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Did Copola on T-34-76 turret rotate?

Tankbuilder

Active member
Hi there.

I'm building the old Tamiya T-34-76 kit #35059 and was wondering about the cupola on the turret of the late version. Did the section with the split hatch covers on top of the cupola rotate on the real tank? That'd be the ring part D6 that holds the two pieces of the hatch cover D1 & D2 and fits on top of the cupola D5.

Thanks and cheers from Peter
 
This is a quote from Wikipedia.
The T-34 suffered from the unsatisfactory ergonomic layout of its crew compartment. The two-man turret crew arrangement required the commander to aim and fire the gun, an arrangement common to most Soviet tanks of the day; this proved to be inferior to the three-man (commander, gunner, and loader) turret crews of German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.[citation needed]

Early in the war, the commander fought at a further disadvantage; the forward-opening hatch and the lack of a turret cupola forced him to observe the battlefield through a single vision slit and traversable periscope.[66] German commanders liked to fight "heads-up", with their seat raised and having a full field of view – in the T-34 this was impossible.[67] Soviet veterans condemned the turret hatches of the early models. Nicknamed pirozhok (stuffed bun) because of its characteristic shape, it was heavy and hard to open. The complaints of the crews urged the design group led by Alexander Morozov to switch in August 1942[68] to using two hatches in the turret
Hope this helps Gary
 
Did more research and looking at images and combat footage none show the cupola turned at all so I figure that the cupola was fixed and non-rotating.

Cheers
 
My apologies for not noting this request earlier. You're correct as the cupola was welded in place. The hatches did rotate...

h30c2700.jpg


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h62b67f5.jpg


Regards,
 
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