Academy 1/48 T-72 By Michael Benolkin

Background

The T-72 was first introduced into service during the early 1970s. The T-72 incorporated improved armor and systems over the T-62 as well as incorporating incremental system improvements that were fielded in the T-64 series.

The tank is equipped with a 125mm smoothbore main gun as well as 7.62mm coaxial machine gun in the turret, and a 12.7mm antiaircraft gun mounted near the commander's hatch. The tank is also equipped with infrared night-fighting equipment and crew protection systems against nuclear, biological or chemical attack.

In addition to the Soviet Union, the T-72 was also produced under license in several countries, including the former Yugoslavia. Despite its age, the T-72 continues front-line service in the ground forces of many armies around the world.

The Kit

In their second release in this series, Academy has created an interesting adversary to the Merkava tank that we reviewed last month. As with the Merkava, this kit is essentially a snap-together kit that features a pre-assembled transmission and remote controller.

Molded in dark green plastic, the T-72 kit is an exercise in simplicity. Most of the work is in assembling the road wheels. The track is the same as in the Merkava kit, rubber-band style with an M60-styled track pattern.

The unit is powered by a pair of electric motors that are snapped into the transmission frame. Power is supplied from a pair of batteries located in the handheld controller and power/control is via cable that runs between the tank and the controller.

The wire leads will have to be attached to the two motors in the hull, and while a simple 'strip and twist' will work, I'd recommend soldering the leads into place. The batteries are housed in the remote controller, and while it will accept C cells for power, the unit has an interesting adapter included to allow the use of AA batteries instead.

Conclusions

If you're looking for absolute scale realism, this is not the kit you're looking for. If you want to have some fun with your kits and/or coworkers, this is just the thing. With an MSRP of $25.00, you can have some fun without much work or upkeep.

According to the information provided, this series will include the Israeli Merkava and Russian T-72 already mentioned, as well as a British Challenger, German Leopard 2, and a US M60A1.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!