introduction

TANK, a company from Russia, began with a reputation for excellent weapons sets and has also gained a reputation for excellent figures. Anyone interested in their products will not be disappointed in their quality, detail, or engineering.

the figure

The figure comes in a standard figure box with clean, attractive box art of a built up kit painted with another built up kit in primer showing the alternate arm. The box cover artwork can be used later as a painting reference. Inside the box is a plastic baggie surrounded by packing peanuts and inside the bag are the 8 kit parts: Torso/legs, 3 arms, head, helmet, rifle, and groundwork.

All parts are cast in a greenish tan resin and at first glance look excellent. Upon further review, the castings are even better than expected. First, there were NO air bubbles, mold shift, or flash at all. In fact, I had a hard time finding the mold seams. Cutting off the pour spouts revealed no air bubbles underneath, a problem with some other kits, and overall the quality is about as good as could be expected. I could find no problems with the kits parts or castings, even under intense scrutiny. They look like injection molded pieces.

All parts clean up well, with almost no invasion on any detail. The head pour spout was the only really offending spot, if it could be considered that at all, and will require some attention if you decide to have a bald soldier. The other casting channels are in excellent places, allowing cleanup with almost no chance of damaging detail. I want to make special note of how the right arm hand and AK-74 were set-up. Not only was I apprehensive at first about cleaning them up, but I was certain some piece of detail was going to be destroyed or need to be glued back on. However, the resin being used is firmer than usual, but not brittle. It was also easy to trim with a hobby knife and to sand with files. The layout/resin allowed me to separate the parts from the sprues with ease, and I was able to clean the parts up without any threat of pieces breaking/falling off. I had no problems cleaning the kit parts up and I did not use anything more than a razor saw, hobby knife, and set of files.

The fit of the pieces to the body was very similar to my experience with cleaning the parts up: excellent. All parts attached nearly seamlessly and I do not anticipate needing putty at all. Both left hand arms have similar seamless qualities even though their pose is different.

The sculpting is also very well done and depicts, correctly, a soldier in Chechnya in at least the post-2000 timeframe. I was not able to find any designations for the new body armor or uniform, but a perusal through this web page will show three different color patterns for the uniform and Armor. The uniform can be the same camouflage as on the box art or the grey/black/blue of special forces/interior ministries and the armor could be black, green, or again, camouflage. Details like the lacing of the boots and the crease on the front of the trousers are harder to confirm, but appear correct.

Overall posing appears natural and appropriate. The figure measures out to be 5’ 8” tall, very average, and proportions are correct. I like the inclusion of the second left arm and the pose to allow the figure to stand next to a vehicle or else to check out the view without either option being compromised in the sculpt, very clever. Folds for the uniform all appear in good order, not too deep or out of place. The look of the body armor makes it appear substantial and rather restrictive, just like the real thing. All pockets and straps are were they should be.

The base is a simple “blob” of groundwork with T-72 style track patterns in the ground and footprints in place. An excellent idea for a quick mini-vignette.

All the modeler should need to add are helmet and weapon straps and you have a immediate high caliber piece ready for paint and display.

in conclusion

Highly recommended and you definitely get what you pay for.

Thanks to TANK for the review sample.