So, lets build this baby! Panda has released a kit of the most recent version of the Chinese ZTZ 99 MBT. To start with, the actual designation of the vehicle is a bit confusing. Panda has modeled the version that was first seen in the West at the 2015 Victory Day Parade in Beijing. As near as I can determine from mercilicly stealing information from various internet boards on the Chinese military it appears that they haven't given sub-designations but rather have a suffix tacked on for either "Improved" or "greatly improved". So this kit is the ZTZ-99大改 for ZTZ-99greatly improved. In the West I've seen it referred to as the ZTZ-99A or ZTZ-99A2, which is confusing as the model manufacturers have chosen to call their models an arbitrary "A" or "B" or "A1" and so on.

At any rate, this kit shows the most recent version with a redesigned turret and ERA armor.

So, what do we have in the box?

Here you can see how different the turret is from the earlier ZTZ-99 Improved, here shown by the Hobby Boss and Bronco kits (which I'm building in parallel, so I'll be comparing aspects of them along the way.

The barrel comes together well, and there are well planned tabs and slots at the muzzle end to help line everything up. The end cap is a separate piece. There are seams to clean up but ti does line up well. I have become a huge convert to Paul Budzik's method of medium Zap-A-Gap and dental acrylic powder to fill seams:


It is a pain to sand around the various bands on the barrel. Those might have worked better as separate PE strips and I may still sand them off totally and replace with styrene strip. Dunno yet.

Turret shell comes together really well and the only visible seams are at the front, where they should be covered with the ERA.

Filled the seams with CA and powder again.




The flash shows really well that I haven't wiped the acrylic powder all off the model yet. . .

off to a good start Matt. how are the tracks in the kit?

Hi Matt;

Looks like you are off to A Good start, this should be A better kit for Panda. I like the way the parts look on the sprues. The Lineage to the T-72 is quite evadent, and I really like the Underside details on A Model, its A shame its A detail that most modeler's miss or Ignore in kits that I see when I am judging A show. In any case this will add to my China Collection.

THANKS MATT; CHEERS, MIKE.

Excellent looking build Matt, I like the way you are comparing the other kits too.

And those really useful stabilizing tabs on the front of the main gun:

Hobby Boss

Bronco:

The Panda tracks look pretty straightforward, though I've not put them together yet. Nice molding of the road tracks as opposed to the off road ones, sink marks in areas you will be covering anyways.

thanks Matt. I built the bronco kit a few years ago, and I gave up on the tracks pretty quickly. I think I used a set off a hobbyboss leopard 2 kit.
the paint was the most fun part.

For the side ERA and basket, be aware that they mixed up the part numbers for the inserts on either side. Also, the rear portion of the insert drops a little too far in so just be a little careful that it lines up flat.

One thing that I really appreciate is that Panda took care to put the seam lines either in areas that you won't see or along existing lines in the real vehicle. I did deviate from the instructions in leaving off the PE piece and the rod connector until after the basket and side ERA is attached to the kit. Otherwise I'll just be snapping them off, trying to get them to fit. They do line up very well but I would have preferred that instead of but joints the ERA had a tab and hole system for better attachment. I reinforced with Zap-A-Gap to try and minimize the number of times that I'll knock it off.

There is some minor flash on the rear basket slats but it is knocked out easily with a flat file.

I'm going out of order but I've learned the hard way that if I do small detail parts first and then try and add big components, bad things happen. So, The ERA on the turret is fully installed next.

Oh, and the tiny grab handles on the PE part of the turret basket are wonderfully molded and I only dropped them about 5 times and had to hunt on the floor when sanding them. I also managed a personal best for self injury when the handle popped out of the clamp I was holding it in to sand, flew under my Optivisor, over my glasses, and sank right into my open eye. Took me about five minutes of tearing to finally get it to flow out from under the lid. On the plus side, after 30 years of modelling I found a new way to hurt myself, so that was nice.