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T-62 Mod.1972 (Iraq Modification) 1:35


Mike

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T-62 Mod.1972 (Iraq Modification)
1:35 Trumpeter


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The T-62 was one of the Soviet Union's Main Battle Tanks (MBT) during the 60s and 70s, and as such there were a lot of variants, partly due to its wide use "in-house" and due to its success in export to Soviet aligned and friendly nations. It was based on the T-55 chassis, which was stretched and given new running gear, with a complete new upper section and turret. It was also up-gunned with a smooth bore 115mm weapon with 40 rounds on hand.

The Iraqi variant was numerous in their service, and saw extensive action in the Iran/Iraq war in the 80s, where it gave a good account of itself, inflicting heavy losses on the Iranians with their Western sourced tanks. In the First Gulf War it was less fortunate, as Western MBT designs had progressed to the next generation with composite armour, advanced electronics, targeting and weapons systems. The attrition rate was horrific, which is evidenced by the availability online of pictures of knocked out Iraqi T-62s from both the first and Second Gulf War. Interestingly, some survive today in Kurdistan where they form part of the military forces of the factions there.


The Kit
Trumpeter's range of T-62 kits expands almost daily, and this variant should hold some interest for anyone that would like to model the opponents in one of the largest post WWII conflicts. There is also a lot of scope for battle-damaged and knocked-out dioramas, with a wealth of pictorial guidance readily available. We recently reviewed a similar boxing of the 1975 Mod here. The lower hull is identical to the Mod.75, and that also extends to the top deck, save for a slight variation in the engine deck PE grilles.

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New Parts
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The real differences are found in the turret, which is substantially altered (or un-altered as it's an earlier model), and the 1975 turret's sprue-gates are blanked off on the sprue where it would have been. The correct turret is supplied on a new sprue with various aspects of the fit-out, and has a rather nicely textured outer, as well as a detailed cupola base, which was deleted on later models, probably due to cost and complexity. The hatch is also more complex, while the commander's hatch remains unchanged. A searchlight with a large armoured cowl in PE is fitted to the front of the commander's hatch, and a styrene jig to bend the outer is supplied to ease this task. Another, larger searchlight is fitted forward of the gunner's hatch with another PE cowl and jig that you could also use instead of the PE part if you're PE-phobic or make a mess of bending it. The main gun has the option of using styrene parts with horizontal seams, or a very nicely turned aluminium barrel, which slots into either a bare mantlet, or one with a moulded-in canvas cover, the detail on which is first rate. A small PE ring slides down the barrel to the fume extractor, and another styrene ring fits at the base before the gun is slid into the socket, which is best glued with either CA or a small quantity of epoxy glue for strength. A small armature leads from the barrel base to the big searchlight, ensuring that they both point in the same direction at all times. A big DShk 12.7mm machine gun is fitted to the loader's hatch front, and is rather well done, with detailed gun, mount and ammo box fitting into a socket on the deck.

This boxing is also provided with a KMT-6 mine plough, and although quite complex to build, it adds a certain amount of stance to the tank, and is well worth the effort of building, remembering that you need to remove the outer two rows of bolt-heads from the lower glacis before attaching the two parts.


Markings
There is only one option available from the box, and you'd be right if you guessed it was painted a dark yellow sand colour. My Arabic is non-existent, so I couldn't tell you the unit or vehicle number, but there appears to be another un-used decal on the sheet that looks similar to a backwards 7. Perhaps another tank from the same regiment? Weathering will be the key to replicating an accurate depiction of one of these desert-based vehicles in any other state than parade-ground shine.

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The decals are on a small sheet with white being the predominant colour. There are small identification markings for the turret, front and rear of the vehicle, plus what I assume is the vehicle number on the centre sides of the turret. The decals are have good register, sharpness and colour density, although the rear vehicle code has a rather large carrier film.


Conclusion
This is an interesting release from the Trumpeter T-62 factory, as it represents the opposing force that met a fiery end by the hand of an Abrams or Challenger II. Modelling opposing forces are certainly appealing to this reviewer at least. I'd also be tempted by a knocked-out diorama, although I suspect my skills couldn't pull that one off successfully.

The kit is well-detailed, and you get a lot of parts in the box that would have once been considered aftermarket, which is a trend that I'm very happy to see. It's also good to see the alternative styrene parts for some of the more complex PE parts, to cater for the younger or less experienced modeller.

Very highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of
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