FEATURE ARTICLE

Trumpeter 1:35 T-80UM2 ‘Black Eagle’ conversion • Kit No. 05566

Przemyslaw Stelmach adds a shaggy turret camouflage net to his Trumpeter’s 1:35 scale T-80UM2 ‘Black Eagle’ conversion.

One of the most interesting Russian armoured fighting vehicle designs to come out of the 1990s was the presumed prototype fourth generation main battle tank designated as Object 640 and better known under the business name “Black Eagle”.

A production version of this tank has never been publicly demonstrated, but two different prototypes were presented at military trade fairs: one that combined the Object 640 turret and a T-80U hull and another which was based on a modified and lengthened T-80U hull, with seven pairs of road wheels instead of the original six pairs.

The latter was the subject of the model scratch built by my friend Rafal Bulanda, so when he gifted me a resin casting of the turret he had created, I decided to use it for building the prototype based on the shorter chassis, which is sometimes designated as T-80UM-2.

It took me a while to select an appropriate donor kit for the hull, but I eventually went for Trumpeter’s 1:35 T-80BV (Kit No. 05566).

Construction

In accordance with the photos I had found, I determined the differences between the BV and U variants and began the conversion process of the hull. The rear hull tub was detailed with photo-etched parts and pieces of 0,75mm styrene sheet. The use of a thicker styrene sheet than theoritically needed allowed for easier adjustment of the created details to the correct shape.