Trumpeter 1/35 T-62 box art
 
Well, we have a 'new kit on the block'  as the 1/35 Trumpeter T-62 Model 1962 arrives.  Up until now we had to put up with the old Tamiya one, which just wasn't quite right I'm afraid.  I've only looked at it in the box, but this one from Trumpeter looks very nice indeed.  It's nicely detailed but does not appear to be an over complex build, and I suspect they may do other variants in time.
 
The lower hull is a one piece moulding, but neatly detailed, even underneath (as you can see in the album photo below).  The tracks are individual links, all of which need to be removed from the sprues plus a couple of small moulding pips on each link.  Hence a fair bit of cleaning up to do if you use the kit track.  Liking the individual links is very much a question of personal taste, but it is popular with many and they are neatly detailed.
 
Other points that struck me on opening the box was the nice looking shape to the turret, along with the inclusion of a turned aluminium gun barrel (there is a plastic alternative if you want it), some braided copper wire for the tow cable and seperate black 'tyres' for the roadwheels.  This is their quite shiny black vinyl, so paint doesn't like it much, but the idea of being able to paint the roadwheels and then add the tyres is not a bad way of doing it, and making it easier for the modeller to paint.  I wouldn't be surprised to see some resin alternatives come onto the scene, but these look OK.  Then the lenses for the various lights are clear plastic, again a nice change from a lot of older models.
 
For a plain green finish which is suggested, for a Russian operated machine, the transfer sheet is mainly white numbers, though there is a little bit of colour with the Guards unit badges.  Overall it looks rather good, but the 'proof of the pudding' as they say will be in the making.  Part of the attraction I guess for some of us is having grown up amidst the Cold War period.  Then tanks like T-55, T-62 and later T-72 were the bogeymen, and we never saw tem.  then they were in action in the Middle East, and since then the Gulf.  So now I have seen the real thing, including an ex-Syrian one in the Budge Collection many years ago, another from the Gulf at Bovington, and another at Shrivenham 'given' to them from Germany I think.   It's one I will certainly go out and buy to do myself at some point.
 
Thanks to Pocketbond for our example, who are the UK importers.

For more details of the Trumpeter range, see