Yep- I was looking over my refs for an upcoming Polish T72B build and was struck by an interesting pix in the Zaloga T72 book by Concord (Oldie, but Goldie) on page 10 there is a view of a Polish T72B with the uparmored glacis - I thought they never received it. (?) all the other pitures I have found show the sharp nose instead of the blunted one with the engineering points welded into the nose. Sorry no scanner - but Im sure alot of you have this book.

I am using the Model point turret/ barrel, Tamiya kit, SP Designs glacis, Masterclub tracks, CMK resin/etch and some scratch. Ihope I'll be able to finish this one before starting something new.

Jacques thanks for the SP Designs T72 Glacis - they look nice.

Chris.

Russian's also produced T-72M1 with the uparmored plate. That is how they ended up with 50+ of them in Red Army service...a deal fell through so they "absorbed" them into local service.

Poles/Czech's also produced T-72M2, roughly (and I mean roughly) a T-72B with lower grade turret inserts (protection) and optics (sights/FCS) but with the anti-rad applique and correct "Super Dolly Parton" turret shape. Not sure if they put them into local service though, I'm too tired to do research right now.

Maybe I am confused about my T72s. I was going by the info captions in the Concord T72 book - I know its dated. I guess I will be building a T72A late model, not the T72B as Gary noted.
I get the early mods mixed up until the T72M1......

As far as the engineering mounts go- I was referring to the way the points are set into the front, going by the picture I was looking at they are actually running into the blunted "nose" of the glacis -- wish I could scan that pix to clear this up....

Chris

So, I have been at it trying to sort through the early T72 models to base this project on and I think it will have to be a late T72A (Polish).

T 72 A Early IR light on left, 2A26 125 mm gun

T 72 A late (The Concord book calls this a T 72 B?) IR light on Left, 2A46 125mm gun, new horizontal auto loader , lowered handhold on turret, Gill armor.

T72 A late w/ applique armor added to turret front. T72B(M)? this had the turret handhold deleted for the added turret armor inserts along with the features of T 72 A late. Considered to be rare.(?)

T 72 M early New turret, RHS optical port deleted and new FCS, Nvst boxes vertical & new side skirts. Is this really a T 72 G ?

I'll stop there. I trying to find a copy of the Darlington book - "Soviet/Russian Armor and Artillery Design Practices 1945 to Present" at a good price (may have to bite the bullet) for refs.

Chris

Not quite- T-72 Ural is the first mass production type Some didn't have 12.7mm MG mounts.
Then came T-72A with new(er) turret, HMG, and later laser range finder.
Model A itself underwent numerous changes and additions with time. T-72M stems from soviet early A version though it varies significantly from nation to nation, especially in its main armament (Czech barrels seem to be shorter) and turrets. T-72M1 and M2 are based on late model A, but tend to be more of upgrade to earlier Ms by its Warsaw Pact users. Next big upgrade was model B, this one also had notable differences from one production run to another, and its export version T-72S. Exception is Yugoslav M-84 which is serious upgrade to licensed T-72B. IMHO, M-84 i the best of all 72s if you don't count T-72B(M) in. T-72 family should be viewed not as a line but rather as genealogical tree with stem being Soviet/Russian development and large branches as Warsaw Pact factories' work. And sometimes it ends up in a mutation like an abomination to mechanical engineering in form of Iraqi Lion of Babylon

I am not sure, who really is, but the T-72M2 is more related to a downgraded T-72B than a T-72A.

As mentioned, there is a LOT of variance in the T-72 family line.