COBI T-34 Set 3061

COBI's T-34 is a 1:48 model built from 268 blocks, 14.5 cm long, with a movable gun, a rotating turret and working tracks. All markings are printed.

The tracks were the secret

Everyone knows about the T-34's sloped armour. The less celebrated advantage was underneath it.

A T-34's tracks are 550 mm wide — far wider than anything the Germans were using in 1941, where 380 to 400 mm was normal. Wide tracks spread the tank's weight over more ground, and ground pressure is what decides whether a vehicle drives across a field or sinks into it.

In the autumn rains and the spring thaw on the Eastern Front, that difference was decisive. Roads turned to liquid mud for weeks at a time — the Russians call it rasputitsa — and German tanks bogged down in terrain T-34s crossed at speed. Entire operations stopped because one side could move and the other could not.

The Germans noticed. The Panther and Tiger were both given very wide tracks, and the Panzer IV received extra-wide Ostketten — east tracks — specifically for winter use on the Eastern Front. The T-34 taught them that.

This is a World of Tanks set

COBI produced this model and set 3064 under a Wargaming licence, which is why both are at 1:48 and why the subjects are vehicles familiar from the game.

In the COBI range

Set 2595 is the T-34/76 at 1:28 with a removable engine, 3088 the 1:72 mini, and 2716 and 3092 the later T-34-85.

Specifications

Pieces: 268 · Scale: 1:48 · World of Tanks licence
Model dimensions: 14.5 × 6 × 6.5 cm (5.7 × 2.4 × 2.6 in)