Hobby Boss US T29E1 Heavy Tank (#84510)

Hobby Boss is no stranger to the world of Paper Panzers (vehicles only produced in drawing or prototype form) with a considerable and still growing range of World War II era German vehicles. The T29E1 marks Hobby Boss's first steps into the world of US experimental heavy tanks with other variants already announced. The T29 was initially designed during 1944 with prototypes entering production during 1945. Eight T29 prototypes were eventually delivered of 3 subtypes E1, E2 and E3.

On first encountering the kit I was surprised at the size of the box, it is considerably larger than most other 1/35 armour boxes but on opening the box we find that plenty of room was left allowed for part not to be damaged in packing with some sprues having foam wrapping around delicate parts. Of note are no transparent parts and that while the kit contains over 1000 parts around 2/3's of these are for the workable tracks (3 parts per link with 113 links per side), leaving a manageable 340ish (from a quick count) parts for the hull and turret. Minimal markings are supplied, these being of tank type and year. If the builder would like to show a fantasy vehicle in service or as a version from Wargaming.net's World of Tanks then additional after market markings will need to be sourced.
Bobby Boss's T29E1's box size compared to MENG's  T-72B3 box which is of more average dimensions.
Box on opening.
Parts breakdown includes
  • 4x Sprue A, which mostly includes parts for the running Gear
  • 2x Sprue B, including parts for both Running gear and Hull
  • Sprue C which contains both hull and turret parts.
  • Sprue D, Hull parts
  • Sprue E, 2 part Barrel
  • 8x Sprue, Tracks
  • Upper Hull
  • Lower Hull
  • Upper Turret
  • Small Decal Sheet

Areas of Note
  • Cast texture is provided on turret but is fine and possibility exists of it being covered by heavy paint or weathering.
  • Road, idler and drive wheels use plastic washers not the more common polycap style, unknown if this will cause any problems.
  • While casting detail is of good quality it remains behind that of higher quality (and higher priced) kits in many areas,
Construction is straight forward in 18 steps over 12 pages with the instructions being well laid out and not rushed.
Overall I'd say this an excellent kit for the Price with some online retailers selling it for $20-25 USD plus postage (mine cost just shy of $49 AUD inc. delivery, about $37USD). Even considering the parts count/track construction as the rest of the kit should be an easy build I'd rate this kit from the novice to the experienced builder alike.