History

The IT-1 tank was a Soviet cold war missile tank based on the T-62 Hull. The tank was specially designed to carry and fire the 3M7 Drakon missile from a pop-up launcher. It saw limited service from 1968 to 1970. It was withdrawn due to the limited ammo it could carry and the large dead zone around the tank caused by the minimum range of the missile. Most were converted into recovery vehicles.

The Kit

The contents of the kit are nicely boxed and individually wrapped in plastic sealed bags. There are 19 sprues, 1 clear sprue, 1 PE fret, and the lower hull section. The instruction are in booklet form with 12 pages of black and white instructions. A separate color painting guide is also included. No decals come with the kit and there are no instructions to guide you as to where they might have gone.

With the release of the Encore (upgraded Monogram) A-37 there is renewed interest in this little dragonfly. The kit is really nice, despite its age.

Perfectly molded in light grey resin these two gun barrels have the shrouded miniguns inside of thinned fairings. The addition of these little jewels will add to the look and aid you from having to clean up a seam on the shroud. This will ensure the shroud is round. You’ll also have hollowed out gun tubes inside of the shroud.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can obtain yours by contacting www.modelchoice.net or your local hobby shop or online retailer.

This Beaufighter decal set is one of the latest from Canadian-based Aviaeology – SkyGrid Studio’s line of model-related products.

Upon first opening up the standard ziplock plastic bag that holds the decals and instructions, I was immediately impressed with the quality of the decals. There are 4 sheets included in this set, covering 4 aircraft (3 of which have multiple variations). In addition to the individual aircraft markings, a full set of national markings and stencil data is provided for one aircraft. These decals look first-rate, with little to no carrier film except where absolutely necessary. The decals themselves have a glossy finish and appear quite thin, but with good color density.