S oviet SU 100 & SU-85Tank Destroyers of WW2

Article & photos by Stephen Brezinski , Portland, Maine USA

• SU-100: sold as AER kit #7210, Eastern Express kit #72008, Toga #252 and Coopertiva # 72008.
• SU-85: sold under Eastern Express kit # 72014, Toga #261 and Coopertiva #72014

Photo 1: The abovephoto is of the 1/72 SU-100. Engine compartment is open, ascratchbuilt rudimentary engine installed, and with a wrench andrag next to it. Note the incorrect spacing of the second andthird roadwheels. The tow cable was made with twisted fine copperwire and the kit’s cable ends glued on.

Compared to ESCI thesekits come from relatively new Belorussian and Russianmanufacturers to the US and Western Europe. Besides these twoSoviet WW2 assault gun/tank destroyers: a T-34/85 tank and anumber of ZIS truck variants are also offered under theCoopertiva, Toga, PST and AER company names. Except for box art,instructions and decals, all these kits under the differentcompany names are the same.

The SU-85 was developedfrom the T-34/76 as a turretless, well armored self-propelled 85mm gun, in order to provide a more effective -propelled antitankgun and for infantry support. As the T-34/76 was upgunned to theT-34/85, the SU-85 was in turn up-gunned to the SU-100 with a 100mm gun, in order to deal more effectively with the German Pantherand Tiger tanks. Entering service in 1944, it continued onpost-war with the Soviet Union and its European allies, in Korea,and in the Middle East.

Each kit comes in about118 injection molded styrene parts. I found surface detail to berespectable and the SU-100’s size matches Esci's 1/72 scaleT-34 well. [No I did not measure it out to check exact scale.]Getting the SU-100 first I anticipated that the SU-85 would beessentially the same kit though with a few new parts, since theywere very similar vehicles. In actuality the two kits aredifferent entirely. While they both have similar constructionsteps, tracks and surface detail; the SU-100 is more 1/72 scaleand the SU-85 kit is slightly smaller in some dimensions. TheSU-85 has an older style T-34 roadwheels as well. An odd errorwith the SU-100 (and its companion T-34/85 kit) is that AERplaced the larger roadwheel gap between the vehicle’s thirdand fourth roadwheels when it actually should be between thesecond and third roadwheels! I did not catch this until after Ibuilt the kit. This error can be fixed during construction byshaving off the third axle from the front, and then repositioningit slightly back. This detail on the SU-85 kit is correct. Asthis is not a full construction article I refer you to the manyexcellent references on the web and in our bookstores for betterclarification.

Photo #2. Left side ofSU-100. Driver’s hatch is open with a rudimentary interiorvisible. Wire grab handles were added, otherwise no aftermarketparts were used.

I noted quite a problemwith fit with my SU-100, particularly with the superstructure andlower hull. It required much filling and sanding to close off thegaps. Like other AER kits, the styrene seemed much softer thanwhat I've encountered with Revell and Hasegawa kits. Extra carethen must be taken so as not to sand off too much plastic orbreak parts. A plus is that the tracks come in molded "link& length" styrene sections like PST and the later Escikits; except that the Russian kits have well-formed track teethwhich are missing from many ESCI styrene tracks. The tracks wenttogether well and are among the best in the scale I've seen. Theengine and driver’s hatches I modeled open and a simpleengine, driver’s seat and gun breach built. Tow cables weremade from twisted copper strands. Etched brass frets for theSU-100 are made by both Eduard (#22019) and by PART (#P72021). Ihave not noted any frets made for the SU-85 though many brassparts for the SU-100 would be in common with both AFV’s.PART also makes 1/72 etched brass T-34 tracks suitable for thesekits.

Toga's kit instructionsare adequate and clear, though not as good as AER's. Paintingguides are on the box art and instruction sheet. I used a mediumHumbrol forest green enamel paint, though I usually preferPoly-Scale acrylics. No decals were offered in my kit, which isodd, since markings were common on Soviet armor late in the war.I borrowed some decals from AER’s Zis-5 truck kit. Thoughthe kit has some problems, and what kit doesn't, an intermediatelevel builder should be able to build this into a fine lookingvehicle.

I happily recommend thiskit. For references, I suggest The EasternFront book by Zaloga & Grandsen; andSchiffer Publishing’s T-34 book, and the website below:

http://www.battlefield.ru/