Meng Soviet T-10M Heavy Tank 1:35

[Mike]

Soviet T-10M Heavy Tank
1:35 Meng Models

Having already reviewed another kit of this type, I'll take the lazy/sensible way out and paste in the preamble from the earlier kit for your ease, rather than trying to re-write the wheel, as it were.

This monster was one of the last hurrahs of the heavy tank in Soviet service, partially to counter the immediate post-war projects from the Allies such as the British Conqueror and the American M103, but also because Soviet military doctrine was slow to change from WWII, even though the slow-moving heavies had trouble keeping up with the advance toward Germany. It was based roughly on the earlier IS-3 with a longer hull, more road-wheels and a larger gun and turret. To carry the extra weight of the armour and armament, the diesel engine was uprated to keep performance on a par, and the new 122mm gun benefitted from a fume extractor (or rather the crew did). After the initial version was introduced in the early 50s, stabilisation for the gun was added one plane at a time, and the M variant gained a slotted muzzle brake to counter recoil of the new main gun, and a new coaxially mounted machine gun instead of the unwieldy 14.5mm coax fitted to earlier versions. Infra-red optics and NBC protection were also added to keep pace with the perceived threats of the time.

Faster, better armoured medium tanks that became Main Battle Tanks were showing their abilities in the minor skirmishes on the periphery of Soviet influence, which sounded the death knell of the heavy tank in the late 60s, although it took a long time to completely draw down stocks.

The Kit
Meng seem to be locked in a release and subject matter war with other manufacturers in the same global location, with another kit of this massive tank from another manufacturer already on the scene. Meng have produced this kit ploughing their own furrow as always, and fair play to them for doing so. As usual the kit has a quality feel from the outset, with the satin finish to the dramatic box artwork, and carefully wrapped contents. Inside the box you will find nine sprues plus two hull parts in a dark green styrene, twelve in black, two in clear, a strip of poly-caps, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and a decal sheet. The instruction booklet is glossy for the first pair of pages, with full-colour painting guide occupying the last two pages.

Detail is excellent throughout, and it is clear that Meng's designers have paid careful attention to the surface texture of the cast parts. There is a definite and well-executed rolled-steel texture to the upper hull plates, and some low-key welding seams added for good measure. On the underside is a slightly different casting texture, and the turret has a pronounced texture that, with the addition of a little stippled Mr Surfacer would give good rendition of the rough-cast turret's surface. It already has a texture, but it is IMHO a little too subtle without augmentation, which isn't difficult, and it can actually be quite fun attacking the part with a stiff bristled brush daubed with Mr Surfacer. It will also help to hide the seam between upper and lower turret halves, which is on the lower edge and will be visible on the completed model.

The build begins with the road wheels as you might expect, with poly-caps trapped between the twin road wheels and identical idler. The drive sprocket is made up from three parts with a choice of style for the front cog, with another poly-cap hidden within, while the return rollers are three parts due to their inclusion of their support and axle. In all you will make up sixteen road wheels, two drive sprockets and six return rollers, but there are no rubber tyres, so there's nothing to tax your circular line painting skills. The lower hull is covered with detail, but more is added in the shape of axle mounts, final drive housing and suspension bump-stops, before the shortened torsion bars with swing-arms and stub axles are added, and the wheels mounted accordingly. Then you're onto tracks, which look like fun!

The tracks are provided with a clear two-part jig that holds a run of the pads in place while you glue in the track-pins from each side. However, Meng have cleverly moulded six pins in a run that are perfectly spaced to fit the holes without being removed from their sprue. This reduces the amount of work dealing with fiddly pins, which are instead liberated from their sprue run once the glue has set. Speaking of glue, you should use it sparingly for fear of gumming up the track, or worse, sticking the track to the styrene jig. Each of the 87 links per run has three sprue gates, which should be easy to clean up as they are on the curved edges of the link. The track pins are moulded in blocks of 6 in pairs marked "track pin 01" and "track pin 02" for ease of identification. Once fixed and cut loose, the ends should be easy to clean up with a sanding sponge. To close up the track runs around the wheels, just add single pins to the run to form the loop, and fix with a dot of glue.

The rear bulkhead slopes down from the engine deck at a shallow angle, and carried both the gun's travel-lock and the four supports for two of the four cylindrical fuel tanks it carries. This assembly slots into the rear of the upper hull, which is also detailed with engine grilles, front and rear light clusters with protective cages and the driver's hatch. On each front fender and shaped stowage box is installed, with two three-part styrene towing ropes snaking back from the glacis mounted shackles toward the rear. More stowage sits over the rear fenders, and the four tanks are fitted to their cradles, with the seemingly ubiquitous unditching beam (tree trunk) attached to the starboard hull.

The basic turret is shaped similarly to that of the T-55, but it can be fitted with a semi-conformal bustle, or a large four-part rolled tarp, depending on your choice. Either way, you'll need to drill some holes in the rear, but they're marked on the inner face, so won't tax your brain too much. The rest of the turret is festooned with vision and sighting devices, spare ammo boxes for the machine gun, with grab-handles aplenty. The aperture through which the gun projects is built up with a few additional parts to get the correct shape, and the gun is mounted to a T-shaped part with poly-caps at each end that is trapped between the upper and lower turret halves. There is no breech detail, but this is fairly standard in AFV modelling, with not much that would be seen through the hatches anyway. Speaking of which, the commander's cupola has clear vision blocks mounted on a carrier ring that is hidden inside the two-part structure, to which protective covers, a small search-light and snap-in hatch are added. The loader's simplified hatch has a snap-in hatch, which if unglued should allow them both to open and close freely, as well as rotate if you leave them unglued in the turret top. The big KPVT machine gun is a multi-part assembly with separate barrel, lifting handle, two-part breech and two piece mount attached to a complex elevation and sighting mechanism that can be posed in the raised or horizontal position by exchanging one set of rams and levers for an alternative set. The mantlet for the main gun has a searchlight (with mount) and coax machine gun added, with a short barrel shroud at the base, and a two-part barrel split vertically, to which a single-piece slide-moulded muzzle-brake and collar are added to the end. Yes… it is an impressive moulding that brought a slight smile to my face when I fished it out from the box. The build is complete by dropping the turret into the ring and locking it in place with the bayonet fitting by rotating it slightly.


Markings
You get four decal options in the box, although the basic scheme is Russian Green, as you'd expect from that era. Meng have tried to give some variation within that limitation though, and also give you details of the vehicles and their units, as well as the time period that the scheme was appropriate for. From the box you can build one of the following:

• 13th Guards Heavy Tank Division, 1st Guards Tank Army, Soviet Forces in Germany, Operation Danube, 1968 – large white cross over the turret and upper hull.
• 20th Independent Tank Battalion, 20th Guards Motor Division, 1st Guards Tank Army, Soviet Forces in Germany, 1972-4 – White 039 on turret back and sides.
• 1st Guards Tank Army, Soviet Forces in Germany, Berlin Parade, 1960 – Soviet wreath & flag on turret sides.
• A certain Soviet Army Unit, late 1960s to early 1970s – white 202 on turret sides.
  

That last one is a bit vague, and Google was very little help, so you're on your own with deciphering the meaning behind it. As always with Meng, the decals have been printed for them by Cartograf, and the quality is excellent. Registration, colour density and sharpness are top notch, and the carrier film is thin, with a matt finish, cut closely around the printed edges.

Conclusion
As always, this is a quality piece of styrene engineering from Meng, and even the unditching log's texture impresses. They have made some very interesting strides in texturing of their models to add realism, and this one is a benchmark that many producers could aspire to.

Very highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Blimey.....These are very popular all of a sudden!

[Tim T]

Having got my dirty mitts on this, I have to say that it is just about the best AFV kit I have seen. Great review Mike.

[Mike]

Thanks chap - only just spotted your comment

[Shar2]

Walkround now available for this tank

 

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