| Vehicle
History for the Modeler
The Turan was an indigenous Hungarian 20-ton “heavy”
tank though by 1942 it would best fit a medium tank category. The
Hungarians initially produced the Turan I armed with a 40-mm high-velocity
gun. When the 40-mm gun was found inadequate against Soviet tanks
the Turan II was developed with a new larger turret mounting a short
75-mm medium velocity gun, a similar vehicle to the Pz.Kpfw. IV
Ausf. A through Ausf. F tanks. With the changing situation on the
Eastern Front the Turan III was developed with a long 75-mm high
velocity gun but only a prototype was produced. The suspension was
derived from the Vickers tank through the Czech T-35 (Pz.Kpfw. 35(t))
tank.
What
Is In The Box ?
It is nice to check the box art to get an idea as to what is supposed
to be in the box. It did happen once to me that the box art was
deceiving as to the model that what was within the box. They are
often a good guide for painting and markings.
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The Hunor Product box art for kit 72008
shows an accurate painting of a Turan II tank. The first thing
I notice is the immense number of rivets used for production,
rather than welding that most all major powers were using at this
time. This tank would fill an infantry support role similar to
the German medium tanks Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. D or Ausf. F, or a Pz.Kpfw.
III Ausf. N. We notice that in the title the Hungarians considered
this a heavy tank, though it compares more with US, German and
Soviet medium weight tanks at that time.
We
have a large turret armed with a 75-mm medium velocity gun, a
coaxial machine gun right (our left) of the 75-mm gun, and a raised
cupola-like part in the center with a commander’s hatch.
There are no vision ports on the raised cupola, interesting. There
are side doors similar to that on the Pz.Kpfw. IV and Pz.Kpfw.
III turrets. Hooks hang off the turret and hull side for side
skirts, similar to that on the German Pz.Kpfw. IV tank Schürzen.
There are spare track links mounted on the bow.
On
the hull are what looks to me like a wooden jack-base atop each
front mudguard; behind these are two headlights. On the rear sides
I see handtools. There is a hull machine gun in a bulbous mount
on the tank’s left. The hull has one hatch over the driver’s
station on the right side (our left).
The tank is painted in a striking 3-color, soft-edge, camouflage
scheme that will definitely be a challenge for many small scale
modelers. The Turan box art shows Hungarian national markings
on the hull sides and engine deck and some vehicle and unit markings
on the front plate.
At
right of the box art is a photo of the kit’s water slide
decal markings for a choice of three Turan tanks. One set of license
plates are designed to fill in the numbers of your choosing. Each
marking is numbered (but there is no marking guide in the kit
instructions). The decals look great and I am very thankful that
Hunor has included them! Many (most) resin kits lack decals.
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IBG's
41M Turan II kit 72048. This dramatic box art shows the
same Turan II variant as the Hunor kit above armed with the medium
velocity 75-mm gun. The box states a "Hungarian Medium Tank"
but my references state the Hungarians considered this a heavy
tank.
Right
of the gun is the gunner's sight. Left of the main gun is a machine
gun in a mount that looks like a WW1 style water cooled machine
gun jacket, but I understand this is an air cooled gun in an armored
sleeve. The driver's direct sight visor is open and we see the
armored glass. To the right is a bow mounted machine gun in a
similar mount as that in the turret. On the nose we have a pair
of tow hooks. Unlike the Hunor box art, this depiction shows no
brackets for the side skirts. Right of the bow machine gun on
the hull side is what looks to me like a radio antenna mount minus
the rod antenna.
The
camouflage 3-color scheme is similar to that on Hunor Products'
Turan II model box art. I see no markings, though historical photos
and kit instructions show license plate like vehicle numbers on
the front and rear plates.
I
like the look of this AFV; to me it looks like an odd blend of
1930's and the 1940's designs. Perhaps it would have been beneficial
to the Axis if Hungary and Romania had been given production license
to the Pz.Kpfw. IV tank? What if?
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IBG Models kit 72049 44M Turan III depicts the
final variant in a doubtful scene, since it only got to the prototype
stage and did not see combat, so I have read. The painting looks
like an accurate Turan III tank.
We
see a much enlarged turret size to accommodate the longer 75-mm
high velocity gun, with a taller commander's cupola, and side
skirts to protect from those pesky Soviet anti-tank rifles (not
from shaped charges as is commonly thought). Unlike cupolas of
most tank producers at the time, this one has no viewports or
periscopes, but two rotating periscopes. The gun is the same as
installed in the Zrinyi I, and which is a license built copy of
the German KwK 40 gun mounted in the Pz.Kpfw. IV. It is interesting
and novel how the side skirt extends up around the cupola. On
the side of the turret skirt is a rectangular cutout I presume
is for the crew door on the side of the turret.
With
the hull side skirt we can see it appears translucent, we can
see the suspension bogies and wheels behind the skirt. Rather
than a solid plate like the German Schürzen the Hungarian
skirts were perforated with many small holes. Like the German
Schürzen I understand the Hungarian skirts were protection
from Soviet AT rifles (not from shaped charges like the bazooka
rocket).
Rather
than the complex 3-color camouflage seen previously, this vehicle
is in a monotone olive color.
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I do not yet have this IBG plastic model kit 72047
yet but here is the box art anyway. This 40M Turan I is the variant
represented by the Cromwell Models kit described below and this
fine box art can be used for painting and markings for any Turan
I model. The 3-color camouflage appears the same as with the Turan
II tanks. In the artwork background is a Turan II tank with the
medium velocity 75-mm gun.
The
hull is basically the same as the Turan II and Turan III. I've
not seen any with side skirts. With the high velocity yet smaller
caliber 40-mm gun, the turret is significantly smaller than the
Turan II and Turan III, but has the same turret ring, I understand.
On the turret side is a side door for the gun crew.
The Cromwell Models 40M Turan I kit comes in
a plastic bag with a cardboard label, so no box art. I know this
kit is sold as 1/76-scale, not 1/72, but comparing it with the
other models in this review, it appears about the same size as
the Hunor and IBG Turan models which I measured as 1/72 scale
(see more below). I feel comfortable calling this Cromwell model
1/72 scale, and am fortunate to have this Cromwell model as I
believe it is no longer available.
The Kit Parts
Many of these Hunor and IBG parts are common to their 1/72-scale
Zrinyi model kits. Many features
and observations about the Hunor and IBG Turan kits will be the
same as for their other Turan model kits and their Zrinyi model
kits.
Cromwell
Models Combat Ready Turan I Tank, kit CRH01.
This "combat ready" kit has four pale resin color cast
resin parts: hull, turret, 40-mm gun, and commander's hatch. There
are no etched brass parts or crew figure, and no written assembly
instructions or decal markings included. Though sold as a 1/76
scale wargame model, I measured it closer to 1/72 scale and it
compares well to the Hunor and the IBG Turan model kits in scale.
The
hull is molded as one large complex part. All the suspension,
tools, mufflers, hull machine gun are molded as one part, and
I think Cromwell did an excellent job doing it. The detail is
not equal to the Hunor or IBG kits, but for a quick build kit
it is very good. On the bottom of the track is a pore plug (rather
than cut and sand this pour plug off, I will mount the model on
a base and build the base material, such as earth and grass, up
around it till everything is level.
No
side skirts are included but some of the Turan I and the Turan
II tanks were both photographed with the skirts.
Below
is the port-side view of the hull for the Cromwell Models Turan
I kit, which they could probably use with a Turan II and Turan
II model by changing to the appropriate turret. We can see a shovel
and the engine mufflers competently molded onto the hull side.
The sprocket wheels are missing some gear teeth, and the track
is missing guide teeth, otherwise the molding looks damn good.
the complex suspension is pretty well done for a wargaming model.
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Below
in the next scan is the top of the pale amber color Cromwell hull
at right center, and its small dark yellow resin Turan I turret
at upper right. Based on a vehicle diagram, yes, the Turan I turret
is smaller than the Turan II turret. The Turan II turret is represented
by Hunor Product's turret at lower right. Both turrets have an
open, though shallow commander's hatch for an upper-half crew
figure. The Cromwell Combat Ready hull has well rendered molded
on tools.
Below
we have a scan of the Hunor Products Turan II kit lower hull and
superstructure at far left, and the Cromwell Models Combat Ready
1/76-scale Turan I kit hull at center-right for comparison. At
far right is the Hunor Products Turan II turret with 75-mm gun;
above this is the dark yellow colored Cromwell Models Turan I
turret.
At
far right we can compare some differences between the Turan I
turret from Cromwell Models and the Turan II turret from Hunor.
The Turan I mounted a smaller gun and has a smaller turret. Hunor
has a depression where the commander’s hatch should be;
in order to mount a figure we will have to drill the hole deeper.
Right of the two resin turrets is the 75-mm infantry support gun
for the Hunor kit's turret. Notice that on the Hunor hull and
turret roofs the rotating periscopes are separate pieces that
fit into holes in the turret and hull roofs.
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Hunor
Product, 41M Turan II kit 72008.
An odd thing I notice in the scan above is that the 1/72-scale
Hunor Products Turan hull is the same length and width as the
supposedly smaller scale 1/76-scale Cromwell Models Turan hull.
The roadwheels and bogie assemblies for the two kits are about
the same size as well. One of these kits has to be the wrong scale?
The real Turan is about 5.55 meters long and 2.44 m wide, or 77-mm
and 34-mm in 1/72 scale, while the kits are about 76-mm long and
about 30-mm wide. Based on these measurements I would judge that
Hunor's and the Cromwell's Turan tanks are both about 1/72-scale,
not 1/76.
I
did not count all of the Hunor parts but there are approximately
60 light-amber colored, cast resin parts and about 40 etched metal
parts, though all the etched parts may not be used with this model.
The etched parts are shown with the Hunor kit instructions below.
The
Hunor Product's casting and detail appears very good. The hull
looks rather bare compared to the Cromwell Model as Hunor casts
many of their small parts like hand tools, periscopes and jacks
separately, to be glued on.
The
Turan I and Turan II seen in WW2 period photos have a tow cable
mounted on the starboard side of the hull superstructure. None
of these resin or plastic Turan model kits reviewed here include
this tow cable. (I find teabag string coated in white glue ideal
for simulating wire rope tow cables.)
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The lower hull and suspension of Hunor Product's Turan I tank
are shared with that of Huron Product’s Zrinyi
assault gun kits.
Hunor Products has an interesting and unique way of casting their
tank tracks for this model: as one continuous band with the pore
block on one side. Detail and accuracy appear very good. I think
that to assemble these we may need to mount the track on the attached
roadwheels and return rollers and then glue on the sprocket wheels;
dry fit well before gluing. Some resin shrinks as it cures making
fitting the kit parts a challenge. I find it interesting that
the front sprocket wheels and rear idler wheels of the Turan and
Zrinyi are almost the same, they both have teeth to engage the
track. Of course this means the sprocket drive wheel could be
the rear wheel?
At
bottom left are seven periscopes that insert into holes in the
turret and hull roofs. At far right is what looks to be the 40-mm
gun for the Turan I tank that may be nice with the Cromwell Models
Turan I kit?
At
bottom right next to the return rollers is a headlight, and a
jack block (block of wood that goes under the jack and is stored
on the forward mudguards. Not all the kit parts are portrayed
in this kit preview.
IBG Models Turan II kit 72048
In the IBG Turan II kit I counted about 107 light gray, injection
molded, styrene plastic hull and suspension parts, and 48 styrene
plastic link & length track parts on six sprues. Molding quality
is very good and appears accurate. I've not yet assembled any
of these IBG Turan or Zrinyi kits
so cannot comment about the fit.
Before
we take a closer look at the kit's turrets, be aware that with
every upgrade in Turan's gun size, the Hungarians gave this tank
a larger turret. The Turan II had a larger turret than the Turan
I, and the Turan III had a still larger turret than the Turan
I and Turan II tanks. That is a nice flexible design!
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In
this scan above we have IBG's plastic Turan I turret part J6 at
upper left. Notice how this Turan I turret for the low velocity
75-mm infantry support gun is correctly smaller in length and
width than IBG's Turan II turret part C3 to the right which mounts
the high velocity 75-mm gun. The commander's cupola (part J5)
for IBG's Turan II turret is a separate part. An interesting detail
to me is that the Turan cupolas have rotating periscopes on the
cupola roof, not visors or vision slits as on the cupola of the
Pz.Kpfw. III, Pz.Kpfw. IV and T-34 tanks. I find it unfortunate
that the IBG hatches are molded closed.
The
Hunor Turan I resin turret at lower left is significantly longer
than IBG's interpretation of the Turan I turret part above it.
I don't have good enough references to know the exact measurements
and angles, but visually the Hunor turret looks closer to the
correct size.
At
lower right in a darker yellow resin is Cromwell's Combat Ready
Turan I turret. This turret is pretty small compared to the IBG
Turan III turret above it. I am unsure about the cross-shaped
ribs on the turret roof; the vehicle plans I have found do not
show these ribs.
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Here we have Sprue J from IBG's Turan II kit 72048, and Sprue
C and Sprue I from IBG's Turan III kit 72049. IBG's molding appears
very well done with no significant flash nor sinkholes. I do regret
that the turret and hull hatches are molded closed.
IBG Models Turan III kit 72049
This kit comes with about 173 injection molded styrene hard plastic
parts on eight sprues, along an etched brass fret with nine side-skirt
parts and a multitude of small bracket parts I did not bother
to count. Both sprue-D holding the suspension, sprue-E holding
the bottom hull plate, and sprue-A holding hull parts are all
common with the other IBG Turan tank models. In addition, sprue-J
is common to the Turan II kit 72048 just to supply the driver's
front plate part-J4; the rest of sprue-J holds the complete Turan
II turret so we have a spare turret to play with, perhaps to substitute
on a resin kit, or make a turret bunker, a Hungarian Panzerturm?.
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This scan shows the gray plastic Turan hull from IBG at upper
left and the amber resin Turan hull from Hunor at upper right.
For comparison, at the bottom are the Zrinyi hulls. Note how the
Zrinyi hulls at the bottom are wider than the Turan hulls so as
to accommodate the hull mounted guns of the Zrinyi assault guns;
I am glad the kit makers got this detail correct. All the hulls
and turrets have decent rivet detail.
Assembly Instructions
Cromwell
Models Combat Ready Turan I Tank, kit CRH01
The Turan I resin kit as represented by the Cromwell Combat Ready
comes with no assembly instructions, but with some decent references
the model is so simple that no instructions are really needed
in my opinion.
The
Turan I should be finished in a hard-edge or soft-edge 3 color
camouflage. No decal markings are included with this resin model
kit. Markings for the Turan I that I have seen would be the 1941
Hungarian cross (a green and white cross within a red circle),
or the simple white cross within a black square seen in 1942 and
after.
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Hunor's are the same kit instructions and photo-etch metal parts
that come with their Zrinyi kit.
The instructions are barely adequate for an experienced modeler
in my opinion. The etched metal parts are numbered but I found
no numbers on the resin kit parts. It is unclear about several
dashed rectangles for the turret but I am pretty sure they are
the commander's hatches.
Overall this is a very nice kit of a unique vehicle and I greatly
appreciate Hunor producing several models of it, if it had great
assembly directions I would appreciate it even more. Study your
reference photos really well and look at some fine large scale
Turan models to help with assembly.
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IBG's particularly excellent instructions are
multi-step exploded-view photos of the model during assembly.
With the hull and suspension being the same for the three Turan
variants, this instruction page is common to all three of IBG's
Turan model versions.
In
the center are the water-slide decal markings. These decals are
common to the three IBG Turan model kits. There are license plate
markings for two tanks The 5-view guide IBG Turan III kit 72049
assembly instructions have no placement guide for any markings,
the vehicle is just all monotone green, perhaps because only one
prototype vehicle was built. The box art for kit 72049 does show
the Hungarian cross national markings on the hull side skirts.
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This part of IBG's assembly instructions are very much the same
as IBG's instructions for their Zrinyi
model kit, except the width of the hull parts (E1, E2, etc.)
will be narrower for the Turan model.
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This scan exhibits the final assembly of the hull and the turret
of IBG's Turan II tank without the side skirts. I see good rivet
detail. Again, this is a similar assembly for the other IBG Turan
models, even though the turrets are a little different in size.
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At the end of the instruction booklet for IBG kit 72048 we see
a nice five-view painting that shows recommended camouflage schemes
and placement of the decal markings. The black rings on the rear
are spare roadwheels. This is similar to the instructions for
the other IBG Turan kits. This painting guide can be used with
the Hunor and Cromwell kits also.
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This page from IBG's Turan III kit 72049 show the final assembly
of the turret with the long 75-mm gun, and the etched brass side
skirts and many small attachment points all labeled with "PE".
I recall that German hull Schürzen plates overlap, but I
am unsure about these Hungarian side skirts overlapping or not.
My deduction is that they are supposed to overlap slightly, perhaps
several millimeters in 1/72 scale.
A
little tip, when assembling the brass etched parts, wash the parts
with soapy water and alcohol to strip off any dirt and oils and
assemble carefully with cyanoacrylate (Super) glue. Prime the
brass with a good primer before the final colors.
At
the end of these Turan III instructions are a full color painting
guide similar to that for Turan II kit 72048.
Conclusions
All four of these kits build to be reasonably good representations
of the Hungarian Turan tanks. The Cromwell model has a good balance
of simplicity in assembly and decent detail. An IBG plastic model
with its many etched brass parts may the most difficult to build
but has the greatest detail and the plastic is easier to clean-up.
The resin Hunor models have good detail but are likely most difficult
to remove and clean up all the resin pour plugs. I thank IBG, Hunor
and Cromwell for releasing these fine 1/72 scale models of very
interesting AFVs.
These
models were purchased by the modeler. So many models, so little
time.
References
These
models can be purchased from
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