I've been waiting years for this kit, and Amusing Hobby (AH) didn't disappoint. This is a very large tank compared to other Soviet or Russian tanks of this era. AH did a great job engineering the kit, including molding all of the turret reactive armor onto the top and bottom halves of the turret. The kit goes together very quickly despite the vehicle's very busy surfaces. I highly recommend the kit if you like modern Russian armor.
I’ve had my eye on this for a bit; I remember when it was first vaunted, and that some (most?) was mocked up - but that didn’t matter to me - it looked the business! Remember those murky, distant pics:
I got the kit, and it is as you say. Exceptional engineering, fit, and details. If any kit was ever going to score a 10, this one would be in the running.
I haven’t seen any of this kit but I recently got my hands on AH’s Leo2A8 along with RFM’s 2A7V. They are chalk & cheese. I’m a little p@$$#d with myself for getting the 2A8 as the detail & quality compared to the 2A7V is a bit ordinary. Suffice to say, I will think long & hard before touching another Amusing Hobby kit.
Well, I must just say that I thought their Conqueror and ARL models were pretty decent kits. They also seem to do stuff that no one else does - always a bonus in my view; nothing much wrong with the build on the two mentioned above.
I’ve built 4 Amusing Hobby kits, and I never built one I didn’t like. I have more in the stash and I look forward to building those. IMHO Amusing Hobby kits are outstanding in engineering, fit, and detail. I’ve never encountered a problem with assembly. The Black Eagle kit looks beautiful in the box, and I anticipate another excellent build with it.
It was the USSR’s M1A1 answer. Deemed too expensive, it was only produced as a demonstrator. Eventually several of the systems were used for the T-90. The Black Eagle and T-90 are both T-72 based, and share all of the shortcomings of that tank. Except that the Black Eagle had turret bustle ammo stowage, so avoided the jack-in-the-box feature
