Matt Reeves Trumpeter T-62 preview

Being one of the most important combat vehicles on the planet, the T-62 needs no introduction. Like many Braillers, I had griped for years about the lack of a viable T-62 in The One True Scale. Esci had made what they called a 1/72 T-62 years ago that was so terrible as to be pretty much worthless. ACE made several T-62 variants that were accurate and well-detailed, but as with most of their earlier limited-run releases, the molding was terrible and required a lot of work or aftermarket parts. A few months ago, I had built Trumpeter's SA-6 Gainful. This model had its flaws but it looked like a SA-6, and I loved it. It featured tracks and running gear molded in one piece, but was finely detailed and saved a lot of build time. So when Trumpeter announced their 1/72 T-62 Model 1962, I was so overjoyed that I bought three of them. I sat down at the bench, and two hours later had a completed model. Though I now had a 1/72 T-62, I was no longer overjoyed.. and what follows explains why. Like most of Trumpeter's 1/72 kits, the box art shows a photo of a completed model. I say a completed model, rather than the completed model, because the photo is of a model built from a different kit. As in Trumpeter's 1/35 T-62. That model looks very nice, and doesn't appear to have many of the defects as the one in the box. Hang on, because this deception only portends the frustration to come.
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Suspension The running gear is actually very nice, with excellent detail. There are some odd ridges and 'plates' on some of the roadwheels that can be removed with careful sanding. The idlers and a couple of the roadwheels have sprue attachment points that are irritating to sand off but are no problem.
Oddly, Trumpeter have provided the interior halves of the running gear as separate parts; the sprocket and idler halves glue directly to the tracks, but the interior roadwheels have to go on the suspension arms first. There are small attachment points that have to be aligned inside the hubs. I had to work quickly to ensure everything was aligned before the glue dried, but it wasn't a problem.
The track guide horns are well-done except where they touch the roadwheels; the nice, thin guide horns give way to blocks that resemble the tracks on S-Models kits. However, I can live with this.
The tracks are a bit of a disappointment. They are the OMSh type, typical of early T-62s, and the outside of the links are nicely detailed; however, the interior side of the track links have zero detail. And as the exterior faces of the road wheels, idlers, and sprockets are molded onto the track runs, forget buying any aftermarket tracks unless you also buy the entire running gear as well. You'll need to carve the interior detail or hide them with mud.
Lower hull The mine-clearing equipment brackets on the lower bow are well-done, with nice bolt detail. It is missing two small cleats, however, and there should be square holes in the two lower plates, whereas Trumpeter has molded them flat.
The U-shaped brackets extending from the hull sides out to above the tracks are nicely done.
The rear hull has some weirdness going on. The details are generally well-done, but the horns are missing. There are three small holes to the left of the cooling fan. The instruction drawings show these holes, but don't indicate a part to go there. The real vehicle has nothing on this part of the rear hull, so just fill these holes in.
The external fuel drums are a disappointment. Maddeningly, the drums are molded in halves; but even Revell does this on their T-72, T-80s, and T-90, and I can't fault Trumpeter for molding limitations. Revell got around the problem by molding the drums as four parts – two for the drums themselves, and two round plates to go on the ends. This way, you don't eat into the raised detail when you clean up the seam. However, Trumpeter ignored this altogether and didn't bother to even add the raised detail to the drum ends. Moreover, the drum halves don't align well, even with the locater pins shaved off, and the mounting brackets and straps have no detail.
Upper Hull Beginning at the glacis, we again see a mixed bag. The blackout and infrared lights are well-done, but there is no headlight guard provided! There are no springs for the fenders, and no horns either. The fuel tank caps on the bow are well-done, and the electrical leads, as well as mine-clearing equipment brackets, are present. The driver's hatch is missing a bit of electrical plumbing, but that's an easy fix.
The fender boxes are generally accurate, but are missing bracket and clamp details, and again, there are no horns.
And now the most maddening feature of this kit. The turret fillet on the real T-62 is shaped a bit like a scallop, gracefully arcing down to the fender, with some rectangular brackets on top. Trumpeter, for whatever reason, decided to make this a solid lump of plastic, with sides perpendicular to the fenders rather than concave! In order to fix this, you'd need to carve them off completely and rob some from an ACE kit or fab your own. Hell, you might even be able to simulate a shadow with some careful oil painting. However, if you decide to reshape the turret fillets, you'll lose some brackets and the molded-on spare tracks on the fender. And again, Trumpeter knew better because part of the spares is hidden in the incorrectly-shaped turret fillets!
The exhaust port has no detail. The real thing had an oval-shaped opening with a rim secured by bolts. Trumpeter has molded this as a flat piece with zero bolt detail.
The starboard fuel panniers are well-done, but have zero plumbing and are also missing brackets and clamps.
Moving on to the engine deck, sigh we again have a mixed bag. The grating texture on the grills is well-done, but inaccurate, and the grates are missing ribs. Again, Trumpeter missed a ton of small details here. Note also there are no tow cable parts provided.
	Turret The gun barrel itself is well-done, though it lacks bolt detail on the shrouds, but the mount is very bad. The L2G searchlight doesn't fit well onto the turret, and the connecting arm to the main gun is non-existent in this kit, as is the plate that connects it to the gun just forward of the canvas shroud. There's some nice detail on the barrel here, but again, it's redundant because there should be a part covering it! Also, there is no wiring detail under the L2G light. The coaxial gun is molded into its port, which I can live with, but there is no detail around the port itself. Some filler will be needed on top of the canvas shroud, and there is no bolt detail on its cover plate.
On the port side, there is a vision port that shows raised detail in the instructions, but is barely visible on the kit.
The most glaring omission here is the very prominent stowage rails on the turret sides! Granted that most modelers replace these parts with wire anyway, but Trumpter didn't even bother to add them. Moving on to the upper turret, the gunner's periscope is nicely done but appears a bit too recessed into the turret. The radio mount is so thick it looks more like a flagpole. Easily replaced with stretched sprue or thin styrene rod.
The commander's hatch is nicely done, but has a solid lump of plastic in place of an actual grab handle. The loader's hatch likewise suffers from this failing, but is easily corrected with wire. Moving down to the rear turret, the shell ejector port is nicely done, but small details like grab handles, marker lights, and lifting horns are non-existent. Also there are no stowage rails on the lower part of the turret. Note also there is no cast texture on the turret.
Decals Decals are a series of white Soviet-style numbers, the typical Guards symbols, and some odd white symbol. Of course, there is no description in the instructions of what particular vehicles the markings represent. The decals are a bit of a let-down, as the T-62 has seen service all across Asia, Africa, and even Cuba.
Summary My verdict on this kit is that it's more incomplete than inaccurate. It's not terrible but cannot be built into a presentable T-62 out of the box. It's light years ahead of the old Esci offering, but even the limited-run ACE kits, with their horrible molding and unusable tracks, have some not insignificant advantages over Trumpeter here. I have no background in business or the manufacturing world, but I am scratching my head over what Trumpeter was thinking here. Were they trying to beat ModelCollect in getting a 1/72 T-62 on the market? Did they intend this to be a wargaming piece? Even on a wargaming piece, I would expect to see at least the stowage rails, the presence of which just scream Soviet armor. Trumpeter's 1/35 kit of the same vehicle is exquisite and blows the old Tamiya offering out of the water, though, to be fair, that's no great feat. With Trumpeter having announced the later versions of the T-62, I won't be expecting a helluva lot from them. If you're looking for an accurate out-of-the-box build, I don't recommend this kit. If you want a base to practice your scratchbuilding skills, which honestly won't require much, then this is a great kit. Reference : Soviet T-62 Main Battle Tank, by Michael D. Bishop & Patrick A. Stansell, Grenadier Publishing, 1990 Thanks to my friend Joel Pic for providing the kits. This model can be purchased from

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Article Last Updated: 22 March 2018