T-72A Main Battle Tank - 1:72 Modelcollect

[Paul A H]

T-72A Main Battle Tank

1:72 Modelcollect

The T-72 is the one of the most ubiquitous Main Battle Tanks in the post-war world. Since its entry into service in the early 1970s, over 20,000 examples have been manufactured, making it second only to the T-54/T-55 family in terms of units produced. Exported widely, scarcely a year has gone by when the T-72 hasn't been in action in a hotspot somewhere around the globe not bad for a tank that was conceived as a hedge against the ambitious bet that was the complex T-64.

The T-72 shares the basic design principles that are common to all of the post war tanks produced by the Soviet Union/Russian Federation. Compact, light and low-slung, the T-72 has a version of the 125mm gun found in other eastern bloc tanks with two-part ammunition and an auto-load system in place of a fourth crew member. The first models featured a conventional cast armour turret. This was improved and thickened for the T-72A, which featured cavities filled with quartz or sand and was named 'Dolly Parton' armour by NATO forces. Later models featured laminated armour and added additional Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA), both of which proved to be extremely effective against contemporary anti-tank rounds.

Modelcollect are a relatively new Chinese firm who may not be all that familiar to the denizens of Britmodeller. For the uninitiated, they specialise in 1:72 AFV kits, with a strong bias towards post-war Soviet/Russian subjects. The range includes the T-62, T-64, T-72 and T-80, as well as the new T-14 and a growing range of missile and rocket launchers and radar vehicles. Many of the kits are available as pre-assembled models as well as conventional kits. This particular kit has arrived at BM courtesy of Modelkitworld.com, whose forum can be found in the trader's section. Inside the top-opening box are just over a hundred parts moulded in grey styrene, along with a die cast metal lower hull, a set of flexible tracks and a small decal sheet. Not being familiar with this manufacturer, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of detail and finish. Happily I can report that the mouldings are clean, crisp and finely detailed.

Unusually for a kit of this type, construction starts with the turret. This sub-assembly is fairly conventional, although the gun must be fixed in place thanks to its flexible mounting point. The gun itself has been moulded in one piece and is very nicely detailed. Slide moulding has been used to create an open aperture at the muzzle. Although it is quite shallow, this is a definite plus point. The distinctive 12.7mm NSV anti-aircraft machine gun is also very detailed, as is the turret itself. Both hatches can be finished in the open position and fine details such as weld seams and cables are all present in correct. In this respect the kit is a step ahead of the older Revell model. Finishing details include the usual stowage bins, searchlight and smoke grenade launchers.

The upper hull is as nicely detailed as the turret, partly because the upper glacis plate is moulded separately, which has allowed for the accurate reproduction of finer details. Even the driver's hatch is a separate item, and although there is no interior detail, it is still nice to have the option to place a figure in there. The rest of the upper hull follows suite, with the exhaust system and engine air vent moulded as separate items. The side skirts are nicely done too. Extra details such as the headlights, tow hooks and the ubiquitous unditching beam are all nicely rendered and moulded separately.

The drive sprockets, idlers and road wheels are all moulded in inner and outer halves. Aside from the crisp moudled detail, they seem to be very accurate and match photographs of the real thing very well. The die cast metal lower hull is reminiscent of Tamiya's excellent range of 1:48 AFVs, as it is both highly detailed and pre-primed. The torsion bar suspension units that run across the bottom of the chassis are all cast in place, so aligning the road wheels should be a piece of cake. Although the tracks are of the flexible type, they are quite detailed. They look very much like Dragon's DS type, which can be fixed in place with regular polystyrene cement. I've no idea whether this is actually the case, so if you've built one of these models, so let us know.

The painting guide shows just one generic scheme as used by the Soviet Army in the late 1980s, but the tiny decal sheet contains a number of generic codes and markings, including some for the GDR and North Korea.

Conclusion

This looks to be an excellent, well-detailed kit which captures the look of the T-72 very nicely. Modecollect have packed in an amazing amount of detail - it's a step up from Revell's already very good kit - and it looks very promising on the sprue. Hopefully it will be just as easy and enjoyable to build. Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Chris @ Above & Beyond]

Thanks Paul, the Modelcollect range is full of great detailed kits, already lots of interest, more of this kit is on route so your readrs can preorder theirs now and you can see the full range of modelcollect kits here http://store.modelkitworld.com/brands/Modelcollect.html

[Chris @ Above & Beyond]

This kit is now back in stock :-) http://store.modelkitworld.com/modelcollect-ua-series-72004-1-72-t-72a-main-battle-tank-model-kit/

Thanks again for taking a look britmodeller :-)

[Paul A H]

I've just noticed that some of the range - such as the T-64 - come with a turned aluminium barrel too. That's really impressive for the price