This kit is fantastic to the point that I am not afraid of building 1/35 anymore. It’s very detailed, yet builds together nicely, fitting pretty well, and looks accurate to boot.

Despite the serious part count building up of the main components/subassemblies is something a modeler can achieve within 8-10 hours. Clean molding means that filling and sanding will be done to a minimum. I’ve only used putty in a couple of spots, which can’t be said for most kits I’ve worked on in other scales (bar Eduard’s MiG-21 MF built last year).

There are enough parts that diorama lovers can position to their liking, and many “leftovers” that can be combined to produce a unique or a particular vehicle. Add the numerous late-war camo schemes and field mods, and you get a very attractive kit.

As everything man has ever made the set is not without its faults. IMHO:

– there are great many sprue gates – many of the small parts and the antennae are simply unusable. Removing sprue gates takes more time than building itself.

– each construction step requires that you gather pieces from a number of sprues. There are look-alikes for many of the parts, some on sprues with the same letter, some new parts on additional sprue and that makes for a big mess.

– instructions suck. They show general positions, but many parts are mislabeled and exact positions can’t always be found.

Regardless the kit is still a great build, and all the problems can be dealt with using some experience and planning.

Onto the images: