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For early Soviet armor fans, Hobby Boss makes available its take on the T-12 tank.

The concept of the T-12 consisted of a synthesis of the experience gained during the design and mass production of the T-18, and the idea of a multi-tier deployment of weapons, which was consistently tested by American engineers in the design of prototypes of a medium tank. The T-12 had a simple hull structure between two tracks with small-bogie suspension.

It had an eight-sided turret with a rounded commander’s cupola and a crew of four. It weighed 19 tons, was 7.5m long, 3m wide, and 2.8m high. It was armed with a typical Model 32 45mm gun, with space for 1000 rounds, and it even had three 7.62mm DT machine guns in a Fedorov-Ivanov ball mount – one in the commander’s cupola, one next to the main gun, and one on the side of the tank’s turret. Like all Soviet tanks of that time, the T-12 had a removable “tail”, which increases the length of the hull 690mm, and gave the opportunity to overcome the trenches up to a width of 2.65 meters.

Hobby Boss’ Soviet T-12 Medium Tank (83887) is injection molded kit containing more than 300 parts. It features refined details such as a multi-slide molded upper hull and turret, photo-etched parts for additional detailing, and individual track links. The model stands at 178.2mm in length and 75.4mm in width.

Background information on the vehicle as sourced from Hobby Boss.