Fans of small-scale armour and military vehicles have an ever-growing selection of subjects to build, and the quality seems to improve constantly. A good example is Italeri’s all-new 1/72 T-55A tank (kit 7081)… essentially a T-54 with the provision of NBC (nuclear, bacteriological, chemical) gear. The kit comprises five green styrene runners packed with parts, some being very small and delicate. The standard of moulding throughout is impressive, and refinement is plentiful. This is particularly evident on the turret, with its miniscule (and to scale) bolt head detail and crisply moulded hatches, which are separate items.
The turret ring on the upper decking is also well rendered, and there are individual engine screens and maintenance covers. This is certainly useful as a splendid 11-part engine is provided; more experienced modellers may consider posing the covers open and adding even more embellishment to the powerplant and its surrounding bay. There are plenty of features to attach to the upper decking, such as the type’s trademark flat fuel tanks, stowage containers, spare track links, towing cable and a deftly moulded two-piece headlamp guard, while the driver’s hatch is an individual item too. Also given separately are…
