Old pro

I know this is really late, but may prove useful to someone, despite what Wikipedia says Angola seem to operate a mixture of T 72M, T 72A and T 72B variants

There are a few around on eBay, the best ones are from Chinese sellers but they are only the TES or Blackknight options so far, nearer to home Badger 3D do one, but it’s only looks like one, Butlers printed Models also make one, that’s passable but you have to be careful and order the highest resolution of printing. as for the other small scale Challenger, this may help :- http://www.onthewaymodels.com/articles/C2comparisonpt1.htm or this one http://www.onthewaymodels.com/articles/SBarnesChallenger2.htm bearing in mind they don’t take into account the total lopsided front of the Dragon turret.

The only accurate one is the 1/48 Tamiya kit, there are no accurate ones in 1/72 scale unless you want a 3D printed but even then, your options are limited. Most small scale kits just bare a passing resemblance to a challenger.

The T 34 in all it’s forms (as with most Russian tanks) is a literal can of worms, given that it was produced by many different factories some with their own unique twist, and that tanks often underwent rebuilds adding later features to earlier tanks or 85mm turrets to existing 76mm hulls. photo 1 shows a factory 112 turret with the angled join near the gun mantle, with a late 45/46 roof with the split ventilators 2 and 3 would be what are classed as late 44 turrets 4, is the same as 1 5,6 and 7 are also late 44 turrets 8, is a rarity being a composite turret, but also of late 45/46 manufacture (sources vary, some say 46 others suggest late 45) 9 and 10 are hard to tell, 9 is a late roof with split ventilation 10 is a bit unclear.

It looks as though the RFM model is an early 44 production vehicle, from two separate plants, neither seem to have the electric drive bulge, Production was changed quite early on in the 44, run to include the turret bulge and a larger commanders hatch, most Warsaw pact countries would have been supplied from either Czech or Polish factories, same with the T 54/55 and T 72 although a few were supplied of soviet origin. The Miniart kit has as you say markings for two Hungarian tanks from the period, however the one with internal detail seem not to.

You would need a late 44 production, with the bulge in the turret for the electric traverse, not sure whether the ryefield model has this, also square fenders.

Really like the subtle weathering on the SA 4 missiles

Maybe you are lucky, Zvezda Pantsyr has just had another price hike now being over £40 for the kit, making it the most expensive so far.

Further work on the BM 30, it’s a testament to zvezdas engineering that the model despite looks is still in sections and not glued together much yet, good job as it seems I’m going to have to swap sides on some of the tyres, I presume that the diagonal seam should be on the inside! The missile tubes are in 3 sections and just held by friction. I did wonder why I bothered masking the windows, painting in acrylics, even it you go over the paint once dry comes of very easily with a toothpick, I didn’t bother on the S 400 which I changed the shade and glossed up ready for decals and weathering. again nothing is glued and in sub sections.

One thing I can highly recommend for washes is the range from Ultimate products, can be used with or without a gloss coat, although to get a subtle wash it is better with, when used without it is good for dirtying a general area. Unfortunately the first lot I got was a faulty batch and wouldn’t flow on gloss coats (it was missing an ingredient) although they offered to replace it, I quite liked the effect on Matt surfaces for a general area of dirt. adding soap to my faulty batch and it will flow brilliantly, once applied it can be reactivated with water or just plain removed from wherever you want or completely washed off altogether on even a Matt surface. You can also mix the various colours to create what shade you want.

Apparently 50 VVSS Sherman’s were initially converted to M50s but kept the old continental engine, with the added extra weight the engines struggled and frequently broke down, that and the poor off-road performance of the narrow tracks was what led to the HVSS and Cummins versions. So I would say no.

The new BM 30 from Zvezda, I first built up the multi part chassis and weathered it, the part fit was good, although it looked a bit daunting at first and rife for mis alignment, it goes together quite easily with practically zero room for errors. the wheels are just put in place and not fixed. the cab and crew cab go together just as easy as do the rest of the body. whilst I was at it, I dragged the S 400 kit also from Zvezda that had been lounging round unfinished out. The missile tubes are a pain though, each part comes in two pieces with some of the rear parts having three. this is before cleaning seams and attachment points! getting the tubes to fit was problematic at best, although they do have positive location points getting them all aligned was fun! best part of an hour for one section! Everything is just placed on the chassis nothing is glued in place apart from the tubes, the next section went a bit quicker, possibly because I put one of the tubes in a safe place! and possibly because I only glued the rear portion and the front piece is just there for alignment. I also gloss coated the cabs and launch area so I could start weathering. whilst I was on a roll I thought I might as well get on with the Pantsyr

£22 at emodels or cheaper for the smaller ones, compared with £21+ for Revell 1/72 range with all its faults other 1/72 kits come in between £20-30+ so the Tamiya 1/48 seem value for money.

If you think Revell 1/72 looks better then you are not paying attention, full of errors and over simplification, there are a lot better kits out there that include PE for details. i would love the 1/48 range to expand and include my area of interest, easier to work on and roughly the same price, it’s a real shame that the Tamiya 1/48 range includes vehicles that are not available in the vast 1/72 range.

Yeah, probably why I didn’t mention it when I first replied but have slept since then ☺️ I also spotted it somewhere else whilst searching, unfortunately it was just a single photo and that was the caption and no way to verify if true or not but the lack of any information seems to indicate that it could be?