OKB Grigorov, is a Bulgarian scale model designer and manufacturer established in 2003. Their stated goal is to provide quality models and accessories with the maximum amount of details. OKB manufactures resin AFV, ships, and accessories.

From Wikipedia: The T-100 was a Soviet twin-turreted heavy tank prototype, designed in 1938–39 as a possible replacement for the T-35. The T-100 was originally conceived with three turrets and was eventually built with two. The prototype T-100 tank was briefly tested without success alongside other designs in the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939. It was never put into production due to the archaic design concept, poor mobility, and the availability of a far superior alternative, the KV series.

OKB’s T-100 kit comes packed in a sturdy light cardboard box with the resin parts in several bags inside the box. The parts are cast in a gray resin and have very sharp detail. There are 132 resin parts and 15 photoetch parts for a total of 148. The tracks are molded in strips about 3 1/2 inches long and attached to a pour strip. The treads are quite flexible and have very nice, sharp detail. The thin fenders have some warp.

The instructions are on a 6“ x 8 1/4” folded sheet with four sides. The first page of the instructions includes some small black-and-white photos of the actual vehicle plus a computer model rendering. The first page also includes a layout of the parts and their numbers for reference, as the molded parts or casting blocks do not have numbers. A first step would be to identify and separate all of the resin pieces by number. The assembly instructions are 3-D views that call out the part numbers. Not all assembly steps are shown in the diagrams, so some interpretation is required. An example is in the first step that shows attachment of the sprockets for the front return roller and idler wheels. The hull bottom, sides, and top have also been installed but are not noted.

Installation of swing arms for the road wheels required some trimming of the swing arm to fit into the notch on the hull. The road wheels consist of two halves, parts 29 and 30, and parts 33 and 34. An elevation is shown to get the wheels in the correct location. There is a conflict between the back of the road wheels and the cover for the pivot on the suspension arms that doesn’t allow the wheels to sit completely on the suspension arm axles. I added small pieces of 1.6 mm plastic rod to the axles on the swing arms to bring the road wheels out and clear the cover plates. I also noticed that the axles for the upper track support wheels are too short as the tank treads rub against the hull.

The connection between the halves of the track support wheels, parts 31 and 32, required drilling out the hole in part 31 for the parts to fit together. The connection between the support wheels and the axle, part 43, does not have much bite and is loose, so care must be taken to get the parts aligned and perpendicular to the hull. The pins on the swing arm axles should have been longer, and the hole in the support wheels deeper, to provide a more solid connection. Extending the pins is a workaround to get the wheels in the correct alignment and provide clearance with the hull.

The fender moldings had a slight warp which made it difficult to install them on the hull. I clamped brass rods to the underside of the fenders to keep them straight while they were glued into place.

Photoetch braces are installed on the rear of the hull to brace the fenders. The photoetch braces are small and show a very small, tight bend for the fastening flange. It was very difficult to get these bent, and I used photoetch bending pliers and a photoetch bending tool.

The turrets are solid castings with very nice detail and fit well into the hull. The rivets are plentiful and slightly exaggerated but add nice detail to the turrets and hull. The cable ties on the turrets are not provided with rings, and the instructions say to fabricate these from wire (not provided with the kit). The cannon barrels have a minor mold seam that is easily cleaned up, and the barrels are nicely hollowed out at the muzzle.

The tank treads come in sections about 3 1/2 inches long and have very nice detail. There is only minor flash that needs to be cleaned up. The ends of the tread sections need to be notched to fit together. The treads are quite flexible and can be bent around the drive sprocket and return idler without any problem.

I glued the three sections of track for each side together and installed them after the tread support and road wheels were in place, but before mounting the drive sprocket and return idler. Installing the trails presented several problems:

1. There is insufficient room between the support wheels and the underside of the fender, requiring filing down the teeth on the treads and scraping the underside of the fender.
2. The gap between the halves of the support wheels is too narrow for the tread teeth, requiring filing to increase the width of the gap.
3. The length of the support wheel and road wheel axles is not sufficient, causing the tread to be pressed tightly against the hull. I also had to lengthen the axle for the return idler to align with the support and road wheels.

The treads themselves are easy to bend and install nicely. They look nice with a very good detail once installed.

Summary

This is a nice kit of a rare and unique military vehicle. At $67 the kit is quite expensive, but the parts are well cast and have very sharp detail. There are some difficulties installing the fenders, wheels, sprockets, and treads so this kit is best suited for a modeler with experience in resin parts and able to make the adjustments necessary to get everything to fit. With a little work the kit makes into a nice looking model of the T-100

Thanks to OKB Grigorov for producing this kit and providing the review sample to IPMS.