Amusing Hobby T-72M2 Moderna Slovakian MBT (35A039) 1:35 Amusing Hobby via Albion Alloys

[Julien]

 T-72M2 Moderna Slovakian MBT (35A039)

1:35 Amusing Hobby via Albion Alloys

 

 

The T-72 was the successor to the T-64, having a larger 125mm main gun and a more reliable auto-loader that gave it an advantage over its predecessor.  It was improved further by fixing some niggling problems that were initially present, and was given the name T-72. Unfortunately, problems with production led to delays that required substantial investments in the factory before full volume could be reached, continuing with modifications until the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 90s.  Export sales were robust, and overseas sales were designated with the suffix M.  Initially the M was fitted with inferior armour and gun, but with the M1 those aspects were redressed to T-72A standards, and had smoke grenade dischargers added to the turret.  Some of this type were also made in Czechoslovakia (now Czechia & Slovakia), and Poland, who were part of the Warsaw Pact at the time. 

 

The T-72M was produced under licence in the former Czechoslovakia. Units were split between both countries when they split. T-72M2 Moderna is a Slovakian modernization of the tank.  It adds DYNAS reactive armour, an improved 2A46MS 125mm smoothbore cannon, modified S21U engine; and the most visual difference is the addition of two 30mm 2A42 cannon replacing the NSV-T machine gun. The upgraded MBT though received no orders and only a few units were built for evaluation Slovakia not being able to afford them. 

 

 

The Kit

This is a new release following the completely new tooling T-72 from Amusing Hobby, and is one of their first ventures into real-world armour, their previous offerings tending to be more esoteric project tanks or of the “paper panzer” variety, which has been a boon to those that enjoy strange and unusual armour, even so this leans more to this being a non only a prototype. Unlike to the inital T-72 this is not a full interior kit. The detail is excellent, with judicious use of slide-moulding across the sprues.  The tracks are also impressive, having individual links and separate track pins that can leave you with a very fancy workable track run that you don’t need to glue, thanks to its friction-fit nature.  The lower hull is separate from the sprues, and has detail moulded into both sides, so there are necessarily some ejector-pin marks on the interior face, which might possibly need filling, but check the instructions to ensure you’re not wasting your time filling things that will be covered by equipment later – I suspect most if not all of them will.  Like anyone else, I hate wasting precious modelling time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the lower hull, to which you add various suspension parts, bearings and return-rollers, plus idler-wheel axles and a three-part drive-sprocket that is held in place on the final drive housing by a long thick pin.  Under the front glacis is an appliqué armour panel with fittings for the self-entrenching tool or mine-plough, four of which you need to remove with a sharp blade or sanding stick, then make good your handiwork.  These are overlaid with hinge-points and rams in a scrap diagram, with the main drawing showing them already in-place, then it’s time to deal with the rear bulkhead.  This begins as a flat panel, and has four curved brackets, some spare track-links and an unditching log, before it is attached by two lugs on the moulded-in aft bulkhead.  The road wheels are made up from pairs of wheels with a central hub, as are the idlers, with twelve of the former and two of the latter.  At this point two additional fuel tanks are built from a slide-moulded tube that has the strapping moulded-in with separate end-caps.  These are set to the side until the wheels are dealt with, beginning with the long torsion-bar suspension units with swing-arms and axles at the tip slid into the hull slots, plus a couple of smaller dampers toward the front, following which the idlers and road wheels are glued to the stub axles.  There is a scrap diagram showing the correct orientation of the damper arms in relation to the main swing-arms, which should help a lot.  Inserts are added at the sides of the turret ring. 

 

 

It’s tracks time!  Each run has 95 links, and the individual links are moulded in a tree of eight links, with tree sprue gates on each one.  They’re easy to nip off and clean up as they are situated on the curved edges of the link, and were very easy to remove thanks to the slightly soft plastic.  The jig that you can find on each of the pin sprues has a pair of tabs that allow you to build a much longer jig from it if you like, or you can build them up in runs of eight.  With the flat side up, you drop the links into the jig with the guide-horns sliding through the holes, then you cut a set of four track-pins still fixed to their sprue (imagine a four-pronged pitchfork), and push them into the pin holes in the sides of the links.  These push home snugly and you can see some of the receivers discolouring with stress-marks as this happens.  After they are inserted, you simply cut them off neatly, and that’s your lot.  I made up a test-run of sixteen links in a few minutes using just a pair of side-cutters, a thin sanding stick and some patience, and was very impressed with how easy it was to do.  It makes sense to leave the sprue on the pins long to give you some room for handling them without pinging them off into the gaping maw of the carpet monster.  It’s going to take a little time, but they’re among the best, most robust, flexible and easiest styrene tracks I’ve built.

 

The glacis has a two-layer lamination, with added armour,  then it’s a case of adding the light clusters with clear lenses and two-part cages. The two front mudguards are being attached to the front of the fenders with styrene springs added along the way, then a pair of triangular webs are fitted between the guards and the front lip of the glacis and a series of stiffeners in styrene and PE are fixed along the length of the fenders in preparation for the additional fuel tanks and stowage this is laid over it.  The rear ends are finished off with more detail parts to close them over.

 

The upper hull is formed from the forward section with the turret ring moulded in, to which equipment and vision blocks are added inside along with the driver’s hatch, then it is dropped into the hull along with two engine deck panels, which are first fitted out with mesh from the PE sheet and optional top covers.  This completes the deck so that the flexible spring with wire run through the centre can be cut and glued into position to depict the hosing for the fuel tanks as per the accompanying diagram and a black & white photo from the engine deck.  A tow cable is made up from 8.5cm of cord and two more towing eyes to drape over the rear, again as per the scrap diagram.  The side skirts are then added.

 

 

Lastly we move to the turret. The top insert is added to the upper casting with periscopes and hatches being added. The turret is covered in blocks of ERA with scrap diagrams showing where the more difficult ones go. Smoke discharger are fitted to the sides. Mounting points are added for the side 30mm guns. These can then be built up and added. A large ammunition locker is then added at the rear of the turret for these guns. To finish thing off the main gun is assembled and added. The turret can then go on the MBT. 

 

 

 

Markings

There is very little in the way of marking except two small Slovakian flag for the sides of the turret. Strangely there are no clues as to the colour scheme used on the tank at all included with the kit even though MiG AMMO is mentioned on the box along with some colour views? this might though be because we received an early sample. 

 

 

Conclusion

While this is a produced tank, although in very limited numbers it still fits neatly into the kind of thing we expect from Amusing Hobby.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK in most good model shops.

Review sample courtesy of