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1/72 T-90s - accurate + easyish build?


k5054nz

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Hi all,

I'm looking at getting a 1/72 T-90. I know very little about them so I need some advice from those who know.

 

Which kit would be the "best" in terms of accuracy and low parts count/ease of construction? I don't want to spend too much nor have too many little bits to mess around with. At the moment I'm leaning toward Revell, although Modelcollect seems to turn up here (New Zealand) for a bit cheaper.

 

I'd be grateful for any advice.

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I just picked up the Revell kit about a week and a half ago...all I can say at this point is the parts look good in the bag and it seems like a straightforward build. Looking at online reviews, the way they tooled the hull looks a bit less complicated than Modelcollect (probably on account of all the versions Modelcollect have done). Can't really comment on accuracy because my T-90 references amount to what I can glean from a quick Google search...and of course, over on this side of the Pacific, the Revell kit goes for about half the price of the Modelcollect kit.

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I've just been looking at the options as I'm interested in modelling one of the T-90s sent to Syria, based on what I've seen so far Zvezda would be my choice too.....Apparently Modelcollect's earlier releases had some issues with the suspension arms. 

 

http://henk.fox3000.com/zvezda.htm

 

Scroll down to kit #5020

 

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I would (and did) go for Modelcollect all the way. The earlier ones were quite big (1/70 perhaps) but are no longer available, i think.

 

Much crisper than the Revell, also Zvezda has very fine details but it sits a little too tall for my taste (at least the side skirts look too tall) and the rims on it's wheels are much to thin (as if there was no rubber there). 

 

 

 

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Don't suppose you've built a Modelcollect T-72 at all?  I'm interested in their 'Syria' version with the Kontakt ERA.

 

I have the Revell T-72M1 in the stash which looks a decent kit and comes with a spare set of late T-72/T-90 road-wheels which solves one issue if I go the Zvezda route for my T-90.

 

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16 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Don't suppose you've built a Modelcollect T-72 at all?  I'm interested in their 'Syria' version with the Kontakt ERA.

 

 

 

I'm starting this one very soon, I couldn't tell you anything about the relative merits etc but it looks nice in the box. It includes the vinyl tracks and plastic moulded tracks and a metal lower hull. Some of the others have turned metal main gun barrels or PE parts.

IMG_3338-M.jpg

IMG_3351-M.jpg

IMG_3359-M.jpg

 

Duncan B

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I have not built any 1/72 T-90s so I can't really say anything conclusive about the accuracy or ease of build. But I have some general observations on various kits in my stash:

 

ACE: Short run, based on their T-72 kit. I've built one of their T-72s and while the kit is not at all bad the molding quality just can't compete with more recent offerings. ACE kit is the early T-90 with cast turret. The tracks are T-72 style RMSh with single track pin per link and poor detail. There are two sets of road wheel halves, the early T-72 type 8-spoke wheels and later 6-spoke wheels, 12 wheel halves each type. The idea is that you can do either early or late T-72 by using the correct wheel halves for outer side and incorrect for inner side. I find the turret shape and height a bit odd but that won't be very obvious as the turret will be covered with equipment boxes and ERA tiles.

 

Modelcollect: As mentioned by @bad eddthe initial release was overscale. It also had incorrect torsion bar suspension. Modelcollect did a complete retooling few years ago. Many variants are covered in different boxings, the early T-90 with cast turret, later T-90A with welded turret and others. I'm not excited about the metal hull bottom as this means you can't use regular plastic glue. Early boxings had vinyl tracks which have been replaced with hard plastic tracks about two years ago. 3 different types of road wheels are provided, but inner road wheel halves have no spoke detail (just like Revell T-72M1, what is it with T-72/90 wheels?). Parts have no locating pins as usual for Modelcollect, but typically Modelcollect kits have good fit and sharp, flash free parts, with somewhat fiddly but not difficult build.

 

Revell: Two variants, T-90 and T-90A. T-90 has cast turret and RMSh tracks, T-90A has welded turret and later tracks with 2 track pins per link. The tracks are in two pieces, you are to heat them and bend around drive and idler wheels which sounds a bit too exciting to me. Revell is the first one to get inner road wheels correct, bravo! Both kits have the same gun, while there are some subtle differences between the 2A46M and 2A46M-5. Unless you are really serious about it, in 1/72 scale I'd just forget about it.

 

Zvezda: Only T-90A variant provided. Best detail of all kits, with some exquisitely molded small parts, even nicer than Modelcollect and Revell. Correct inner road wheels. Both tracks are single part, you bend them around the wheels (tracks have notches on inner sides to help you bend them).

 

If I had to pick just one of them, any T-90 variant, I'd probably go for Zvezda. For early T-90 it is a coin toss between Modelcollect and Revell. All kits are loaded with parts.

Edited by Apex
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20 hours ago, bad edd said:

and the rims on it's wheels are much to thin (as if there was no rubber there). 

Scale wise it is probably more correct than the other offerings as on the new wheels the border between discs and rubber is hardly noticeable. 

The stance might be too high as in their 1/35 kit, but it is not too hard to fix it.

The other point Zvezda gets criticism for is that in this kit they did not simulate rubber screens folds... Very minor in my opinion.

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On 2/10/2018 at 3:14 AM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Don't suppose you've built a Modelcollect T-72 at all?  I'm interested in their 'Syria' version with the Kontakt ERA.

 

I have the Revell T-72M1 in the stash which looks a decent kit and comes with a spare set of late T-72/T-90 road-wheels which solves one issue if I go the Zvezda route for my T-90.

 

I have built two, here :

http://www.cartula.ro/forum/topic/14667-garajul-lui-109/page__st__40

 

Modelcollect does indeed not have any details on the inner wheels, but you get so many spares that with two kits and a little work you can use the spare outer ones for the inner. 

The metal bottom is not that bad in my opinion, i just used gel superglue and had no problem whatsoever .

 

I have also done a Revell with some leftover parts from Modelcollect (turret and era). 

 

I think the wheels look a bit too deep on the Modelcollect, but way to shallow on the Revell. 

 

Zvezda's T-90A has some annoying tooling marks (like tiny parallel scratches on it's surfaces), some are easy to remove, some not. The details on the hull are almost similar to the Modelcollect, richer that the Revell. The  Turret seems a bit nicer on Zvezda than MC. Revell's turret looks a little squashed (not to mention their T-72M1 turret which is a joke...

An example here: 

http://maxmodels72.ru/tovar/tg72022-т-72б-с-дз-конверсионный-набор-conversion-set/

 

For all I would recommend a metal barrel .

 

Also interesting to know is that both Zvezda and Revell are a bit longer than the Modelcollect, by about 1,5mm.

I noticed that when trying to adapt a resin URAL conversion (designed for Revell) to a Modelcollect and it did not fit. but it did fit the Zvezda T-90 hull.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Hi all, sorry to jump in late on this topic, might be a bit late for some, but help others? The sad fact is, there is no single good T 90 OOTB, the best you can get out of a couple of boxes, is a mixture of Zvezda and Revell, namely a Revell hull with the Zvezda turret. The Zvezda kit suffers from all sorts of problems with the hull ( very similar to their 1/35 kit) the rear plate and lower glacis are too long making the floor plate too short and messing the wheel spacing slightly, the Revell kit on the other hand suffers from having a squashed turret, (both the T 90 & T 90A) but the hull is nice. The Modelcollect T 90 also suffers from a turret problem, older ones suffered from hull problems aswell, with the suspension arms not being offset, and it sitting too high, not sure where the over scale part comes from, the hull problems were corrected, not sure about the turret though as I haven't seen a newer one.

hope this helps someone.

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To be fair the only Modelcollect T-90 I own is the brand new T-90M Early (it's in the post from Duncan at BMM as I type):

 

0004256_russian-t-90m-main-battle-tank-e

 

The hull is sorted and I believe the turret is all new, so I'm cautiously optimistic.  ;)

 

Here's the kit itself:

 

0004813_russian-t-90m-main-battle-tank-e0004816_russian-t-90m-main-battle-tank-e

Looks promising to me.....But which gun is that?  :hmmm:

 

The same should apply to this one, which I hope to receive fairly soon too:

 

0004083_russian-t-90m-main-battle-tank-2

 

 

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The T 90M early is just a rehash of the earlier T 90MS kit with a bit of new PE, and not incorporating any of the new features, it will be interesting to see, if the 2017 version incorporates any of the extensive (over the MS) changes or if that too will be just the old MS with a bit of new PE, knowing Modelcollect I expect the latter! 

The gun is the 2A46M the 2017 should have the 2A46M 4 not a lot of difference between the various guns other that the MRS that seems to be missing from the early and I would imagine the 2017 versions. Even the latest incarnations of the T 72B3 still incorporates the nadboi anti radiation lining on the models, that hasn't been used on the turret or commanders cupola since the B3

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