Soviet T-35 Heavy Tank

Ron Garcia
Pretty easy kit to build. Much easier than Hobby Boss's T-28. The running gear is much simpler and the kit has link and length tracks vs individual tracks for the T-28. PE was reasonable. However, there is a section that wants you to add very tiny PE strips on the running gear. Looked very tedious and since a plate covered it, why bother? Tricky to paint because PE "straps" fold down from the fender to the armor plating covering the running gear leaving a decent sized gap. I painted the tracks, running gear, and armored plate first, assembled and added them to the kit, and then I finished the rest of the model. I painted the PE straps over the tracks by hand. I decided not to add the optional antenna since I wanted a cleaner look. Instead of the parade stripes (at least I think that's what they're there for) I simply added a red star to each side. Copper wire is provided for the two cables. My question is, "Why?" They don't drape over anything, the cable ends are plastic anyway, and it is tricky to match the length of both. Plastic would have been so much easier for the entire thing. The finished kit is very long and dwarfs my other Soviet tanks of that era. Pretty unique tank - five turrets (!) - that I would easily recommend for any modeler with a little bit of experience using PE and interested in early WW II Soviet armor.