It's interesting those middle set of wheels are called "belly wheels", and must be deployed when entering/exiting the water? ~ Jeff

Jeff, it is mostly for trench crossing.

I thought the same thing about DML and Tamiya both re-popping older kits just ahread of new releases. and that leaning/peeking figure with the shorty AK, the bane of my figure painting existance..such great box art, coupled wiht my complete inability to reproduce in paint.. I do give them credit for the 2 in 1 concept, but why not throw the Gaskin sprues in there too? Make it s three-fer. I'll either finish the ones on the shelf, or wait for Trumpeter. Oh, who are we kidding, I'll do both. Mike

Aaah. Thanks! I guess I should read up on it. ~ Jeff

Hmm Thanks Dragon. But no thanks. Given that Orange Box kits such as this generally retail in the Uk around £25-£30 and upwards (I expect this kit to be about £25), and the fact the kit can be had at just about any model show second hand for about a tenner and the figures for about £5, then its a pretty rubbish deal. The kit is not very good either. Save your money and go with the Trumpeter kit.

Well, they're not exactly for trench crossing per se. They are designed for when going over rough ground (with rises and gullies) and preventing the vehicle for getting stuck on it's lower hull and "bottoming" out.

Well it is post ww2 Russian which doesn't do much for me but I have bought an earlier orangebox release which I always like to call the huge loss of money. I like the fact that even the boxart shows the complete lack of effort put into this kit. Almost as if the CEo of the company gave the drawing to his son telling him "here junior, make something nice out of it"

It must be so Karl...but this is a nonsense in my humble opinion, that's a nonsense indeed! Lots of people knows that this kit is old and isn't perfect at all. They'll surely wait for the new Trumpeter release.

Agree 100% with what Rob Harvey and Robert Blokker said above. - Steve