Soviet T-30S Light Tank

Ron Garcia
Pretty fast build for a Hobby Boss tank kit. WAY too much PE for a kit this size. There is a panel on the right side of the tank that looks to be raised. There are a bunch of PE pieces that look like they are supposed to support it. The problem is that the instructions show how to put it together from the left side leaving me to guess where some of the PE went. I decided to use the metal barrel even though I liked the look of the second barrel choice better. I looked at the T-40 in my stash since it's basically the same kit and saw that the only choice for a barrel is the second one. That sealed my decision. The only thing I left off was the towing cable. Way too complicated. Hobby Boss wants you to fold a copper wire in half (provided), wrap two tiny PE straps (no fold lines on the pieces) around it near the top and bottom to hold it together, then fold the two ends back on themselves to form the ends of the tow cable, and finally wrap two more tiny PE pieces to complete the loop. Since the cable doesn't drape over anything, this should have been rendered in plastic. Over engineered big time! Because of all the tiny PE, I'd recommend this kit for experienced modelers only.