Z (32) T-80U (Russia)

The T-80U ("U" for uluchsheniye meaning "improvement) appeared in 1985 as a development of the basic T-80 gas turbine equipped Soviet tank from the end of the 70's. It was equipped with a more powerful GTD-1250 gas turbine that can use jet fuels, diesel and low-octane gasoline and had a good dynamic stability, service life and reliability. It also received a 2A46 fire control system in a new turret and was protected by Kontakt-5 second generation explosive reactive armour. In 1995, the Buran thermal imaging sight was installed in place of the Luna IR.

One of my favorite Soviet/Russian tank, I tried for a long time to get the T-80U kit from Modelcollect and, when I finally got it, I had to wait a long time before finding the time to tackle it. This kit is certainly a very good base but leaves the door open to improvements and modifications. I finally improved the rear generator and the fuel arrival, remade the wiring on the turret, replaced the Luna projector by a thermal system, added the supports for the external machine gun, replaced the awful NSVT from the kit by 2 copies from Best Resins, replaced the auxiliary tanks and the smoke dischargers by those from SG-Modelling, added the towing cables and their ties. I am very satisfied with the result and the 3 tones camo painting tired by a winter in the field.

Z (26) 9K317M Buk-M3 Viking (Russia)

The 9K317M Buk-M3 is the latest version of the Buk family of self-propelled medium range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the Soviet Union and then by the Russian Federation. It is designed to counter cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles in the medium range between the long range S-300/400 systems and the point defense Tor and Pantsir. It has a 36 target channels for targets at maximum speed of 3,000 m/s, an altitude range of 0.015-35 km and a distance range of 2.5-70 km. The system is in service withe the Russian Federation since 2016.

The kit is from W-Model and is mostly 3D printed. The quality is unfortunately not always there (with certain parts suffering from deformations) and progress is still to be made in the mastery of 3D printing (in particular the optimal use of supports). Some details are also missing and all of this therefore requires a little more work than expected. Be that as it may, their important range has the advantage of existing and offering many attractive Soviet/Russian vehicles... but with the growing competition and accessibility of splendid kits from China...