|
Page 1 of 5
Dear user
If I visit some other websites I found an article about a groupbuilt with tank destroyer in ww2 in 1/48 scale as topic.(www.missing-lynx.com) Because I have some model, a Su-122, in my stock to get in. Here is now the full build story
Historical facts
The SU-122 (SU-122 stands for Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 122 mm) was a Soviet self-propelled howitzer used during World War II. The number "122" in the designation represents the caliber of the main armament—a 122 mm M-30S howitzer
Development History
The Soviet High Command became interested in assault guns following the success of German Sturmgeschutz III SPGs. Assault guns had some advantages over tanks. The lack of a turret made them cheaper to produce. They could be built with a larger fighting compartment and could be fitted with bigger and more powerful weapons on a given chassis. However, assault guns could only aim their weapons by turning the entire vehicle, and were thus less suited for close combat than tanks.
In April 1942, design bureaus were asked to develop several assault guns with various armament: 76.2 mm ZiS-3 divisional field guns and 122 mm M-30 howitzers for infantry support, and 152 mm ML-20 howitzers for breaking through enemy strongholds.
A prototype assault gun, armed with the 122 mm howitzer and built on the German Sturmgeschütz III chassis was designated SG-122. Only 10 of these were completed. Production was halted when the vehicle was judged to be unsuccessful and found to be hard to maintain.
Simultaneously, a SPG based on the T-34 tank was also developed. Initially the T-34's chassis was selected for the 76.2 mm F-34 gun. This vehicle, the U-34, was created in summer 1942 at the design bureau of UZTM (Uralmaszzawod - Uralsky Machine Building factory) by N. W. Kurin and G. F. Ksjunin. It was a tank destroyer with the same armament as the T-34 tank, but because of the absence of a turret, the vehicle was 70 cm lower, had thicker armour, and was 2 tonnes lighter. It did not enter production.
UZTM then worked on fusing features of the U-34 and the SG-122. Initial design work was completed between July and August 1942. The project emphasized minimizing modifications to the tank and the howitzer. It used the same chassis, superstructure, engine and transmission as the U-34 and was armed with a new 122 mm M-30S howitzer designed by F. F. Pietrow's design bureau. This vehicle also used the same gun bed cover and gun mountings as the SG-122, so as to keep the price low and simplify production. It had 45 mm thick frontal armour. The M-30S howitzer could be elevated or depressed between -3° and +26° and had 10° of traverse. The five-man crew consisted of a driver, gunner, commander and two loaders.
On 25 November 1942 the first U-35 prototype was ready. Trials ran from 30 November to 19 December 1942. The trials revealed various faults in the design including insufficient gun elevation, a flawed shell transfer mechanism, poor ventilation for the crew compartment and the fact that the commander had to assist in operating the gun which made him unable to successfully carry out his other duties. The U-35 entered service with the Red Army as the SU-35 (later renamed SU-122) despite these faults.
Production SU-122s were based on an improved prototype built after the trials were conducted. They incorporated several modifications including slightly less angled front armour to ease production, modified layout of the fighting compartment (the locations of each crew member's station and ammunition racks were changed), fewer vision slots and a periscope for the commander. The first production vehicles were completed before the end of December.
Production history
SU-122 production began in December 1942 with 27 vehicles built that month. The original plan for production beyond that point was to produce 100 SU-122s each month. Production continued until the summer of 1944, by which time a total of about 1,150 SU-122s had been built.
Service history
The first SU-122s produced in December 1942 were sent to training centers and two new combat units, the 1433rd and 1434th self-propelled artillery regiments. Initially, each of these mixed regiments consisted of two batteries with four SU-122s each and four batteries with four SU-76 tank destroyers each. Each regiment had an additional SU-76 tank destroyer as a command vehicle. It was planned to raise 30 self-propelled artillery regiments operating within armoured and mechanized corps.
In January 1943, the 1433rd and 1434th self-propelled artillery regiments were sent to the Volkhov Front near Leningrad as part of the 54th Army. On 14 January they saw combat for the first time in Smierdny region. After that it was decided SU-122s should follow between 400 m and 600 m behind the attacking tanks; sometimes this distance was shortened to between 200 m and 300 m.
The use of SU-76 tank destroyers together with SU-122 proved unsuccessful. Based on combat experience, the organization of self-propelled artillery regiments was changed; the new regimental organization consisted of two batteries of SU-76 tank destroyers and three of SU-122s for a total of 20 SPGs. In April the organization of self-propelled artillery regiments was again changed. Separate regiments were created for SU-76 tank destroyers (light self-propelled artillery regiment) and SU-122s (medium self-propelled artillery regiment).
The medium self-propelled artillery regiment consisted of four batteries of four SU-122s each. Each regiment was also equipped with either an additional SU-122 or a T-34 for the commander and a BA-64 armoured car. This organization remained in place until the beginning of 1944 when the SU-122 started to be replaced by the SU-152, ISU-122 and ISU-152 heavy SPGs and SU-85 tank destroyers.
The SU-122 proved effective in its intended role of direct fire on strongholds. The massive concussion of the 122mm HE round was reportedly enough to blow the turret off even a Tiger I if a direct hit was scored at close range, although longer range penetration against heavier German armor remained poor, a trait it shared with the larger 152mm howitzer. This improved with the development and introduction of the new BP-460A HEAT projectile in May 1943, but the warhead was primitive and only minimally more effective than the brute concussive effects of the HE shell at close range.
At least one SU-122 was captured by the German Army. (Resource by Wikipedia)
The Kit
The kit shows in good, well known Tamiya quality so that the building will be easy. It is if you get no problems with the front wheel, I get it. There is no static point to fixed it and so it was a hard work to fit the track right on it, but you see I make it.
As an small eyecatcher I make a cloth over the light which I make with magic sculp.
Base coatif I finished the building I take a primer on it, this time I took the vallejo primer. It is easy to handle and applicable for airbrushing. The area of the tracks and wheels I protect with an aluminium foil because I paint it before. The primer I took because I want to paint the model with colors of the same brand. Then I mixed me a green tone, for this I took same green colors and mixed it so long if I mean that is ok. Allways I need some lighter and darker parts of color to make some color modulations on the model.
         
SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de
|
