Eastern Express 1/35 T-20 'Komsomolets' Artillery Tractor - Inbox Review

[Dave Ward]

The T-20 was developed in the late 30's as a field gun tractor It had a crew of 2 & could carry 6 passengers - who must have been pretty miserable, whatever the weather! Over 5000 were made & they served through WWII. They towed all sorts of gear, from cargo trailers, to field kichens & anti-tank guns.
Eastern Express is just one of the Russian makers to box this - originally by AER Moldova in 1994, it has been reboxed by 5 different makers, this dating from around 2008. Much more recent 1/35 modes have been made by HobbyBoss & Mirror Models.


A flimsy box, not a lot in it!

Only 3 spues - the hull

Running gear...................

Tracks.
Therunning gear & track sprues are flash free, but the hull sprue suffers quite a lot of flash

Most of it is on the edge of flat parts, no problem to clean up.



The link & length tracks will be a PITA to remove from the sprues and assemble.
The instructions are on one side of A4 paper................

That's it - no decals, no colour call outs ( unless they're missing fom my box ). It looks makeable, only the tracks will cause problems!. Colour will be 4BO1 A bit of dry fitting &adjustment no doubt, but nothing disastrous.
Availability? Yes, but if you can get the HobbyBoss model for under £12, why would you? Mine has been in the stash for many years - an ebay auction win.
I have dug it out of the stash, because I came across these 3D printable models

Which would go nicely with the tractor
Dave

[David Lovell]

Seems a good reason to pull it from the stash ,kit doesn't look too bad either one of thoes that with a little tlc should be a alright build ,if you do please keep us in the loop on both counts ,your 3d printing adventures and building the kit if done as one intresting where admin want you to put it . Dave

[Jim R]

Strange looking vehicle Dave. Doesn't look too bad a kit although Eastern Express aren't the best. Either of your 3D finds would make a nice addition.

[JR]

Made the Mirror Model version some time back . Had to do it as a wreak , the tracks were so small just defeated me.
Did it with a gun and ammo trailor in tow . All shot up in a ditch .
There's another version with a Zis gun on it .
Don't think you will have a problem with the build .