Tamiya

1/35 Soviet SU-122 Tank Destroyer w/weathering powders

Kit Number: 35093

Reviewed by  Robert Scott, IPMS# 46127

MSRP: $38.00 Website: www.tamiyausa.com This kit is a reissue with Tamiya weathering powders for Russian tanks. In the box: You will find four sprues; metal axles, two vinyl tracks and one part poly caps. There are 4 sets of markings: SU-122 603 SU-122 418 White SU-122 320 White SU-122 319 White Building the kit Some gaps will need to be filled, but that's to be expected with a kit this old. The chassis needs to have the holes for the RC version filled. Parts E5 & E6 broke off; I used copper wire as a replacement. So far everything is going together very nicely.

Painting and decaling the kit Painting the road wheels is a bit of a headache, so I painted the rubber portion black first, and then used a circle template to paint the road wheels, using Model Master Enamel FS34079 Dark Green. For the base color of the tank, I used my own mix of browns and rust to paint the tracks. I painted the tank in FS34079 Dark Green overall. I then used a drybrushing technique, using gunmetal to highlight the worn spots on the tracks. I decided to attach 2 sticks instead of fuel tanks, and went with tank number 603. Other than that, and a flat coat of Model Master Flat lacquer, it was ready for weathering.

Weathering the kit and over all evaluation I used a stiff brush to apply the Tamiya weathering powders to the model. In the end, there were no real fit issues; it went together very well. All in all, a very good kit. Thanks to Tamiya USA and John Noack for supplying the kit.