The Postie arrived today carrying my T-14 and on first glance this is a very well moulded kit. Before I begin I must say that I have not studied this vehicle mainly due to the rather limited detail photos that are around. I am currently putting together Panda’s Tunguska and I have to say that the Takom have gone to a new level makes the Tunguska look like something from the eighties (sorry Panda) and even one of Tamiya’s latest kits the Type 10 is nowhere near this kits standard. In my opinion the level of moulded detail may negate the need to purchase a PE upgrade set if and when one becomes available.

The kit is comprised of upper and lower hull, upper turret section, two side skirts, a small PE fret for the screens, a decal sheet comprising two decals, one clear sprue and eleven for the add ons (seven are for the running gear). The instructions are presented in a semi glossy booklet and has 29 easy steps and to my eye steps one the construction of the running gear and step six the construction of the individual track links being the most arduous. On the tracks I am a big user of metal tracks when they are available for a vehicle and this is because I find them easy to construct and the addition of weight but these links are very well detailed.

The only gripe at this stage is the barrel; we all know about slide technology and the lathe but other than ease of production why are produces continuing to make split barrels. However, this is just one of my personal bug bears and the barrel should be no problem as it has a thermal sleeve leaving only the underside with a seam.

I would have added photos but I have a big problem load picture to the site and dearly hope that the power that be will eventually make this process easier by allowing them to be pasted directly into the post similar to what other forums have such as idf modelling.

Overall I am really looking forward to building this kit and feel that it is going to be easy and un-frustrating I know it’s not a word.

Thanks for your first impressions on the kit. I am very much looking forward to building the kit.

There are actually quite a few excellent reference images on popping up the internet of the T-14 so further detailing or comparing images with kit parts should be pretty straight forward.

I bet we'll see and aftermarket detailing set advertised before Christmas.