Just so I don't go wandering down the wrong track on this, which version of the T-72 is this supposed to be imitating?

Jed

Possibly T-72B. It is not the greatest kit in the world, by far... ;

No, it is not. But cheap, it was, and good for those times when you just want to cut and glue plastic. And to a non-modeler, it will look close to it.

Thanks, Jacques, for the response. Haven't started to tinker with it yet, but it's fun looking at old kits and seeing how things have changed.

Jed

OOOrah! You got it; it looks Russian enough and only the other message boarders will know the differance!

Anyway, all else aside - two construction issues to be aware of:

1. The attachment points for the invidual smoke grenade launchers are poorly defined, be careful as there isn't much serface to work with.

2. And, the attachmant surface for the side-skirts along the fender edge is just as iffy, careful dry fitting suggested.

Once attached, the top run of link/length track will be pretty much invisible.

I'll take those into account when I'm building it. Nice thing is, there's a T-72 in the local motorpool I can climb over to identify bits and pieces.

Although, you'd be surprised, in the tanker community, you'd figure there would be a bunch of pocket vehicle recognition people, but it appears that the detail bound ones are few and far between. So it makes it impressive when a fellow can walk into the office, point at a vehicle on the desk, and say "hey, such and such isn't accurate".

Thanks for the advice!
Jed

Sounds like you found a stash of old Esci kits. Back in the day when the Tamiya T-62 was the only modern Soviet tank kit around, the Esci T-72/74 kits were the best things going. I built a few in the late 80s for friends when I was stationed in Germany.

Wow I remember having a few of those kicking around. They build up ok, and look enough like a T-72 to be a decent model.

From what I remember of mine, it resembles the export version of the T-72. Since many of the customers camouflage painted theirs, you might be able to escape Soviet Green - e.g. the Finnish scheme

Finnish T-72

David

Excellent, was wondering what kind of oddball thing I could paint it into.

On vehicle ID, I was part of the end of that era. My first TCGST was kill/no-kill (actually, more PC friendly/non-friendly). Was a joy afterwards to watch people struggle with how to spell "Spahpanzer".

Jed

Let me know if you need one. I should have an extra Esci T-74 or T-72 kicking around the batcave. I've probably got an extra DML T-72 too.

Not really intended to be a harsh criticism, if that is how it was taken. I encourage people to build out of the box as it really eases up the AMS.

But you did ask how the kit was...

As for it looks like a T-72...yup. But if you even just build the Tamiya version and put htem side by side, it shows, even to the non-detail oriented. But you can probably get 5 T-74's for the cost of a single Tamiya T-72 so...have fun.

Jacques,
No criticism read. I am tickled with all of the responses, and knowing as much about the pitfalls, issues, or unrealisms that are out there in a kit are a good thing. And I'm surprised that I received this many responses back.

I've put off doing a T-72 for a while, because when I do one up, it's either going to be a cheap junker that I've got no attachment to (this one, as a starter), or it's going to be one with an accurate hull, turret, tracks, and markings - all preferably the most accurately designed stuff, which will not be cheap.

And you are right, it definitely not the greatest kit out there, but for me, I've noticed a trend starting. I enjoy building a model much more than I enjoy painting them or finishing them, and I've started to get in a bad habit of going down to the local motorpool with a tape measure just to make sure I've "got it right". So periodically, I wind on back, and change tactics on building/painting/weathering and finishing a model.

Also, this is going to be one of the office desk models, which I've noticed that people tend to handle, unless they are in a case. So if someone drops it, I am not going to be upset - at least it didn't take me hours to build and perfect.

Well then, knock yourself out. Funny how people love to handle things on desks... I too have learned the hard way to make sure whatever is displayed is something that can be handled.

Another hint...put the display piece on a finished wood base. Even if it is not attached to it, it tends to keep people from touching it.