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Sunday, September 03, 2017 - 04:14 PM UTC
Bronco announces a new Hungarian Turán II
Before the Second World War, the Hungarian Army's tank forces consisted of mainly foreign tanks like the little Italian CV-33 tankette.
After converting foreign tanks to suit their own needs in 1940 the Hungarians started to develop their own homegrown armoured fighting vehicles.

First was the Turán I, built by the Weiss & Cspel Steelworks of Budapest but by 1943 The Turán I was deemed under powered & under-gunned, so the further development of the type was required.

This new tank was called the Turán II, the designers mounted a new 75 mm (2.95 in) M41 short barreled gun to the tank and to fit it gave the tank an enlarged turret to house the massive breech loading system and a specially armoured recoil piston that was adapted to the gun.
The turret interior was still cramped and crowded, but to help this the designers added new vents to extract the large amount of fumes that followed the firing of the gun. The 41M Turán II first appeared in May 1943, and a total of 139 were made by 1944.

The Turán II's combat debut was in April 1944 in Galicia, they were used by the 1st & 2nd Hungarian Armored Divisions as well as the 1st Cavalry Division. First seeing action in 1944, in Galicia, the Turan II was completely outclassed by Russian T-34s and IS-2's they faced. Unfortunately, many of the division's forces were decimated in their actions defending Budapest and those that were not destroyed or captured were often abandoned on the battlefield.

The kit features a workable suspension, several parts for the driver's compartment and photoetch details, including the side and turret aditional armour plates.
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Comments

I am very glad that they are doing the Turan series. I'll pick this one up but I am mostly glad that it looks like the Turan III will indeed be out.
SEP 03, 2017 - 07:43 PM
What an interesting approach to AFVs that late in the war...hate to be inside when the dome rivets are sheared-off at high speed. Nasty.
SEP 04, 2017 - 06:08 AM
Great news! The factory was called Weiss Manfréd Steel and Metal Works, Csepel Iron and Metal Works was the post-war communist era name ("Csepel" is actually the Danube island the factory was built upon, Weiss Manfréd was the original owner up to 1944). The story of the tank started with the Hungarians wanting to buy a manufacturing license for the Skoda T35 or the PzIV. The Germans did not allowed this because of their laws did not allow selling the plans of their active service vehicles. So the Hungarians bought the documentation and prototype of the in-progress Skoda T-21 tank and this became the Turán after several modifications. One of the few advantages of the Turán was its relative small size which became handy in the narrow roads of the mountain areas.
SEP 04, 2017 - 03:27 PM
Thanks for the insightful history.
SEP 05, 2017 - 02:40 AM
I have been waiting for this one for a long time, great news!
SEP 05, 2017 - 03:50 AM
Very welcome release, my favourite Turán of the series. Too bad about the box-art though. I had hoped for something inspiring along the lines of the recent IBG 1/72 Turán II box-art, but in the end, what counts is the kit, ofcourse!
SEP 05, 2017 - 05:03 PM
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