Vanatorul De Care Modello 3D

Colonel Constantin Ghiulai and Captain Dumitru Hogea was built this improved version for the Rumanian Army. The gun was attached in a forward extension of the turret that would contain the recoil gear, but even so the inner space was too narrow to mount a coaxial ZB machine-gun. Moreover, the 45mm rounds were three times larger than the 37mm rounds. The prototype was ready at the end of February 1943 and after it was tested in the summer of 1943, the Mechanised Troops Command ordered the conversion of thirty R-35 tanks. The 45mm guns were reconditioned at the army arsenal in Targoviste while the gun mounts were cast at Concordia factory in Ploiesti. The conversion of the thirty tanks took place at Leonida Works and lasted until June 1944. The vehicles, designated Vanatorul de care R-35 (transformat) (R-35 tank destroyer), were returned to the 2nd Tank Regiment. In July 1944, the Mechanised Troops Command ordered that the rest of R-35 tanks to be converted, but the events around 23 August prevented any further conversion. The R-35 tank destroyers were used together with the R-35 tanks in the campaign in Czechoslovakia and Austria, all being lost by the end of the war. Only the Tracks & Exhausts pipes are unwrapped and textured, maps included.