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For many years, most sources claimed that the Uralvagon-born T-54 and its developments (the Soviet T-55 and the Chinese Type 59) were the most-produced tanks in history. The latest Russian figures show figures of 90-100,000 vehicles as a serious exaggeration, but even the currently accepted figure of 63,200 places this design second in history behind the 65,900 of its WW2 predecessor, the T-34. Anyway both of these figures don’t look bold compared to the 81,000 Yankee M113 "bush taxi" - but you can’t call it (although tracked and fully armoured) a tank. Quantity is one thing, but undeniably the Morozov-designed T-54 was a huge leap forward in tank design - its extremely low silhouette, short (thanks to the innovative transverse engine) hull, domed turret and long-barreled 100mm gun (in a vehicle weighing 9 tons less than the M46 or Panther, and 16 t less than the Centurion) were parameters that no tank of the free world has ever even come close to. Put into service (named T-44, with an 85mm gun in a hexagonal turret) in October 1944, it did not take part in the fighting against the Germans. But of the 500 produced by mid-1945, few were used in Manchuria against the Japanese in August. In autumn 1946, the T-54-1 with a 100mm gun entered service, then the T-54-2 with a flat-sided turret and wider tracks, the T-54-3 with a bisected egg-shaped turret, the T-54A with a fume extractor, the T-54B with a large IR searchlight, the T-55 with NBC protection, and the T-55A with an anti-radiation inner lining. The Soviets built a total of 1,820 T-44s, 16,770 T-54s and 19,890 T-55s, the Czechs 7,290 T-54s and T-55s, the Poles 6,430 T-54s and T-55s, North Korea 300 T-54s, and Romania 400 T -55. The manufacturing licence was granted to Red China, where more than 6,300 T-54As were built as Type 59. Its development versions (over 4,000 units in total) were the Type 69 with a 100mm smoothbore gun and the Type 79 with NBC protection and a licenced British 105mm L7 gun. Iraq purchased not only 1,000 of the original T-54/55, but also more than 3,000 of its Chinese mutations, which made it the second (after Soviet Russia) user of tanks from this family. Armed with the 100mm gun, a co-axial 7.6mm SGMT and a 12.7mm DShK on the turret top, the T-54A carried a 4-man crew. Powered by a liquid-cooled Kharkiv V-2 (nee BMW) 520hp V12 diesel, it weighed just 36 tons. The Trumpeter #07281 kit, introduced in 2008, is presumably the best Braille-scale T-54 on the market. In the box you will find just 63 styrene parts and 2 vinyl tracks - despite my serious fears, they were perfectly glued together with ordinary (tube) Humbrol Poly Cement. It was built OOB - only the markings are taken from the depths of my drawer. However one modification was needed - in the rear, vertical wall of the hull, Trumpeter made 4 holes for the cylindrical fuel tank supports, which they offer with the T-55 boxing, using the same hull lower tub - the solution was Tamiya Putty. The model replicates a T-54A from Iraqi 3rd Armored Division (as denoted by white stripe on the yellow bore evacuator) during the 1991 1st Gulf War. According to Steven Zaloga, the 3 small black rectangles on the grey circular shield on the turret are for the 2nd regiment, 12th Brigade. The paint is – as always – a Humbrol enamel. This time it's #237, painted with an Italeri brush. Then the Vallejo matt acrylic varnish was brush-applied overall. The pictures are taken with an LG smartphone. Comments are welcome

I'll throw my hat into the ring with this one. Trumpeter's nice looking little Leopard. Not too complex. The hardest part will be the paint job. Obligatory sprue... More details to come. Suffice to say I have some current builds I need to get off the bench first. And I have until August 27 to build this. Siga, siga, as we say around here. --John

My third build will be a Trumpeter 1/72 F-106B, to be built as NASA 616, which was used to study inlet and nozzle designs for the supersonic transport programme in the 1960s. They mounted two General Electric J85 engines (as used on the T-38 and F-5) and tested several different intake and nozzle designs on the one on the left, with a standard intake and nozzle on the right. Here's a NASA photo: I'm going to build it in the configuration in the photo, with the conical "plug" nozzle on the test engine. I'll make the engines on the 3D printer, and I've found NASA test reports online that include drawings to work from. I'm probably a week or two away from starting, but will be getting on with it soon. Julian

Like the lozenge-shaped "landship" for the Britons 20 years earlier, the KV-1 was the Russians’ first indigenous heavy tank, manufactured in the thousands. The chuckle of history is the fact that in a supposedly perfectly bureaucratic and police state like Soviet Russia, the KV has even existed. When in 1938 the Russians decided to create a successor to the ill-fated 5-turret T-35 (60 built), two Leningrad factories built prototypes of two-turret tanks. Kotin's prototype was named SMK, and Barykov's prototype - T-100. Each of them, with a hull length of almost 9 m, weighed 55 tons. And here something unimaginable in Soviet conditions appears – a private venture. Kotin built a second prototype, shortening the SMK by 2 meters and removing the lower (forward) turret with a 45mm gun. And during trials in a real war with Finland in December 1939, this smaller and - despite thicker armour - 10 tons lighter single-turret tank turned out to be better than both twin-turret mastodons. It’s armour was invulnerable for any tank gun in the world. Immediately put into production, it became the first "modern" heavy tank, a year ahead of Churchill, two years ahead of Tiger and 4 years ahead of Pershing. KV are the initials of Kliment Voroshilov - the then Soviet defence minister, after his defeat in the war with Finland... promoted to the prime minister of the USSR. The KV tank was produced until 1943 in four basic versions: 3,260 KV-1 with a 76mm gun 200 KV-2 with a 152mm howitzer 1,120 KV-1S with a new, lower turret and weight reduced by 6 tons 150 KV-85, i.e. the KV-1S with an 85mm gun The designations KV-1A, -1B, -1C, repeated after the German war publications, do not make sense, because the Russian alphabet has a different order of letters (a, b, v, g, e ...). These subsequent variants, differing only in the turret technology and shape, were distinguished in Russia as the 1940, 1941 and 1942 models. The best KVs in Braille scale are Trumpeter kits, introduced in 2007. Mine, built from box #7231, presents the most numerous variant - m.42 (called KV-1C by the Germans), weighing 47 tons. Crewed by 5 men, the m.42 was armed with a 76mm gun and two 7.6mm MGs. It was powered by the 600hp Kharkiv (nee Hispano-Suiza) diesel V-12 engine (the same as in the 20 tons lighter T-34). The set includes 73 styrene parts, two vinyl tracks and 4 towing ropes - after choosing the right eyelet pattern, the second pair is left in the drawer. I wanted it in an improvised winter paint, typical for the Kalinin-Rzhev area (200 km west of Moscow) in February 1943. Such a kit is offered by Trumpeter in 1:35 and by Hobby Boss in 1:48 - unfortunately, in 1: 72 I had to deal with myself. First of all, the photos showed that these KVs were equipped with additional fuel tanks - the spares from the Unimodels T-34 kit fit perfectly. Second, the Chinese misinterpreted the white and olive green areas on the sides and rear of the tank. The list of changes was closed with the drilling of the gun barrel and exhaust pipes. The paints are (as always) Humbrol enamels: 226 for the 1941-43 period 4BO and 34 for the temporary whitewash - painted with Italeri brushes. The yellow tactical number is somewhat retouched serial number from some USAAF fighter, probably a P-39 or P-47. Afterwards the Vallejo acrylic matt varnish was brush-applied overall. The antenna made of 0.3 mm Aber steel wire appears thick in the photo, but be aware that the image on the 15” screen is about twice the size of an actual 1/72 model. The photos are taken with an LG smartphone. Comments are welcome Cheers Michael

Hello Everyone... As my Condor Legion Ju.86 is nearing completion I will be gearing up for my next build. This will be Trumpeter’s 1/72 North American F-107A UltraSabre. This would have been built of course for the North American group build. I project a start sometime in the next week or so. Here are the sprue shots from a previously unopened kit. Ive done quite a bit of research with @72modeler and 99% sure will be going with the test scheme. Im not actually inspired by the test scheme and I still leave 1% open to a possible Whif scheme. I would need to find decals though for such a scheme. Most likely a former F-100 unit, or possibly F-105 unit from Europe circa early 1960’s. The theory being that these were competing with Republic for the same role, so F-105 units would also be good options. Maybe @RidgeRunner has some insights to this. I did reach out to him awhile ago via P/M but never got an answer. Questions, comments, and or thoughts please don't hesitate. Dennis

Hi guys, here are some photos of a model being completed ... departing from the terrible Trumpeter Kit Tu16 K10 ... converted into K10-26 I propose a backward WIP, that is starting from the current state and the phases that preceded it ... 😎 sorry for my mistake english ... ciao Silvano

Hi, Here is my interpretation of Wellington Mk.III HF670 'U' from 142 Squadron flying from Blida airfield during early 1943. The Trumpeter kit is an absolute joy to work with and the only criticism I can think of is that the wheels look too skinny. The decals are from the generic Xtradecal dull red and my reference was 'Wellington Squadrons in Focus' by Freer and Parry. I hope you like it, Russ

Hello On the way to be finished.

I've lacked a Wyvern in my Fleet Air Arm collection for far too long, so the 60th anniversary of the Suez landings seems a suitable excuse to build the marvellous Trumpeter kit that has been hiding in my stash for many years now: This is a really nice kit, easy to build and most impressive looking when finished. I decided against the wing fold option. .... and with the rest of my Suez builds: FredT

I've long wanted to do a 1/72 Sea Fury, and as a mojo-restorer I've taken the plunge and got myself the 1/72 Trumpeter kit. I know there's an MPM kit too, and that neither of these are perfect. But now I'm heading down the Trumpeter route, I'd welcome any advice on what the issues are with the kit and how to overcome them. I've seen comments that: The prop blades are too narrow and stuck into the boss at an odd angle. I think I can correct these problems but let me know if there's an easy route; The undercarriage legs are too short and should be mounted a bit further outboard from the centreline; The canopy has a nasty seam down the middle which I'll need to massage out. Any thoughts on these and other potential problems? I'm not sure what colour scheme I'll do, but it might not be a Royal Navy one. Any tips on decent & interesting decals also v welcome. Thanks folks, Justin

Hi All, another Royal Navy Scheme finished this time the Gannet, Trumpeters 1/72 kit. Built out of the box painted with Humbrol Enamels. Brian.

Hi all, Another RN Scheme this time Trumpeters 1/72 "Sea Fury" built out of the box and painted with Humbrol Enamels. Brian.