-85 (Samokhodnaya ustanovka 85) was a Soviet self-propelled gun used during World War II, based on the chassis of the T-34 medium tank. Earlier Soviet self-propelled guns were meant to serve as either assault guns, such as the SU-122, or as tank destroyers; the SU-85 fell into the latter category. The designation "85" means the bore of the vehicle's armament, the 85 mm D-5T gun.

Development history[edit]

Early in World War II, Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1 had adequate firepower to defeat any of the German tanks then available. By the fall of 1942, Soviet forces began to encounter the new German Tiger tank, with armor too thick to be penetrated by the 76.2 mm guns used in the T-34 and KV tanks at a safe range.^[2] The Soviet command also had reports of the Panther tank, that was in development then and possessed thicker armor than the Tiger; both represented an advance in German tank design. Although the Panther was not seen in combat until July 1943, the new generation of German vehicles meant the Red Army would need a new, more powerful main gun for their armoured formations.

In May 1943, work was begun on a new anti-tank gun. Military planners directed the design bureaus of both Gen. Vasiliy Grabin and Gen. Fyodor Petrov to modify the 85 mm anti-aircraft gun for use as an anti-tank weapon. Petrov's bureau developed the D-5 85 mm gun. Though much too large for the T-34 or KV-1 turret, it was thought the gun could be mounted upon the chassis of the SU-122 self-propelled gun to give the weapon mobility. The version of this gun intended to be mounted upon the SU-85 was called the D-5S, with the "S" standing for self-propelled. Initially the production factory at Uralmash rejected the proposed design. Nevertheless, the administrators at Uralmash were persuaded to proceed, and the new design was put into production. The weapon was later modified to include a telescopic sight and a new ball gun mantlet. This vehicle was retitled the SU-85-II.^[2]

Description[edit]

The SU-85 was a modification of the earlier SU-122 self-propelled howitzer, essentially replacing the 122 mm M-30S howitzer of the SU-122 with a D-5T high-velocity 85 mm antitank gun. The D-5T was capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m.^[3] The vehicle had a low profile and excellent mobility. Initially given an armored commander's cap on the first batch, the SU-85's observational optics were improved by the introduction of a standard commander's cupola - the same as on the T-34/76 model 1942 - in addition to the already existing prismatic observation sights installed in left side and rear. On later vehicles, the same optics were added, allowing all-around observation.^[4]

Production history[edit]

SU-85 (1944)

SU-85 production started in mid-1943, with the first vehicles reaching their units by August. When the up-gunned T-34-85 medium tank entered mass production in the spring of 1944, there was no point in continuing production of a tank destroyer without superior firepower.^[5] In light of this, SU-85 production was stopped in late 1944 after 2,650 vehicles had been produced. It was replaced on the production lines by the SU-100 tank destroyer, armed with the more powerful 100 mm D-10S gun, but due to delays with 100 mm ammo, a stopgap version called SU-85M appeared in September 1944, which was SU-100 fitted with 85 mm gun, already with thicker frontal armor and commander's cupola.

Service history[edit]

The SU-85 entered combat in August 1943. It saw active service across the Eastern Front until the end of the war. Though a capable weapon, it was found that its 85 mm weapon was not adequate to penetrate the armour of the larger German armoured fighting vehicles.^{[citation needed]} It was replaced by the SU-100.

The SU-85 was withdrawn from Soviet service soon after the war, and was exported to many Soviet client states in Europe and elsewhere. Some SU-85s were converted to use as command and recovery vehicles.^[6] Countries such as North Korea and Vietnam kept it in service for many years.^[7]

 

Construction begins with a very well detailed drive train assembly. This is the Kharkiv Model V2 493 horsepower V-12 Diesel Engine 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by CDW

[king derelict]

This is going to be a very interesting build. I'm looking forward to seeing it develop

Alan

[Javlin]

I have built one MiniArt kit and it was a Nice fitting enjoyable build looking forward to the end result.

[CDW]

5 minutes ago, Javlin said:

I have built one MiniArt kit and it was a Nice fitting enjoyable build looking forward to the end result.

Thanks for your comments Kevin.

MiniArt packs an incredible amount of detail in the kits I've built so far, and for a fair price I must add. The cautions I would point out for 1st time builders of a MiniArt kit are

1. Pay close attention to the parts assembly by test fitting and looking several steps ahead. It's quite easy to assemble the parts in a way that will not fit later on when sub-assemblies are brought together.

2. The plastic is very soft. It's very easy to damage the parts without a gentle hand in prepping and cleaning them up.

3. There are a HUGE number of parts trees, all labeled a, b, c, etc. organize your parts trees with a clearly seen label or else you'll drive yourself nuts looking for the correct parts tree as you build your kit.

[Canute]

Interesting beast, Craig. Looking forward to this build.

[CDW]

With the major components of the engine and transmission/steering clutches painted, will drop back now to pick out details and weather it up.

Once the radiators are installed, much of the engine will get covered up, only to be seen from the top.

 

 

[CDW]

The engine gets sandwiched between two massive radiators.

 

[CDW]

The driver's seat, controls and linkages are reproduced in significant detail.

[CDW]

The eight vertical boxes, four on each side of the fighting compartment will contain springs for the suspension, to be added later.

The main colors have been painted on all these parts. I'll play around with lighting and camera settings to try and get better color resolution on coming photos. 

With that huge engine and transmission taking up half the floor space, it must have been very loud and hot inside one of these vehicles.

Stand by, there is a lot more detail that gets packed inside which will be revealed in subsequent steps.

[Canute]

The steering gear looks like the driver needed to be able to walk, chew bubblegum and pat his tummy. And it'd rapidly running out of space for much of anything. Very nicely done, Craig. 👍

[Landlubber Mike]

Great start Craig!  Looking forward to seeing this one come along.  Looks like a nice kit of a cool subject.

[CDW]

On 8/20/2023 at 8:29 AM, Canute said:

The steering gear looks like the driver needed to be able to walk, chew bubblegum and pat his tummy. And it'd rapidly running out of space for much of anything. Very nicely done, Craig. 👍

Thanks Ken! Tankers are a whole 'nuther breed IMO. I admire them for what they have done and do. Certainly not a task I would want to entertain.

8 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Great start Craig!  Looking forward to seeing this one come along.  Looks like a nice kit of a cool subject.

Thanks Mike. MiniArt do a nice range of WW2 armor, infantry, and softskin vehicles.

 

On the modeling front, got some more building and painting done and it was now time for a dry-fit before going too much farther along. Any gaps will close up easily once cement is applied. 

I like the way MiniArt engineers/designers placed ejector pin locations (in most cases) where they will be covered by other parts in subsequent steps of construction. I've had a few that needed filling and sanding, but not all as can be seen here. These will be covered and remain unseen later on.

[RGL]

From everything I’ve read all their armor was as rough as F. Plenty of opportunities to weather a tank built and operated by drunkards! 

[CDW]

1 hour ago, RGL said:

From everything I’ve read all their armor was as rough as F. Plenty of opportunities to weather a tank built and operated by drunkards! 

It can easily be seen in museums and as you said, rough. But the operative word was “effective”. 
Despite taking 27 million casualties in WW2, they kicked the living crap out of the Nazi’s and their finely engineered weapons. 

[Javlin]

The Nazi's underestimated the Russkies and what millions thrown into the fray could do.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, RGL said:

From everything I’ve read all their armor was as rough as F.

Yup. Early on, the Russians used to put as much effort as anyone in finishing their vehicles, but they quickly discovered that a tank shipped to the front directly from the assembly line (out of necessity) was just as effective as one with a fine finish, not to mention saved man-hours of production and increased the number of vehicles available for combat.

 

35 minutes ago, CDW said:

Despite taking 27 million casualties in WW2, they kicked the living crap out of the Nazi’s and their finely engineered weapons. 

The Germans never did take to heart the lesson that large numbers of less-capable weapons were better than having smaller numbers of Wunderwaffen. The Russians deliberately designed their tanks to be operable by poorly educated peasants, which the Soviet Union had plenty of and whom Stalin was not squeamish about expending on the battlefield.

[CDW]

1 minute ago, ccoyle said:

 The Russians deliberately designed their tanks to be operable by poorly educated peasants, which the Soviet Union had plenty of and whom Stalin was not squeamish about expending on the battlefield.

Hitler wasn’t the 1st to be handed his rear end in Russia and likely won’t be the last. Napoleon should come to mind. 
The Russian small arms were and still are today, remarkably effective weapons. I own a few from the WW2 era.

[DocRob]

Nice interior Craig, I really like all the detail you show. I have the same kit in my stash, so I will continue to look over your shoulder. When I inspected the sprues, I had trouble to get them back into the box.

 

Cheers Rob

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

The Russian small arms were and still are today, remarkably effective weapons. I own a few from the WW2 era.

Many of those WW2-era weapons have been used in Ukraine.

[CDW]

34 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Nice interior Craig, I really like all the detail you show. I have the same kit in my stash, so I will continue to look over your shoulder. When I inspected the sprues, I had trouble to get them back into the box.

 

Cheers Rob

It's a lot of plastic for sure. Thanks for coming on board Rob.

[Rik Thistle]

Seems Russia has around ten thousand rusty old tanks sitting in fields. But refubishing them to usable condition is much quicker than producing new tanks... https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a44536878/rebuilding-russian-tanks/

 

" This upgrade process turns broken-down clunkers into modern fighting vehicles. It is far cheaper, quicker, and simpler than making new tanks from scratch. In theory, each plant is capable of producing roughly 20 modernized tanks per month, boosting Russia’s replacement capacity from 20 vehicles a month from UVZ to more like 120. "

 

Richard
 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Rik Thistle

[CDW]

15 minutes ago, Rik Thistle said:

Seems Russia has around ten thousand rusty old tanks sitting in fields. But refubishing them to usable condidtion is much quicker than producing new tanks... https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a44536878/rebuilding-russian-tanks/

 

" This upgrade process turns broken-down clunkers into modern fighting vehicles. It is far cheaper, quicker, and simpler than making new tanks from scratch. In theory, each plant is capable of producing roughly 20 modernized tanks per month, boosting Russia’s replacement capacity from 20 vehicles a month from UVZ to more like 120. "

 

Richard
 

Yes indeed, orders of magnitude cheaper. 

[CDW]

Continuing to add interior components. The red-brown colored tanks are probably fuel and coolant reservoirs. Lots of ammunition to add and of course, the big 85mm anti-tank gun along with a plethora of other interior parts and pieces. Hopefully at the end I'll have a nice fit of the armor plates and be able to attach them with magnets, leaving the armor panels removable for a full view of all the interior. 

[ccoyle]

I swear those look like real brass casings.

[CDW]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

I swear those look like real brass casings.

I used Mig Ammo acrylic brass over a black primer. First time using it. I wondered if it looked too dark over the black primer.

[mtaylor]

47 minutes ago, CDW said:

I used Mig Ammo acrylic brass over a black primer. First time using it. I wondered if it looked too dark over the black primer.

The brass looks perfect as does everything else.  

[king derelict]

I also thought they were brass casings. Excellent job. This looks like a very nice kit.

Alan

[CDW]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

The brass looks perfect as does everything else.  

 

50 minutes ago, king derelict said:

I also thought they were brass casings. Excellent job. This looks like a very nice kit.

Alan

Thanks gentlemen. Proof positive that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Glad the casings are photogenic.

[Old Collingwood]

Its  looking  excellent  Craig   -   so  much talent  on show  in this  section of  our  home,    so  grateful   to  the  mods   for  allowing  us  to show  our  other  talents.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

Its that time of the year again. I see a hurricane warning is up for the West Coast. I hope Idalia is not coming knocking on your door (or mine). Take Care

lan