by Ric Walters

This article appeared in the January 1996 issue of Boresight

CMD has provided two affordable "up grades" to help personalize your Tamiya T72 Ml (Kit 35160).

The first is the extremely simple to work with Six Spoke Wheel Set. These resin castings are designed to represent the wheels used on T72s manufactured since the mid-to-late '80s. CMD packages these wheels in two separate offerings, a six wheel set or a complete twelve wheel set. The six wheel set is offered to represent a field modified vehicle that has a mixture of the original eight spoke and the newer six spoke wheels, as illustrated in photos of Iraq armor during the Gulf War. The twelve wheel set can be used to depict a factory fresh, modernized T72.

The wheel castings are sharp and wel defined. Installation of the resin replacements consists of inserting the Tamiya poly washer in between the two halves of a CMD wheel assembly and super gluing the halves together. The wheel will then press onto the original Tamiya axle. This simplifles painting the wheels and suspension a it allows the wheels to be removed if desired. It also allows the wheels, if left on the vehicle, to be rotated while painting the rubber tires.

CMD's second offering for the Tamiya T72 is a poseable scraper blade to replace the one-piece assembly supplied with th kit. This manually operated device allow the vehicle crew to form a protective berm by pushing dirt into a pile in front of th tank. While effectual against HE and th like, the Iraqis discovered that this technique was not very effective when a Depleted Uranium Kinetic Energy Round wa used as it came through the berm, The blade the glacis, the vehicle, and exited the rear plate. The twenty piece CMD kit contains a replacement lower hull glacis plate, the scraper blade, blade radius arms, replacement channels for the arms, hinges, bolts, and blade locking swivels. The castings are beautifully executed. To prep them, all I had to do was use a minuscule amount of putty to repair a small nick at the tip of one of the blade teeth.

Installation requires removing the molded on radius arm channels from the bottom of the hull. I used flush-cut nippers and sand paper. The instructions are clear as to where and how to attach the replacements. Assembly is straightforward and well defined on the two-sided, illustrated instruction sheet. There is even a measuring guide printed along the edge of the instruction sheet to aid in locating the radius arm channels. I glued my blade in a lowered
position. The only change I made from the instructions was to cut the heads off the hinge bolts and super-glue them on after everything else was in place. I found this easier than drilling out the hinge holes and trying to fit the shaft of so diminutive a casting into the hole. After everything was positioned, I installed the radius arms in their respective pivot points on the blade and into the hull channels.

I also used CMD's (CMD- 11) Aluminum mesh screen on the engine vent assembly instead of the bogus fiber material supplied with the kit. This material is easier to work with than brass mesh.

CMD's products really dress up the Tamiya T72. I have never been disappointed by a product purchased from this company. I also find that I use these products, unlike the initially great-looking but later-to-be~discovered inaccurate offerings by several other larger resin manufacturers.

If I might digress, I also ended up making the smoke projector wiring harness and conduit fittings that were partially represented on the kit turret. I could have gone nuts and bought some very expensive time-consuming after-market addons to replace many details on this kit. Since I like to delude myself into thinking I can complete more than one kit a year, I chose not to spend the additional time and effort. My point is - why I should have to add/replace details on a model that retails for nearly $50.00, particularly when it was touted in several reviews for being so "completely detailed?"