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If there would be an award for "The worst kits ever produced", the Eastern Express IL-96M / T would win this price miles ahead of any other competitor... I am used to the "not so easy" kits as I build a lot of yesteryear kits.But Eastern Express' offering makes even Plasticart kits look like state of the art. Not one single piece had a decent fit let alone a seriously warped fuselage that was not only warped,it had also a different diameter in the back end which resulted in tremendous use of putty and hours of sanding sessions. I worked on and off this kit since early 2016 and finally managed to get it through my production line last weekend.Seeing this airliner now done is a big reliev. Paints used for this build are Revell gloss white 04 for the fuselage upper half,Revell grey 374 for the lower part and the wings and Testors silver for the leading edges.All applied with my airbrush. Sealed with Revell 01 gloss clear. The decal set comes from a russian ebay seller (Pimenov2010) and the quality of the decals is very good. The only thing I have to change is the display stand as the model is not sitting comfortably on it. The finished model represents this elegant airliner nicely and as I really like the IL-96,I really hope that Zvezda or Amodel would produce decent kits of both IL-96 versions. And as long as this is not going to happen this IL-96T along with my IL-96-300 will be the only ones as it is very unlikely that I have the nerves for another Eastern Express offering of this type... This IL-96 version was equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines as well as a digital 2 man cockpit by Rockwell-Collins in the hopes of selling the type also in the west. Sadly,the interest was almost non exsistent,even Aeroflot chose used DC-10s as freighters over the IL-96T. It was also probably because the IL-96 came to the market after the break of the Soviet Union when they were also able to buy western airliners The aircraft was later refitted with russian engines and cockpit as the parts had to be given back to its respective manufacturers.If this plane is still active somewhere I cant say surely. Cubana showed interest in the bigger IL-96 version,but if they will ever be delivered is unknown now that Cuba is no longer under US-restrictions. cheers, And with my usual "something else" even though they seemed more interested in whats going on in the neighborhood...