Mirage Hobby 1/35 Tank T-50 Aplic Armor (35106)

The T-50 was one of the most sophisticated light tanks in the world when it entered Soviet service in 1941 — well-armoured for its class, fast, and designed with sloped armour that presaged the principles the T-34 was simultaneously demonstrating on a larger scale. Had it been produced in the numbers originally planned, the T-50 might have formed the core of a genuinely capable Soviet light armour force. Instead, the industrial disruption of Operation Barbarossa and the evacuation of Soviet factories eastward meant that only around 70 were completed before production was cancelled in favour of concentrating resources on the T-34 and T-60. The few T-50s that reached the front fought in the desperate battles of late 1941 and 1942, a brief operational career that left this excellent design largely unknown outside specialist circles. Mirage Hobby's 1/35 kit gives this overlooked tank the attention it deserves.

The Soviet light tank that should have been everywhere — the T-50's brief and little-known combat career.