January 17, 20215 yr #1 It is sunrise during a winter day in the late 1980's.... Diplomacy has failed. Tensions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries are dangerously high. Orders are given. Tanks of the Soviet Union and their allies move forward across frozen rivers, swamps and fields. World War III is coming close to becoming a reality.....
January 17, 20215 yr Author #2 Of course, thankfully, it never happened. But that did not stop the production of over 25,000 T72 tanks for themselves and their allies. A mainstay of the Cold War in Europe, they continue to serve today in armies around the world including both Iran and Iraq. While WWII models are appealing, I wanted to build this one because it was in service while I was in uniform. Lars (Proud Kraut) and I have both written about COBI tanks coming out of Poland. If you have a modeling urge, but do not have the workspace or materials for fine scale modeling, they are a less demanding alternative. While similar to LEGO products, LEGO has sworn they will never produce military based models (although some of their kits come close to crossing that line.) There are some kit producers who will provide custom kits assembled from LEGO pieces. While they seem to control scale fairly well, their prices are ridiculously high. COBI is a bit inconsistent when it comes to scale (this one at I believe 1/24), but their prices are half to a third of LEGO based sets. And often, as far as overall appearance, the COBI tanks come closer to the actual vehicles. I've written more detailed tutorials on some previous projects, so I am going to refer the reader to these on what it takes to build these sets. Even though these are built from blocks, they can be a challenge sometimes.
January 17, 20215 yr Author #3 A few more views of this project: A silhouette that our soldiers drilled to recognize.
January 17, 20215 yr Author #4 One thing evident even from the model is the length of the main gun. COBI, being a proud company in Poland, often makes their models of Soviet equipment with Polish markings as you see on the turret.
January 17, 20215 yr Author #5 Overhead view. Here you can see the anti-tank missile tube on the side of the turret. This replaced the Saggar missiles that used to ride atop earlier vehicles. The kit features a hatch to open the engine compartment, and a hatch for the driver's compartment.
January 17, 20215 yr Author #6 Another close up view. Interestingly, the Russian and Polish mini-figures are always smiling. One nice thing about COBI models is that while the treads have to be assembled one at a time, they are very solid and roll with ease. For those who want more information about the T-72, please see the following article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-72_operators_and_variants Thanks for reading.
January 18, 20215 yr #7 This is one of the finest COBI tanks I have seen so far. I think it´s because of the plain surface of the hull and the turret. It looks more than a "real" model than made of bricks, especially when regarding the silhouette. No wonder that the tank commander is smiling. A superb COBI model, thanks for sharing this project!
Create an account or sign in to comment