T-64BV (USSR)

A Soviet second-generation main battle tank which made its debut in the Soviet Army at the end of the 1960s, the T-64 introduced a number of advanced new features for the time. Composite armor, a compact engine and transmission and a smoothbore 125 mm gun equipped with an autoloader which allowed the crew to be reduced to 3 made the T-64 more advanced than the previous generations of Soviet tanks but also significantly more expensive to produce. In 1976 a new version, the T-64B entered service with a more powerful engine, a reinforced turret, a new fire control system and the ability to fire the Kobra anti-tank missile (AT-8 Songster) trough its gun barrel. Deployed with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany since 1976, the tank equipped elite units. A series of ameliorations followed and in 1985 the T-64BV version equipped with the Kontakt-1 explosive reactive armour (ERA brick) was introduced in service.

The kits are from Modelcollect. They are very nice but a little bit tricky to build (the ERA bricks for example) and on the fragile side for a wargaming use. (made 2015)