Gone are the days of minimalistic tanks with little more than armor, guns, and optical sights. The T-90, Russia’s premier tank features reactive armor, advanced sights, and missile jamming. Revell's 1/72 scale kit features posable hatches, optional parts for three variants, four-piece tracks, and markings for one Indian and two Russian vehicles.
Building the lower hull from multiple pieces presented no problems. I painted the lower hull, then installed the road wheels.
Track installation was a bit tricky. The instructions have you heat the tracks in hot water, then bend them around the wheels. I found the tracks still didn’t bend very well. I would suggest using a hair dryer instead. The tracks simply butt against one another — not a strong connection.
I installed the upper front add-on armor, fuel-drum racks, and exhaust, then joined the upper hull to the completed lower hull. The side skirts were mounted when I installed the additional armor pieces. These add-ons (part numbers A41, 42, 43) did not have a positive location lock. I had to fiddle a bit with them to get the alignment.
With this complete, I attached the upper-hull details. I had a problem with the tow cables, which are made up from two parts. These did not fit together; their ends are rounded and do not provide a smooth transition. You may want to cut off the ends and use aftermarket thread for something that looks more natural.
The real challenge is the turret. The T-90 is a complicated tank, and so is this model. Step 20 is where you decide which variant you want to build. The two-piece stowage boxes had small gaps that needed filling. The “dazzlers” are built up from five parts that are a little tricky to put together. Make sure you distinguish right from left. They don’t have a good, well-defined location tab on the turret, so take care gluing them to the turret. The storage-basket (item No. 24) subassembly did not fit up against the turret side because of the bulge on the turret. I shaved this down for a better fit. The commander’s cupola is another area where you have to choose which variant you are building. The location tabs are not well defined for the ammo can and bag.
I chose the T-90 paint scheme using Vallejo Russian green, buff, and flat black. For the thermal sight and the dazzlers, I cut party confetti to shape and applied black decal dots from my scrap box. Weathering was done with Tamiya pastels. The decals went down well over a gloss coat of Pledge FloorCare Multi-Surface (formerly Future).
It took me 15 hours to build this little gem, which makes a good addition to the collection of any Soviet/Russian armor enthusiast. Now all we need is modern Russian troops.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the July 2014 FineScale Modeler.