T-60 Soviet light tank (zavod 264, m.1942) Decal 1/72 ACE 72540

T-60 Soviet light tank (zavod #264, m.1942)

1/72

Ace Models ACE72540

Manufacturer: Ace Models

Scale: 1/72

Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.

Condition: New in Box

The T-60 scout tank was a light tank produced by the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1942. In this time over 6,292 were built. The tank was designed to replace the obsolete T-38 amphibious scout tank.Nicholas Astrov's design team at Moscow Factory No. 37 was assigned the task of designing amphibious and non-amphibious scout tanks in 1938. They produced the T-30A and T-30B prototypes. The former was to be manufactured as the T-40 amphibious tank starting in 1940. It also led to the T-40S (sukhoputniy, "dry-land" version), a heavier tank prototype which was considered too complex to manufacture. The T-30B prototype, sharing the T-40's chassis but simpler in construction and with heavier armour, was accepted as the T-60 scout tank, and began production in July 1941, just after theGerman invasion.

Although at first intended to carry a 12.7 mm machine gun like the T-40, the armament was later upgraded to the 20 mm TNSh cannon, a tank version of the ShVAK, on the advisement of the People's Commissar for Tank Industry,Vyacheslav Malyshev. This weapon could penetrate 15 mm of perpendicular armour at 500 m range which proved inadequate against the newer up-armored German tank designs thus attempts were made in 1942 to re-arm the T-60 with the 37 mm ZIS-19 cannon, but were abandoned due to the Soviet Union's shortage of 37 mm ammunition. Due to this a new project started as to house the standard 45mm tank gun on a modified turret. That became impossible, and a new turret designed and tested successfully in the summer 1942. The new turret had the gun moved to its right side as to make more room for the crew member and a co-axial machine gun added. At the end the project terminated when STAVKA choose T-70 as the new standard light tank which had matured earlier that year.One T-60 was converted into a glider in 1942 and was designed to be towed by a Petlyakov Pe-8 or Tupolev TB-3 bomber and was to be used to provide partisan forces with light armour. The tank was lightened for air use by removing armament, ammunition, headlights and leaving a very limited amount of fuel. Even with the modifications the TB-3 bomber had to ditch the glider due to the T-60's poor aerodynamics during its only flight to avoid crashing. The T-60 landed on a field near the aerodrome and after dropping the glider wings and tail returned to its base. Due to lack of sufficiently powerful aircraft to tow it the project was canceled and never resumed.

T-60 scout tank

T-60 at the Kubinka Tank Museum

Type

Light tank

Place of origin

Soviet Union

Service history

In service

1941–45

Used by

Soviet Union

Wars

World War II

Production history

Designer

Nicholas Astrov

Designed

1938–41

Manufacturer

Factory 37, Moscow, GAZ, Gorkiy, Factory 38, Kirov

Produced

1941–42

Number built

6,292

Specifications

Weight

5.8 tonnes

Length

4.10 m

Width

2.30 m

Height

1.75 m

Crew

2

Armor

7–20 mm

Main

armament

20 mm TNSh cannon (750 rds.)

Secondary

armament

7.62 mm coax DT machine gun

Engine

GAZ-202 6-cylinder

70 hp (52 kW)

Power/weight

12 hp/tonne

Suspension

torsion bar

Fuel capacity

320 l

Operational

range

450 km

Speed

44 km/h