COBI T-72 (East Germany/Soviet) Set 2625

COBI's T-72 is a 1:35 model built from 680 blocks, 27.5 cm long, with moving wheels and tracks, a rotating turret, a movable gun and an opening turret hatch. An East German tank crewman in printed camouflage is included, along with two sets of markings — East German and Soviet — and a printed nameplate.

How NATO finally got to look inside one

For twenty years Western intelligence studied the T-72 from photographs, defector accounts and the occasional example captured in the Middle East. Then Germany reunified, and the Bundeswehr inherited the entire National People's Army — including more than 500 T-72s, their manuals, their spare parts, their maintenance records and the men who had been trained on them.

It was the most complete look any Western army had ever had at a front-line Soviet tank. The vehicles were tested, stripped, shot at on ranges, and the findings distributed among NATO members. A number were sold on; some ended up as targets, and others went to museums and to armies that still wanted them.

The East German tanks themselves were withdrawn quickly. A reunified Germany had no use for two incompatible tank fleets, and the T-72's ammunition, training and doctrine all pointed the wrong way.

In the COBI range

Set 2624 is the Polish M1R modernisation in Polish and Ukrainian markings.

Specifications

Pieces: 680 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:35 · Two marking options
Model dimensions: 27.5 × 11.5 × 11 cm (10.8 × 4.5 × 4.3 in)