BT7 Soviet Light Tank (Re-Issue)

This kit from Zvezda produces a nice rendition of the Soviet BT-7/7PT M1935 Light Tank. The tread system is of the molded sectional type, with no option for any long rubber strip variety. The BT series vehicles were produced to be either ran on the tread system, or optionally able to drive/steer on just the roadwheels. The kit contains fender stowage tie-down straps to be used optionally with the tread sections stowed on the fender during roadwheel use, or 4 of the long, rectangular external fuel tanks for when tread is in use. The turret is identical to that used on their BT-5/5PT kits, but although the BT-7 units had a slight increase to the various frontal, side and turret armor, on a 1/35 scale 4-5mm of extra armor thickness is quite hard to discern. The vehicle is correct/accurate in the rounding of the front hull bow and leading areas of the front fenders, diverging a little from the BT-5 style. The engine deck's cooling flaps and protective screen items are detailed better than what is generally found in most BT series kits, in that the protective screen is made up of some actual see-through plastic screen attached to the item's framework, allowing limited visibility through to the underlying cooling flaps. For the amount of detailing that went into a re-issue kit, they did miss one item that gave me a little consternation. The upper hull rear long, rectangular stowage box is not detailed at all, and just looks like some kind of 5-sided feature on that part of the hull. The rest of the vehicle is nicely detailed in its various hinges/latches, but the stowage box seems to have been overlooked. Overall, the kit is of good quality and is nicely detailed, and I would recommend it to others.