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Leopard A3/A4 1:35 Meng Models After WWII, Germany's limited self-defence forces used American AFVs almost exclusively, but the technology was nearing the end of its service-life and considered not sufficient to meet the new threat of the Soviet horde advancing across Europe during the height of the Cold War. Originally starting as a joint project with France, the French eventually went their own way with the AMX-30, while Germany continued on with a Porsche design that became the Leopard 1. Subsequent upgrades to the design were introduced throughout the various batches, with the A3 variant having a welded turret and composite armour, plus a more streamlined mantlet to deflect shot more effectively. The A4 was externally very similar to the A3, but had some systems upgrades, a reduced round count due to the space taken up by the added equipment, plus a night sight for the commander's exclusive use. The A5 was the last variant to see service, and became the definitive version over time, having a larger turret bustle for ammo storage, improved systems and optics, and the ability to carry bolt-on applique armour. Although some "funnies" are still in service, the majority of Leopard 1s are either phased out or in secondary roles with the majority of users, being replaced by the more modern Leopard 2 in many cases. The Kit After kitting the French AMX-30, it's only natural that the Leopard 1 should be their next MBT project, as they both shared some of the same beginnings. The design must have been well advanced when it was announced, as here it is, in one on Meng's by now standard satin finished boxes with a picture of a Leopard on base, and the three colours of the modern German flag across one corner. Inside the box are the two hull components, turret, plus thirteen sprues of various sizes in a medium green styrene, and another six in brown containing individual track links. A set of rubber-band style tracks are also included for the indi-link phobic, a spruelet of poly-caps, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a length of rope/string, small decal sheet, painting guide and the instruction booklet. Quite a well rounded package, with lots of detail evident on the sprues, including substantial use of slide-moulding to improve detail further. In the bottom of the box is an amazing little piece that is attached to its own little sprue, which is a protective cage for the PZB200 sighting system used on one of the decal options, and is one of the most impressive bits of slide-moulding I've seen so far. Construction is typical of most AFV builds, and starts with adding all the bump-stops and return rollers to the sides of the lower hull, then adding the functional torsion-bar suspension through the holes in the hull, the ends of which lock into sockets on the opposite side. The road wheels are built up next, with each pair trapping a poly-cap between them, as do the drive sprocket and the externally similar idler wheel at the front of the hull. An alternative outer face for the drive sprocket is included for one of the decal options. The wheels push-fit onto the axles, which should make painting and weathering easier, as well as track construction, whichever method you choose. If you prefer the realistic look of the individual links, you will need to make up two runs of 84 links using liquid cement, and wrap them around the road wheels whilst they are still soft, wedging them in place to give the correct amount of sag on the top run. If you haven't yet tried to work with individual links, this kit will be perfect for you, because if you make an unholy mess, you can easily fall back to using the flexible styrene tracks that are also in the box. I believe they can be glued with ordinary styrene glue, but I always opt for the individual links, so can't testify to the strength of the join. The top deck is a single piece, with a cut-out on the engine deck for a grille and PE mesh combination, plus another pair of PE mesh panels at either side of the transition from engine deck to turret ring. The rear bulkhead is a separate panel, and is detailed with various stowage boxes, tools and spare track links, plus the travel lock for the main gun. It and the upper hull are added after the tracks are complete, and a full set of pioneer tools are added from their own dedicated sprue. The side-mounted radiator panels, PE shrouds for the driver's vision blocks, towing shackles and rear mudguards are added at the rear, and the side-skirts can be installed at this point, assuming you've painted the road-wheels and tracks by now. The skirts have a slightly rippled textured finish to them, and have the cut-out footsteps at the bottom of each section, plus turnbuckles that link the panels together. Four towing cable eyes are provided to top and tail two lengths of the supplied string that are used to depict the towing cables. No length is given in the instructions however, so you'll need to test fit the towing eyes on the hull and do a rough measure of the distance to approximate the length first. The turret houses a license built 105mm Royal Ordnance rifled barrel gun that is supplied in styrene that is split vertically down its length, with a short stub muzzle to give a hollow end, so getting the joint perfectly aligned is key. The cooling jacket is moulded in, so care will need to be taken when scraping or sanding the seams after construction. It slots into the hole in the front of the sharply sloped mantlet part, and the choice of searchlight box with optional open or closed front, and/or the PZB200 sighting system is made, attaching to the top of the mantlet along with some grab-handles and lifting eyes. The main turret is in three pieces, the majority of it being the upper half, plus the lower section with built-in turret ring, and the rear panel on the bustle. Inside the upper turret, two sections are added to the front where the mantlet fits, the lower half of the commander's cupola, and a small section of the rear roof, the use for which isn't immediately apparent. Before adding the lower turret and rear bulkhead, the elevation mechanism is built up, with two poly-caps providing friction to enable you to pose the barrel without gluing it in place. Speaking personally, I appreciate this kind of thought, as sometimes you need to move your tanks around your display or diorama base, and being able to adjust it later is good planning. The substantially complete turret is then bedecked with grab handles, more PE vision block shrouds, and sighting gear, plus radio antennae bases, smoke discharger units, and a choice of removing one bump from two moulded into the commander cupola depending on which decal option you are building. The hatches are provided separately, and the commander's is simple, while the loader's is quite complex, and can be posed open or closed by using different hinge parts. There is also an MG3 machine gun on pintle mount for his use, which bears a great family resemblance to the MG42 that is the father of a large proportion of modern machine guns. The mantlet has a canvas shroud to protect the joint between it and the turret body, which clips over the top of the mantlet and has a nicely rendered material finish, with creases and humps that suggest the workings beneath. The final act is to twist the turret into the turret ring that is then held in place through most of its traverse by a pair of bayonet style lugs moulded into the ring. Markings The painting and decaling booklet is four pages, and gives you four choices of markings from the small decal sheet included in the box. As usual the decals are printed by Cartograf, and are of excellent quality with their trademark matt carrier film cropped close to the designs. Colour density, register and sharpness are excellent, and you can build one of the following four vehicle from the box: 1A3 2nd Squadron 304th Panzer Battalion, German Bundeswehr Mid 1980s – NATO green/black/brown camo turret number 363 1A3 4th Squadron 301st Panzer Battalion, German Bundeswehr 1980s – all over dark green turret number 544 1A4 4th Squadron 293rd Panzer Battalion, German Bundeswehr 1980s – all over dark green turret number 422 1A4(GR) Hellenic Army – four colour green/brown/black/beige camo with Greek flag on the turret sides Conclusion I'm already a fan of Meng, whether the subject has wings, wheels or tracks, and this release has done nothing to dent my confidence in them. Detail is excellent, construction simple, and the inclusion of both types of tracks adds appeal and ensures that people won't be put off buying it because they don't like one or the other type. Markings are different enough to appeal, with two choices that include camo, with the differences also extending to fitment of equipment between options, which shows attention to detail. I hope we see some more Cold War German armour from Meng in due course. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

T-90A Main Battle Tank 1:35 Meng Models Modern Russian tank design was originally split between two tanks of different complexity and cost, which became unsustainable after the fall of the Berlin wall and the break-up of the Soviet Union. In order to save costs, a number of systems and features were lifted from the expensive T-80U and added to the cheaper T-72, which was then given the new designation T-90. The result was an excellent platform on which to develop a single Main Battle Tank that would both suit the Russian Army and be attractive in both price and performance for export sales. The first line of defence against ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) is the Shtora-1 that detects laser designation, slews the turret to face the threat, which also brings the twin infra-red dazzlers to bear, as well as the grenade launchers that fire a volley of disruptive aerosol smoke canisters to further scatter any laser reflections. The by-product of all this action also brings the thickest armour and the 125mm smooth bore main gun to bear on the aggressor, which the crew can use to return fire. If the missile or shell gets through, the explosive reactive armour plates are next in line, and are angled sharply to assist in deflecting any incoming round. The turret's shell is made from modern composite armour, and this is the final barrier between the crew and the incoming round. As well as service with the Russian army, several satellite states have taken delivery of a total of around 400 vehicles, with India operating over 600, and Uganda having a small complement on charge. The T-90A is the variant for "home" service, and has an ESSA thermal viewer, and welded turret. Its export version is the S and is available with different armour packages to be chosen by the customer. The updated T-90M includes some additional crew comforts, plus some additional equipment from around the world now that the Iron Curtain is no longer a problem. The Kit The kit is of course the T-90A variant, of which there are over 500 in service with the Russian Army, and this kit comes close on the heels of another new tool T-90 from another company, which although welcome, was identified to have some almost impossible to fix shape issues a while after release, which makes this launch very welcome for those that strive to build more accurate models. It is also a Meng kit, which to me is a good thing, as I have seen almost all of their catalogue, and they consistently produce high quality products that go together very well. My armour guru (who is also responsible for introducing me to the genre, damn him!) is extremely excited by the new kit, and has one in his stash already. He classifies it as "a real nice kit", and I'll take his word as gospel on that. The box is standard Meng fare, with a stylish satin finish and an excellent cover painting. It is a heavy package, and the reason for that becomes apparent when you lift the lid. Meng don't skimp on parts, as evidenced by the content listing below: 13 sprues in mid-green styrene Upper hull Lower hull Turret body 16 x flexible styrene track parts 8 sprues of track links in black styrene Clear sprue 3 x PE frets - including one wheel mask 20 poly-caps 2 x pale grey flexible styrene tanker helmets 1 x pale grey flexible styrene mantlet cover Length of braided string/rope Decal sheet 22 page A4 instruction booklet with glossy colour cover 4 page A4 painting and decaling guide Other than a turned metal barrel, which isn't included, it's hard to see what more many modellers could want in the box. You could almost level the term "multi-media" to the kit because of the intelligent use of different materials for the various aspects of it. Inside the inner cover of the instruction booklet is a section titled The new model, new approach, new quality from Alexey Khlopotov, known as Gur Khan on the internet. It details his cooperation with the Meng designers in order to create what he hopes will be the first truly accurate (in as far as a styrene model can be) rendition of the T-90A, and thanks the modellers and employees of the factory where the tank is manufactured (his home town) for their assistance. I understand that there is a publication from Gur Khan's publishing company that will complement the kit, and we'll be looking to source a copy to review here at some point in the near future. Given that this will contain a lot of the research used in creating the kit, it's bound to be an interesting tome to have in your research pile whilst building the model. The text is reproduced in four languages. English, Russian and I think Japanese and Chinese, although I might be wrong about the last two as Japanese Kanji and Chinese glyphs are indistinguishable to anyone like me that doesn't write them. In between the pages though, there is a useful pair of diagrams of the tank that point out most of the main systems that cover its surface. I find this type of additional information quite interesting, as I like to know what each part of a model is. On page 6 is a paint chart using Vallejo colours as a reference, and this is replicated in colour on the inside back cover, which might be helpful to assist in matching non-Vallejo colours. Construction of course starts with the road wheels, which are set in pairs with a poly-cap between them. The roadwheels are bristling with detail, both on the hubs and the rubber tyres, with tiny grooves radiating from the centre on the sidewalls. The idler wheels and drive sprockets are similarly split, with a central plate between the sprockets. As mentioned in the content listing, a thick brass tyre mask is included in the kit, so that you can mask off the painted tyres to spray the centres the same colour as the body of the tank. There are twelve pairs of roadwheels and two each of the idlers and drive sprockets, so they'll keep you busy for a little while. Due to the complex and busy nature of the underside of the hull, the front and rear panels are provided as inserts that sit flat against the bare styrene blanking plates, and a nicely detailed self-entrenching shovel runs the full width of the front, with actuator rams reaching back under the hull. The suspension is torsion bar, and this is replicated by the inclusion of a full set of bars that run through the lower hull and slot into square slots to keep the end fixed from rotating. The suspension arms are moulded into the torsion bars, so the sit of the wheels should be perfect by default unless you manage to insert any at crazy angles. The final drive bell-housing is at the rear, and is protected from damage by a thick set of bars that glue into the hull sides. The wheels all push onto the axles obtaining a friction fit from the poly-caps hidden within each wheel pairing, and three return rollers mount on the top track-run to keep tension on the tracks up. The tracks are a work of art, but you have to follow instructions carefully and not be too free with the glue if you want them to remain workable after completion. The hollow guide horns are supplied as pairs, which clip onto the central area of the track pins, which are moulded into the main track parts. You must assemble short lengths before separating the two from their little sprue-runner to ease handling, then insert the runs into the two-piece jig that is supplied on its own sprue. Then you insert the flexible styrene track-ends into yet another part of the jig, cut them from their runners, and apply them to the ends of the track pins in runs of five on each side using no glue! The track pads are added once the tracks are complete, and this is painted with a rubber colour. Two sets of 81 links are needed, so again, you'll be working for some time with the jig, but the results should be well worth the effort. If you prefer the rubber-band type tracks, you'd better prepare yourself for a new experience, because it's just such a nice kit, you won't want to miss out on it. Sorry! The tracks are then wrapped around the wheels and closed with two of the flexible end parts. Surprisingly, a detailed engine is included with the kit, with a bulkhead and some of the ancillary equipment also. The engine is made up from a considerable number of parts, with two banks of 6 pistons in a vee arrangement, plus a multi-part turbocharger and some PE panels that cover the engine in much the same way as modern cars. It is inserted in the lower hull at the rear along with a lump that looks like a picnic basket on steroids (pardon my ignorance) and the aforementioned bulkhead with a large thin reservoir and a smaller pot attached. In the upper hull a beam and another pot is added before you close it up. Colour call-outs are given in Vallejo paint codes throughout this process, as most of us would otherwise be scratching our heads. After attaching the glacis plate detail insert with driving lights, the front section of the deck that includes the driver's hatch, a section of the turret ring detail, fuel tanks, stowage boxes on the fenders and the fender fronts, the upper hull is joined to the lower, and a pair of PE grilles are added to the engine deck at the rear. At this point the engine is still visible through a large hole in the engine deck, which can be added in the closed position or open position at your whim. If posing it closed, you could mount the engine on a trolley, and pose it next to the finished model if you like. The exhaust, vents, rear mud-flaps and other small parts are added to the back of the engine deck, as are the cradles for the auxiliary fuel tanks that are synonymous with Russian armour. However, for the majority of the decal options included in this kit, the main part of the bracket is removed, as the extra tankage is not required. The side skirts on the T-90 are thick flexible rubber attached to the fenders by the metal clamps that hold the rubber in place. These are moulded with the characteristic fluting that occurs over time, leaving a slightly wavy edge. It has been done in an asymmetrical manner, so that the sides don’t match, which would have looked "off". The brackets for the three staggered explosive reactive armour are added to the front section of each skirt, and the blocks themselves, which are marked with their part numbers on the back, are added to the brackets and joined with the fenders. An unditching log is often carried by Soviet tanks in particular, and Meng haven't let us down. There's one on sprue B, split down the middle, with a nice Woody irregularity to the moulding, although some extra scuffing of the surface and careful painting should improve it further. The towing cables are kept on the rear bulkhead under the log, and these are made up from two-part eyes attached to 100mm lengths of the supplied string/rope. Because it is a man-made fibre, there is no "fluff" to show up after painting, so it should be suitable for the job as long as you cut the ends neatly and glue them before they have had chance to fray. If you're modelling the decal option with the auxiliary fuel tanks, you'll need to make them up from the two halves and end caps, plus filler cap (times two), install them and then add the hoses that are so often missed out on AFV kits. It's a fairly complex arrangement linking the tanks together and then disappearing into the hull, but all the parts are supplied, and a scrap diagram shows how it is then linked into the hull correctly. Attention then turns to the turret, starting with the 125mm smooth-bore main gun. This is a jacketed unit with a recuperator in the middle, and as such it is built up in sections. The fore and aft sections are built up from halves that split along the jacket detail and then insert into either end of the recuperator, which has been moulded as a single part with separate collars on either end. To finish off the barrel and give it a hollow appearance, the muzzle is added last, and is a single part. The whole approach minimises the likelihood you'll have to do any serious seam cleanup, whilst appealing to the widest audience (some folks don't like metal barrels) and helping keep the cost of the kit down. The turret body is supplied as a large single moulding that utilises slide-moulding to maximise the moulded detail. The rear is a separate part, as is the underside with the turret ring moulded in. The shell ejector hatch and reactive armour blocks are added to the top, and some internal periscope detail is added to the roof inside the gunner's hatch. The advances optics and sensor suite that is dotted around the roof area is build up and installed onto the roof along with the hatches and stowage boxes. The mantlet on the T-90A is quite small and usually covered with a blast-bag, which is replicated in a single part using flexible styrene that fits over the two-part mantlet former and is held in place by a detailed plug that receives the non-lethal end of the barrel. Smoke grenade launchers and the twin infrared dazzler mounting brackets are built next, and the lamp boxes themselves are made up, with their bodies covered in very nicely rendered cooling fins that use slide-moulding again. The characteristic sloped armour blocks that extend the front of the turret to a point are made up and attached to slots in the turret front, and at the rear the many stowage boxes and snorkel gear are built and added to the bustle area. The commander's cupola is a complex affair, and has a large number of parts making up the many controls and vision blocks that enable him to get a picture of the battlefield. At the front of the cupola is a a 12.7mm NSV heavy machine gun for anti-aircraft defence, with a commensurately large recoil absorbing mount, cartridge bag and ammo drum. There is even a small length of ammo included to string between the breech and box for a little extra detail. The finished cupola drops into the turret roof within a slim ring, and the barrel is slotted into the keyed aperture in the mantlet, to ensure that the detail is correctly oriented. A small plate attaches to the top of the gunner's hatch, and a sensor pole sits behind, and apart from dropping the turret into the hull, securing it with the usual locking lugs, the build is done. Markings There are six colour schemes to choose from, and within five of those schemes, you can depict any of the 16 vehicles within the unit to which the scheme relates. One scheme seems to relate to only a single vehicle however, but I don't profess to understand why. From the box you can build one of the following: 27th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, Moscow Military District, Russia Victory Parade 2011 - overall Russian green 27th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, Moscow Military District, Russia Victory Parade 2012 - overall Russian green 19th Motorised Rifle Brigade of North Caucases Military District - Russian green/black/duck egg green camouflage 27th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, Moscow Military District, Russia Victory Parade 2008 - Russian green/black/sand camouflage 27th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, Moscow Military District, Russia Victory Parade 2009 - Russian green/black/sand camouflage 27th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, Moscow Military District, Russia Victory Parade 2010 - Russian green/black/sand camouflage It's perhaps a little disappointing that there are only parade schemes included in the box, but I would imagine that these schemes were kept for a time after the parades, so there should be plenty of scope for weathering after a little checking of your references. The camouflaged schemes are all laid out in five-view full colour of a good size, so there won't be any guesswork as to how the pattern should continue onto any section of the hull. Decals are minimal with most AFVs, and this is no exception. The sheet is printed by Cartograf and contains a full set of vehicle codes, with six of each digit, plus four extra 1s. The smaller codes on the rear of the turret are also included, plus unit markings and four Russian wreaths in red, yellow and white. Register, colour density and sharpness is first rate, as you would expect from Cartograf, and the carrier film is thin and commendably close to the edges of the decals. Conclusion This highly detailed and comprehensive model of the modern Russian MBT is seriously good, and is likely to be built entirely out of the box by many modellers with no additions of aftermarket. It fairly bristles with detail, and the knowledge accumulated over the years by Gur Khan shows in every part. The complex and detailed tracks may dissuade a few, but most rubber-band track aficionados will be so sorely tempted by the kit that they will probably buy it and deal with their phobia later. Patience will be key in completing the tracks successfully, and as relatively little glue is required, it shouldn't end up too difficult. Aside from the decals representing only parade machines, there's so little to gripe about that you'd really have to put your pedantic side to the test to be more critical. Well done Meng and all those that helped with the project. It has paid off in spades! Very highly recommended. Available soon from Creative Models in the UK Review sample courtesy of

Chieftain Main Battle Tank Kagero Publishing The Chieftain MBT was the natural successor to the Centurian, and utilised the new armour to give it the edge over the "Red Menace" on the battlefield, which was envisaged to be the border between East and West Germany in the Cold War era. It put right the wrongs of WWII, when British armour had been under armoured and under armed by equipping the turret with a 120mm rifled gun, ensconced behind the aforementioned composite armour, although it wasn't the fastest tank on the battlefield as a result. The Book The subtitle reads "Development and Active Service from Prototype to Mk.11", which is an accurate description of this interesting tome. Part of the PhotoSniper range (number 7), the book is an oversize A4 size in portrait form, perfect bound at the left hand side as you'd expect. The thick card jacket is printed in full colour on the outside with a glossy picture of a Chieftain hull-down in camouflage on the front, and some profiles on the rear. The first 26 pages are devoted to the development and service of the tank, and it goes into detail from the beginning to the every end, interspersed with some interesting and relevant photos. There are also two scale three-view drawings of two marks of the Chieftain, in 1:55 scale, which I'm guessing was "page scale" to allow the drawings to be as large as possible. The next section spans the following pages to page 50, documenting the tank in derelict and in-service settings, with some interesting captions that offer insight into what the Chieftain was like to work on and crew. This section has a black background to differentiate it from the rest, which also makes it easier to find. Pages 50-62 are taken up with a detailed walkaround of both the exterior and interior, getting into nooks and crannies that you wouldn't normally see. The final 9 pages (10 if you include the back cover) show the variations in camouflage of the Chieftain in service with the British Army, Iran, Kuwait and even one found in Iraq in 2003, thought to have been crewed by defecting counter-revolutionary Iranians during the Iran/Iraq war. Conclusion If you're serious about the Chieftain, this is an excellent book for reference, but should also make for a good read. Written by Robert Griffin, it is entirely in English (some Kagero titles are mixed Polish/English), and with colour photos throughout (where the source material allows), plus some handy engineering-type drawings, it gives plenty of inspiration for the modeller and diorama builder. Now we just need a new mould Chieftain model that doesn't blur the distinctions between marks. Let's hope our friends at Meng are looking in! Also, don't forget that the Chieftain was often paired with a 432 for exercises, so you'll need to pick up one of those too, and do your bit for keeping model shops in business Review sample courtesy of

T-62 Mod.1972 Value Package (for Trumpeter) 1:35 ET Model (S35-012) Trumpeter's T-62 is a bit of a tour de force, and this set is aimed squarely at the first edition, although most if not all of it could be applied to the kit with the ERA blocks added, which I'll incidentally be reviewing shortly. The "Value Package" from ET Model means exactly that, incorporating their Basic set, Stowage Bins set, Fender set, DShK Machinegun Set, Auxiliary Fuel Set, and DShK ammo can sets. Wow… that's quite a handful of sets in one! Arriving in ET Model's usual thick polythene outer with header card, the set contains three large card stiffener cards containing four sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass measuring 9.5cm x 14.5cm, 9.5cm x 17.5cm, 9.5cm x 7.1cm and 9.5cm x 6.2cm. In addition, there is a bag of nine (!!) smaller frets of PE brass, and one single piece of cream coloured resin. This is a very comprehensive set, and is not for the PE novice. You will need to be confident to bend pre-weakened shapes, as well as a limited amount of rolling, which although quite simple when you know how, or have the correct tools (Small Shop's Brass Assist being foremost in my mind), it can be a bit intimidating. The main set is intended for the basic model kit, and comprises of the two smaller of the large sheets, plus two of the small sheets, and the resin Antenna base. Work starts on the hatches, replacing the periscopes with entirely PE units that are hollow, as well as hinge, latch and edge detail, which extends to the hatch-mounted flood-light, for which you'll need a small supply of 0.5mm and 1.0mm rod to complete the job. Various assemblies, mounting brackets and tie-downs are then added to the turret, along with the antenna base, a plate that attaches to the top of the mantle cover, mount for the snorkel, and a mount for the coaxial flood-light. The DHsK ammo cans receive a set of PE tie-downs, and here you have the option of replacing or augmenting them with PE alternatives. The stowage boxes that sit on the fenders are then comprehensively accessorised, with additional retention plates between each one that attach to the small triangular bulkheads that separate them. The engine deck is covered with various mesh covers and detail parts, which transforms the look, improving it immensely. Aft of the deck are the two auxiliary fuel tanks, which are effectively a pair of large drums attached to the hull by strong brackets. Here you can either use the kit drums, or replace them entirely with the PE set, which you will need to roll into a cylinder and attach the end-caps to. These will take the knocks and dings that the real thing was subjected to mush easier, and will look more realistic if done well, but if you don't fancy the challenge, use the kit parts and just replace the shackles with the PE parts. The lashing points for the unditching beam that was often carried by the T-62 is also replaced with better looking PE parts, and the rear bulkhead is also spruced up with some scale-thickness brackets and detail parts, particularly those that hold a section of spare track link in place. Moving to the glacis plate, the driver's vision blocks are augmented with PE covers, the hatch is detailed with a bullet-splash lip and rotating hinge detail, while the running lights are all upgraded with detailed bracket parts, and bullet splash strip is added all around the base of the turret. The front mudguards are detailed with hinge parts, and a section of 0.5mm wire will be needed too, plus some 0.5mm rod to complete the job. The ancillary sets can be added to suit, and start with the stowage set, creating detailed bins to improve detail and give the option for damage and even open bins to the modeller. In total this covers six complete bins of varying shapes and sizes, with full latch and hinge detail, as well as mounting brackets. The fender set replaces the whole fender with PE parts, retaining only the exhaust section, which must have a 0.3mm extension at the rear to conform to the width of the fenders. Strengthening brackets are added down the length of each fender, and edging strips give the parts extra strength and realistic thickness. The final sets cover the DShK, adding a mass of tiny detail to the gun, its mount and replacing the kit ammo box with a more detailed and realistically thick PE assembly. There are enough parts on one sheet to make two boxes, and an extra sheet is included, permitting you to build up to four boxes, with ammo link that is folded over to produce a more three dimensional link, although that can't be bettered by available sets from Mission and others. Conclusion As mentioned earlier, this is certainly comprehensive, and what I've come to expect from ET. Their attention to detail is excellent, and only their instructions could really be improved by adding some clarity of what parts you're working on for inquisitive modellers like myself. Very highly recommended. Available soon from White Ensign Models in the UK Review Sample courtesy of