INTERMEDIATE BUILD
Cristian Lupu examines and builds Takom’s fascinating 1/35 experimental T30/34
US HEAVY TANK T30/34
Development of the US T30 and T34 heavy tanks was part of an ongoing race for technological armoured supremacy during World War Two. By the time the T26 Pershing was deployed to counter the German Panthers and Tigers, the heavier King Tigers and Jagdtigers were already dominating the battlefield.
In response to these changed conditions, the US Army began studying a requirement for new 78-US ton (70.76 tonne) series. The 155mm main gun-equipped T30 and lighter T34 (with a 120mm gun) were among the pilot projects in this programme, although work stopped after the end of war in Europe in 1945.
Takom’s release of this subject, plus the 105mm-armed T29E3, was music to the ears of many armour modellers, who have asked repeatedly for these subjects to be addressed. It was surely an unexpected release, which nonetheless aligned with the firm’s habits of addressing nonmainstream vehicles such as this – and a ‘must have’ for every World War Two modeller.
