Panda Hobby T-15 Armata Object 149 1:35

[Mike]

T-15 Armata Object 149
1:35 Panda

First seen at the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade, with some of its detail shrouded for secrecy, the Armata range of vehicles have now emerged from the shadows, although some aspects of their performance are necessarily unclear at this time. It is based upon the Armata chassis that is to be a common base for Russian armour, which simplifies maintenance, spares and familiarity of the crew, as well as saving on development costs. It does however differ from the norm in that it has its engine mounted in the front unlike the T-14 MBT, to provide extra protection for the crew and passengers.

The Epoch turret is remotely operated and loaded, which reduces the vehicle's height, as the crew are salted away in an armoured compartment in the forward hull. They are connected electronically to the auto-loading 30mm cannon, sighting equipment and even a pair of Kornet anti-tank missiles on each side of the turret. It is in early service, so likely to undergo many changes before it reaches the definitive variant, but it is expected to replace the existing stock of Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicles (HIFV) such as the BMP-2 in due course.


The Kit
This landed on my doormat a couple of days ago and was unexpected, as I hadn't heard of it until now (or forgot, as is likely). It is a new tooling by KittyHawk's sister company, and arrives in white themed box with a painting of a T-15 firing its cannon at an unseen adversary. Inside the initial impression looks a bit cheap and nasty due firstly to the low quality bags that have been used to protect the sprues. They are so thin as to be a waste of time, and a large proportion aren't sealed either. Secondly, the colour of styrene used gives the parts a toy-like appearance, but if you look past this, the parts are of good quality. With that out of the way, there are eight sprues of track links in brown styrene, two large hull halves and seven sprues in that olive green styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, decals, a length of braided copper wire, an instruction booklet, plus a colour print of the boxtop artwork on the opposite side of the paint and markings guide, which is in full colour. The hull is big at 25cm long (almost 10"), and both parts are still attached to a moulding runner that needs removing before you can test fit them together (I did that, as you can/can't see from the photos).

There is no introductory information about the vehicle at the front of the booklet, but it dives straight into the build, beginning with the wheels. Fourteen pairs of roads wheels are made up with a styrene sleeve inside giving the potential for moving wheels if you are VERY careful with the glue. You are advised to add the swing-arm stub axle at this point, which might make painting tricky, but that's up to you. The idler wheels build up in the same way, but have no rubber tyres, and the drive sprockets are three parts with no sleeve inside. The lower hull is decorated with various suspension related parts, including the return rollers, which are placed at irregular intervals with four per side. The keyed axle ends are inserted into matching holes in the sides of the hull, and the drive sprocket has a final drive housing installed before it is inserted at the front of the hull. A tow rope is built up from a length of the copper wire, with styrene eyes at each end, and two clips holding it in place, which is shown in a scrap diagram to help you get the right shape.

The tracks are individual link as already hinted at, and you'll be pleased to hear that there are no ejector pins to deal with on any of the parts. They are quite complex and time-consuming to build though, but you have a long jig on the sprues to help you in this respect. The twin track pads are first attached to the links, with a hollow guide horn added after. The track-pads fit too snugly in their depressions on the links, but will press down level with the addition of glue, links are quite weak around their centre pivot-point, which the glue used in adding the horns weakens further before they have set up, so take care. The jig part is also quite narrow and light, so moves around under the links when putting them together, so taping it down at the ends might be an idea. While the links are weakened by the glue, take additional care to keep them straight, as any curvature will cause problems when it comes to attaching them together in runs of 95 links per side. There are two sprue gates per link, two per track pad pair, and another for the horn, so you'll be quite busy tidying up before assembly. More liquid glue will be needed to attach the links together, so again be careful with the quantity used as you don't really want to glue them to the jig! I would consider joining the majority of links without their horns, and adding them once joined, at which point it will be easier to line them up so they don't end up looking like they need braces, and they will be straighter. Don't be fooled by the slight curve on the link inner edges though – they are supposed to be like that as you might be able to see on the sprue shot if you look closely.

Attention then shifts to the upper hull, which is detailed with clear vision blocks, vents, light clusters and copious stowage, including some nicely moulded tubular framed baskets at the rear of the sponsons. Spare track links, crew hatches with more vision blocks, chaff & flare boxes on the rear with PE shrouds and some dinky little PE tie-down handles are added, plus some larger smoke grenade launchers , sensors and boxes at the mid-point of the hull. PE grilles cover the engine compartment louvers, and a PE grate is inserted into the exhaust outlet at the front of each sponson, resulting in a busy deck. Although I would mount the deck early in the build it is shown being attached after the detail is added, but that's instructions for you. The sideskirts with their ERA blocks and supports are added next, as is the rear hatch that has a small section of stand-off slat armour, nicely moulded in styrene, applied to protect the door from damage. The hull has a sloped "nose cone" that contains a number of shaped ERA blocks top and bottom, plus attachment points for a mine-roller or self-entrenching tool. Some of the mechanism for this is attached lower on the hull in readiness.

The turret is a modest size due to the fact that it is bereft of crew, and it builds up from two main halves split top and bottom, to which the details are added such as antennae, grilles, the twin Kornet launchers on the sides, both of which have PE shrouds, and of course the main 30mm cannon, which in this case just glues in place in a fixed position pointing straight forward. If you wanted to elevate it, you'll need to do some research and adjust the kit parts to suit. The various optical sensors are mounted in boxes on the top of the turret, but don't have any clear lenses, so you will have to fake it with paint effects using your references. The finished turret just drops into place on the hull, so remember that when you're handling it.


Markings
As it's early days for the T-15, only the display scheme that was used for the May Day parade has been included in the box, resulting in a small sheet with only two decals, which are the new stylised design with a red outlined star over a striped yellow and black ribbon. The vehicle is painted a dull green with colour call outs given in Gunze Sangyo shades. Registration is a little out, and you can see this most prominently at the diagonal ends of the ribbon, but because you can cut that neatly, it's not a major problem. The sharpness is sub-optimal, but won't worry the casual observer, especially if you are applying any weathering. Colour density is affected where the white under-printing is missing right at the ends, but cut that off and it won't be seen.

Conclusion
The model itself is quite well moulded with some good detail, but the complex, weak tracks and relatively simple decals let it down a bit. The fact that you also can't raise or lower the gun is also a little disappointing for anyone wishing to add some variety to the finish.

Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

and available soon from major hobby shops

[Class377fcc12]

That's a very good looking kit! But then again I don't build tank kits!

Rob

[Sgt.Squarehead]

That does look a splendid kit, those track links are quite beautiful.

[Mike]

They are however tricksy... you need plenty of patience and dexterity to get them right. It took me quite a while to make up the six, although you'd probably get a bit more savvy after a few batches...

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Yeah they look time consuming, but if they are as nicely cast as they look I think they'll be well worth the effort.....I've only got a couple of 1/35 kits, 2/3 of them are Objekt 279 by various manufacturers and the ejector pin marks on the indy-links of one of them are enough to drive a man (back) to drink!

[magman2]

Thanks Mike, a good review.

I have one on the way from Sprue brothers