Build Review of MENG TS-060 T-72B3M Model Kit

MENG TS-060 T-72B3M Build Review & Assembly Experience

MENG model T-90/T-72 kit comes with a suspension adjuster. The one originally included in the kit, paired with the remaining adjuster from a previous build, makes a pair, used to level and fix the suspension on both sides of the hull.

According to my personal building habits, the first and last suspension groups are directly glued and fixed, while the middle suspension parts retain their movable structure. This ensures both a stable hull stance and preserves the movable effect of the working suspension.

The road wheel assemblies are very easy to work with. They come with rubber sleeves, and after assembly, the wheels can rotate normally.

For the tracks, I chose the black tracks that had already been completed in a previous build, and used them directly for this build.

After installing the tracks, I adjusted the length, leaving one link of slack so the tracks would not be too taut.

After the tracks were installed, I leveled the road wheels again and calibrated their ground contact to ensure an even stance for the whole vehicle.

Next came the upper hull assembly. I joined and fixed the upper and lower hulls to ensure the basic strength of the hull. Besides improving hull stability and preventing deformation, this also allows subsequent parts installation to be carried out on a complete hull, avoiding accidental contact with parts during assembly and preventing interference between components.

The upper hull parts are not very difficult to assemble. One key point to note here: for the front mudguard of the fender, use the new version part with reactive armor style, not the two old-style ordinary mudguards on sprue A.

There are also several blocks of square reactive armor that need to be installed on both sides of the top of the upper front hull armor. It is recommended to drill holes for these parts in advance. If you choose not to drill and install them directly, be sure to carefully compare the part positions during installation to avoid part interference or improper installation.

The 2022 version upper front hull armor is equipped with K5 reactive armor, not the 2025 version's Relikt armor, and the corresponding light mount is also the old-style circular light mount. During installation, pay attention to the front and rear joining positions. It is recommended to lightly drill at the hull positioning points to enhance the bonding strength between the light mount and the hull.

One of the rear mudguards on the hull needs to use the new version part. When assembling, be sure to pay attention to the part number and do not pick the wrong one.

There is another detail on the rear mudguard: the part number corresponding to Q38 is C22. This part needs to be taken from two different sprues, so do not miss it during assembly.

For this rear protective armor plate, you can adjust the assembly sequence during installation.

The rear hull protective armor plate has connecting parts. During installation, it is recommended to adjust the assembly sequence: first install the four parts C11, C12, C13, and C14 onto C21, and then assemble the group of connecting parts from C28 to C40.

Most of the Relikt armor work on the sides of the hull is repetitive assembly. One thing to note: the five front armor blocks on each side need to be paired left and right. The remaining parts basically have no special points.

After assembly, the Relikt armor parts for the skirt panels are rather scattered. It is recommended to first lay them out and arrange their order on the hull, then use thin cement to fix them in groups at the bottom, dividing the whole into five units. This makes subsequent painting, final assembly, and display of the finished model easier.

As can be seen, the entire set of Relikt reactive armor has been aligned and glued in advance at the corresponding positions on the skirt panels, and the whole thing is divided into five independent units.

For the turret, I chose the flat-fire style gun shield. During construction, I adjusted the gun barrel upward by about 20 degrees to make later display and photography of the finished model easier.

The armor parts on top of the turret are numerous and of many different styles. Before installation, you need to repeatedly check their positions against the instructions before assembling.

The front turret armor has already been installed. On the left front armor, I initially misread the parts and installed them incorrectly. I only discovered the problem in the later stages of the build and then corrected it.

After the turret reactive armor is assembled, the remaining hatches, anti-aircraft machine gun, and other accessory parts can be assembled step by step according to the instructions. Both the commander's and gunner's hatches can be modified into working hatches. When doing this step, pay attention to the amount of glue used to avoid glue overflow locking the movable structure.

When drilling holes in the turret to install the drone roof, note that the mounting holes themselves are on the large side. Before drilling, use the roof support to compare and position first. Do not enlarge the holes too much, or the roof support may not be fixed firmly after installation and may wobble loosely.

The anti-drone roof support on top of the turret is only a standalone support structure in this version. It is the factory style and does not yet include a matching protective net.

Installing the protective net for the drone roof is very simple. Just align the position and apply glue directly. The positioning holes of the parts line up very accurately.

After the protective net is installed, it will be slightly deformed. There is no need to rush to fix it in advance. When the whole thing is installed on the hull, because the hull parts will interfere, it will need to be adjusted again at that time.

When installing the drone roof with protective net onto the turret, the protective net will slightly interfere with some turret parts during assembly, requiring repeated fine adjustment and alignment with tweezers. In reality, protective nets are flexible materials, but model photo-etched protective nets are highly rigid. During adjustment, pay attention to part interference, and when handling the photo-etched protective net, also be careful to avoid bumping, dropping, or damaging the parts.

After installation, it was found that the photo-etched mesh at the bottom of the rear turret armor slightly interferes with the engine deck cover. This needs attention when rotating and handling the turret.

When everything was installed on the hull for a mock-up and photographs, I discovered that the left front armor had been installed incorrectly. I then honestly corrected the installation.

I began installing the photo-etched protective net on the upper front turret armor. During installation, it needs to be aligned with the two positioning points at the front of the front armor, and positioned and fitted segment by segment.

Because the front armor has slight deformation error after assembly, the photo-etched protective net cannot be completely fitted directly. During installation, the photo-etched part needs moderate fine adjustment and slight bending correction according to the actual fit, so that the protective net can completely and snugly adapt to the shape of the upper front turret armor.

Installing the drone roof on top of the turret requires drilling four relatively large mounting holes in the turret. The kit also thoughtfully includes five support base plugs. If you do not install the drone roof, you can use these parts to plug the drilled holes and restore the complete appearance of the turret.

The kit includes a full set of corresponding replacement parts and hole-plugging parts. Whether adding armor components, removing armor, or choosing whether to use the drone roof structure, the parts for each configuration do not interfere with one another and are fully compatible. After switching, there will be no traces or impact on the overall appearance of the hull or turret, preserving the model's completeness, with extremely high playability and reusability.

This T-72B3M model has a smooth build process, with no particularly complex or difficult structural problems, and the overall difficulty is friendly.

Through the combination of new and old sprues, plus movable tracks, working suspension, and movable turret hatches and other movable structures, the kit offers an excellent handling experience. The newly molded parts show excellent detail; a few of the inherited old-version sprues have flash that needs sanding during construction.

The amount of photo-etch used on the hull is very restrained. Only five photo-etched mesh parts need to be installed, greatly reducing the burden of basic assembly. The other accessories, such as the turret armor and anti-drone roof protective net photo-etch, have moderate bending toughness and good shape retention, with low difficulty in alignment and fitting, making overall assembly very worry-free. The photo-etched mesh at the bottom of the rear turret Relikt reactive armor slightly interferes with the engine deck cover. When handling and rotating the turret, pay attention to avoid scratches that could damage parts. This model has a large number of sprues and heavily reuses classic old-version sprue structures.

Therefore, during construction, it is often necessary to take parts across multiple sprues, and some configuration changes and structural replacements also require new and old parts to be assembled together. This requires carefully checking part numbers against the instructions during construction to avoid picking the wrong parts or missing installations. The turret is the area of the whole vehicle that requires the most patience: the positioning holes for the reactive armor on top of the turret are dense, and the armor sub-parts are numerous with complicated numbering, making it very easy to install them incorrectly, backwards, or omit them. During this build, I also made an armor alignment mistake due to carelessness. Fortunately, the kit structure allows rework, and it could be smoothly disassembled and corrected in the later stages without causing irreversible damage.

Next issue, let's take a look at the OOB Review of TAKOM 1/35 Naval Gun H/PJ45 - TAKOM 2189

The above content is translated from the WeChat Official Account of moxingfans - Static Model Enthusiast, moxingfans.com – Scale Model Fans, a veteran vertical website for static military scale models launched in late 2014, with nearly 12 years of operation. It mainly focuses on armoured fighting vehicle subjects.