Hello again, old friends, and hi to all the new people I haven't met yet!
Well, after going through the house-loan process, going overseas on business to Russia, and building a new house down here in North Carolina, I've finally gotten everything unpacked and where it's supposed to be for the time being...and I can finally get back to the bench. When I was in Moscow recently, I met up with my friend Adam Wilder and he graciously took me to Kubinka armor museum, where I saw this remarkable tank. I'm going to post a post of the photos from there soon; in the meantime, I was inspired to build this beast...here it in in its latest paint job.
I went with the Takom model, even as there are three (?) different offerings of this model now.
It says "3 in 1" because you can build it in three different turret / gun / suspension combinations. There was a long gun, a short gun, and then you have the choice to build the EXACT Kubinka model where the hydro-pneumatic suspension has been drained and collapsed.
You get a nice instruction booklet, some PE, some clear parts and some cable. Oh, and the figure..
That figure is a reason alone to buy this kit! How cool! He's in a full NBC suit, as this tank was designed to withstand the blast wave from a nuclear explosion, so the getup confers that purposeful design.
This tank has, of course, FOUR tracks! That's a LOT of track links--yes, they give you indy links to deal with! The wheel mounts are affixed to two blocks which fit into channels in the hull. Thankfully, this will allow them to be assembled and painted separately.
Careful here! Here's where you choose how to position the suspension. I choce "A", which means that the tank will be shown in "operational" stance, with the suspension active---not flat, as in the museum version.
The wheels are temporarily put on with white glue for the sake of track-forming.
The weird, bathtub-like hull.
The wheel assembly temporarily attached with the tabs in place--this can easily be removed to form
the tracks.
That's where I am for now! Stay tuned! 