I found this monument by accident Google-ing about Stalinetz ChTZ-65 pictures. I was searching if there is any ChTZs near by, so I can go and visit in order to make my own walk-around pictures. While I was doing that, I got two more models of artillery tractors – Voroshilovets and
Komintern. So I decided to go out and drive 180 miles to visit the place.
This is one of the first tractors in service in Bulgaria, or at least that’s what stories say: First tractor in service. It is HTZ, which means Harkovskii Tractornii Zavod, or Harkovski Tractor Factory. As far as I know, Komintern model which I got from Trumpeter represents vehicle that came from that same factory and it was pretty close in appearance. So once at that monument, I decided to take few shots because they should do the job as a reference. Maybe not so close to Voroshilovets or Stalinets, but still – Russian made tractor.
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Most of it is still here |
I have no clue is this vehicle was maintained in some way while displayed as a monument, but it seems that it was not. You can easily note the chips and streaks that it has, and the fact that it misses most of its cockpit.
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The front panel, which Trumpeter did very nicely on their models |
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Rear part of the cockpit where the seat must’ve been |
It appears that the track were painted in the same color as the whole thing, and this is clearly visible from the pictures. Maybe the engine was painted that way too. As I mentioned it is hard to tell was that tractor maintained in some manner or not.