HobbyBoss 1/35 T-54 Medium Tank (84538)

This time we are going to check new kit - HobbyBoss 1/35 T-54 Medium Tank (84538). As you can guess from the name, plastic copies the famous Soviet tank in popular scale. Even though the plastic is completely fresh, there is no interior, what might make some modelers a bit more happy. Overall packaging is typical for the brand, so frames come in several bags. Let's open them and take a closer look together.

By the way, here you can read review with a way better T-54 in the same scale.
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Watch this video-review where I show all parts even closer.

I suggest we start with turret top section which is molded as one-piece part. Note that hatches are molded separately.

Lower hull section comes as one part too, and it is actually good as you will get the right alignment out of the box. Surface details looks good here.

Suspension arms are molded separately, so you can try to position them to suit your model base.

Top hull panel also looks nice and has some premolded features. Other items such as driver's hatch will be added separately.

Main gun barrel comes on the separate sprue. It looks nice out of the box, but experienced modelers would still want to replace it with metal analogue.

Fuel tanks and some minor items can be found on the next frame. Towing cable will be replicated with help of plastic loops

Plastic tracks are molded on the separate sprue. There is no assembly jig, so you will have to get them together by your own hands.

Roadwheels are molded as one-piece parts, and that means you will have to carefully paint rubber sections on them. Nevertheless, external features look decent for this scale.

There are surprisingly many small and thin parts. Some of those can be installed only with tweezers, as otherwise you can break or lose elements.

Engine bay cover and side skirts are molded as separate parts. Such design might be handy for modelers who usually paint tracks separately and then install on the model.

It is interesting to see that stowage boxes are molded as one-piece parts. Yes, they can be replicated only in closed version, but such thing will be easier to install.

Mantlet cover is made out of rubber-like material. Be sure to cover it with good primer for a better paintwork result.

Clear frame is packed into separate plastic bag. Molding quality looks great, but there are no masks or masking templates in the kit.

Here you can see small PE fret and metal wire which will be used for the towing cable on your model.

Another unpainted PE fret should be useful for fine features on the tank.

Decals sheet is not that big, but you will find all necessary symbols there. Printing quality looks great.

Marking guide is printed in color. You can see all options on the photo below.

Separate 3D image shows all the features of today's model.

Assembly manual is printed in black-and-white format. You can check all pages in the video-review.

New tank kit should be already available for purchase in all good models shops. In my opinion it looks fine, but the price is something what would make you consider other options. Yes, molding quality is good and details look nice too, but other brands manage to offer more features out of the box. Moreover, some of the interior features will still be needed with open hatches, so it is better to get something a bit more sophisticated. Well, today's set is better for beginners, who are not ready for huge part counts, but want to have T-54 in their collection.

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