Old pro

I wouldn’t worry about it too much, apart from the errors it is a wonderful kit and far surpasses the Modelcollect kits. I am too much of a purist when it comes to Russian armour for my own good sometimes, the hull is perfect for a T 90A so I will use that and find something else for the turret. The level of detail is the best of any kit so far. The 3D canvas is disappointing as there is no plastic replacement in the kit, but you could add it from a material of your choosing, I will certainly get another for parts.

The Zvezda B3 also has the reinforced hull roof, as does the Revell T 90/90A, the closest you can get is modifying a Revell T 72M1 hull. it is dependant on what you are willing to accept? I am sure for most people this kit will be fine and not notice the mistakes but when your whole thing is Soviet/Russian armour it becomes a pain. with the addition of new tracks and sprocket, the kit can be built as a one of demonstrator in a weird sand green and blueish black colour known as a T 90K (K normally reserved for command tanks) fun fact on the 3D printed canvas it is a better fit for a T 90A, this is a modified zvezda but it also fits the Revell note I didn’t fix the roof on this one but did the sides quick edit, The Zvezda T 90A hull will give you a correct one, but you would have to do something about the horribly incorrect lower hull.

And so ends this build in disappointment! You can not build an accurate T 90 from this kit, sure it will look like one, is beautifully moulded and well detailed and would have been a wonderful kit if accurate. The hull is definitely for a T 90A (although new tracks and sprocket are needed) the tracks are oversized, they either made the wrong sprockets and designed the track to fit or vice versa. because of the inclusion of T 90A parts it’s hard to tell if that was the original plan and they didn’t understand the changes of whether there were 2 design teams that didn’t talk? If Vespid do release a T 90A kit then it will be really nice, all they need is to get the turret right and the same level of detail.

I will get round it, Zvezda canvas will fit with some slight modification, I have plenty of spares as a result of manufacturers not being able to get a Russian tank right. its sort of become a mute point anyway, you can not build a T 90 with this kit, the sprockets only have 12 teeth instead of 14 which makes the tracks too big. tthe hull is definitely a T 90A hull, by using the correct exhaust and getting a new turret (and tracks and sprocket) it will be a pretty decent model. the only question is what to use this turret on? The only possibility is the Revell T 72 hull but that requires some slight modifications, not a problem for me as I have boxes of spares but that way requires 4 or more kits, works out expensive for those who don’t.

Knowledge is a curse! The hull can not be used for a T 90 or early T 90A, the roof around the driver has been reinforced, something that didn’t happen until part way through the T 90A production. So plans will be changing, I really had high hopes for this kit and the details and moulding are superb, just some are wrong! to further add to the misery, the 3D canvas for the gun doesn’t fit in any way, shape or form this is a side view of the canvas, it is supposed to reach the yellow line! This is it in plan view, it is supposed to cover the red area, there is no plastic substitute in the kit, the plastic option is the gun mount without the canvas. on a brighter not the commanders cupola is well detailed, a kit in itself

The new T 90 from Vespid is available, and although it is up to the usual Vespid standard and has some exquisite detail on it, there are a couple of oddities that someone messed up somewhere. The yellow marked item is the first oddity, this is the front lower glacis for a T 90A, the T 90 should be similar to the T 72, I have so far in all my references not found this style on a T90 here we hit the other oddities, the yellow item is the front entrenching blade for a T 90A, it has a different profile to the T 72/T 90 Blade. The blue item is the rear plate, the moulded on details are grouses for the later double pin tracks of a T 90A or late model T 72, further two track links of the later style track are to be added, instead of the Rmsh track supplied in the kit. The red items are a T 90A exhaust and not used in the kit, I am hoping that someone at Vespid has messed up and released the wrong sprue A? options for correcting the kit are limited, top row is what vespid supply, the second row is from the Zvezda T 90SM kit, that will fit with a small modification ( cutting the spare track from the rear plate and removing the top portion of the lower glacis). The two beige are from the Revell T 90 and T 72 respectively both can be made to fit. The other lower glacis is from the Zvezda T 72B3 will also fit. The lower glacis from the Revell T 90 won’t fit without a lot of work. Or you could cut the details from the Vespid kit and use the blade from the Zvezda MSTA and a couple of spare track links. Also shown are the wheels with the two tiny alignment points that require care and diligence to get right numbering error in the instructions, also I would make it the other way round, although the arms are keyed they are a little loose fitting, the arms attached to the shock absorbers (B15+A11,12,13etc) are more precise in placement and the other arms can be adjusted to match, also these parts (B4) although keyed have a 45 degree range of movement but should all face the same direction and towards the arm (seeing as how they are the bump stops for them) The next part of the instructions are to add the wheels and then the hull top, this seems awkward for adding the tracks later and it is quite alright to leave them separate until the end, the wheel axles are really thin and won’t take much manhandling. So for this part I made the glacis and hull top seperate A nice fiddling piece is the PE round the commander’s cupola, I struggled with this on a 1/35 kit, surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as anticipated this is it just placed together so far you really need to let the glue dry on the wheels, it is not the strongest of bonds but should be ok when the tracks are attached. almost forgot the 3D printed shtora emitters and head lights and the fuel lines for the rear drums and gun shroud, most of these are also in plastic with the exception of the canvas for the gun, the plastic parts are for a gun without the canvas fitted.

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?

I did read somewhere that the black Garfield was a proposed scheme that was rejected, which might explain why there is so little information/photos on it. I wouldn’t put it past a model company to produce the decals for it, simply because it’s interesting.

If you look down this page it will show various colours of Green Merkavas

For the shot Kal especially as you are doing the Dalet version, either Sinai grey or green(ish) the Merkava can also be both just depends on the time frame, but even in 5he latest escapade grey Merkavas have shown up.

Unless Airfix are going to re release the JB models then no, there are resin kits, Matador models, BW Models (but I don’t know who owns the moulds now) or 3D printed, there are a few companies that offer in both 1/72 and 1/76.