SU-85/SU-122

SU-85: Eastern Express Kit# 72014; AER Kit # 7214; Toga Kit # 261; Cooperativa Kit # 72014

SU-122: Eastern ExpressKit # 72015

These two kits are almostidentical, and are thus treated to a combined Preview. These werethe first T-34 chassis kits released by Eastern Express, and theyalso form the basis for their new T-34/76 kits. The models aredistributed by Eastern Express, but are actually produced by acompany in Samara, Russia, which has no affiliation with AER.Thus, their kits are completely different from the earlier AERmodels. AER does, however, also market some of these kit undertheir own label as well. Sky-High is another distributor whichalso markets these kits.

Because these kits shareseveral sprues of parts, there are often many unused pieces ineach kit. The first scan is of the SU-122 hull and associatedparts:

This next scan is theSU-85 hull, which shows the detail a little better:

These kits are extremelyfinely molded, and are some of the best small scale modelsmarketed today. The detail is exceptionally well done, althoughthere are a few points about the kits I don't like. For example,all the hull hatches are molded shut, with the exception of thedriver's view hatch. I imagine that someday soon, we will betreated to T-34 engines and interior detail sets from anafter-market company, but it will be difficult to open up thesemodels to show the interiors. Also, the shovel on the rightfender could have been molded separately. According to thereference material listed in the T-34 article, these kits scaleout very well to 1/72nd. The hull width is spot-on, but thelength is a tad bit short, by about 1.5mm. Although if you linethem up immediately adjacent to an ESCI or AER kit you can see asmall difference in length, it won't be noticeable if they arenot right next to each other.

The above scan shows thehull bottom, which also includes the 85mm gun for the SU-85. Theremainder of the SU-85 gun mantle is provided on the wheel spruebelow. The wheels are the early, sold disk, rubber tire style,and although the hubs are not pronounced enough, I feel thatthese are better wheels than those included in the ESCI T-34/76Model 1942 kit. They have very good bolt detail around the rims,and the perforated rubber tires are very good.

The wheel axles are moldedonto the hull sides, like all T-34 kits, and are a little flat,but at least the spacing is correct. The spare fuel drums arebest replaced with scratch-built or after-market items. All ofthe other details are very well done, such as the gun mantlets,mufflers, siren and headlight. The driver's hatch has detailmolded onto the inside which is nice, but there is no interiordetail to the hull. The spare track links for the hull front lookfantastic, and are a nice touch, but unfortunately, you need touse them for the tracks runs around the wheels, becauseotherwise, the tracks won't be long enough.

The tracks are the hardplastic, link and length style, and represent the finest T-34tracks available. The detail is magnificent, inside and out,although the hinges between each separate link need to be cleanedup a bit to make them fit with one another, a task which can bevery tedious. As I mentioned above, there are not enough tracklinks to make the track run long enough to fit around the wheels.I haven't counted the number of links included, because I don'tknow how many were on the real thing, so I don't know if it's amatter of simply not having enough links, or if the links are abit too narrow. Regardless, as I said above, you'll have toscavenge the spare links which are meant for the hull, to add tothe track runs to make them long enough.

The various decals sheetsare fairly comprehensive, each giving several different markingoptions. They are printed in single colors, so registration isnot a problem, and although the carrier film is spread over mostof the sheet, it is very thin and with a matte surface texture.They look like they should be pretty decent decals, although Ihaven't tried them yet. Note that it is sometimes variablewhether or not you even get decals in the kit. I've bought somethat have decals included, others that do not.

These are excellentmodels, and I highly recommend them. You can see my constructionreview of the SU-122 here .