This is an in-box review of the "new" Italeri kit 36508, which is the Chinese medium Type 59. Since I play World of Tanks I will angle my review from that point of view.
The infamous Type 59:
The kit is a collaboration between Italeri and Wargaming (World of Tanks, World of Warplanes etc.) and the subject is the infamous Type 59.
The Type 59 (or just "Type" - everyone in-game knows that you mean Type 59...) is a premium tier 8 tank that where introduced into the game in 2011 and removed from game shop in 2012 with the motivation "unhealty gameplay at higher tiers". (http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/pc-brow ... e-removal/)
The tank still has a degree of "fear factor" and has a almost mystical status as severly over-powered, besides it also generates sh*t-loads of in-game credits and it still is one of the best moneymakers in the game...
Unfortunately I arrived to late to the party, so I do not own a Type 59 ingame - this kit is probably the closest I get to having one since they now cost insane amounts of money on eBay or are received as prizes in contests
There is also a very limited super-exclusive "gold" Type 59 on the Asian servers - that is actually a cool subject to build
The kit:
Some research shows that it's a rebox of an old T-55A ESCI-kit. The mould isn't fantastic and it hasn't improved over the years. There are some flash and burr here and there on the sprues, some parts look Ok and some parts needs more Tender Love and Care to look alright. The turret has a casting texture which looks great, but the upper hull looks too "clean" IMHO - it's almost like sheets of plasticard. Some dents, marks and creative weathering can probably take care of that.
Or you might want to have it like that and go for a ultra-realistic replica of the ingame tank, thinking of it....
The gun barrel is a the traditional 2 identical parts put together. There are a couple of details around the fume extractor and muzzle break that will be difficult to recreate. The "100 mm Type 59 Gun" as it is described in the game is a copy of the 100mm D10-T, so there are metal barrels available if you want to invest the money on this kit.
The tracks are different sized PS segments that have been moulded in "metal look", which I think is better than flimsy budget DS-tracks. There are also a reference to a HowTo-video, but when I write this review the link is dead.
So far so bad...
The goodies:
The intended audience for this kit is not accurate armour modellers that wants to add a highly realistic Type 59 to their display - this kit is targeted at the WoT user-base with 1.5 M concurrent users (peak) on a good evening. I've seen figures like 50M accounts in forums, so there are some opportunities for Italeri and Wargaming in terms of sales
Instructions are easy to understand in 8 simple steps and you get color callouts and painting schemes for three different ingame cammo patterns. There are also ingame "decals" (stuff that you buy ingame to pimp your favorite vehicle). So you can build an exact replica of your beloved Type 59 and put on your shelf (or give as a birthday-present to your clan-buddy).
There is also a "Tank Ident" wall poster and a WoT Tank guide with information about the tanks, gameplay tips and weakspots. The back side also has the bonus codes that can be used in the game; 30 days of Premium Account and 3 Invite-code that you can send to you friends whos souls haven't been consumed by this game yet
And as the box-art states; Yes, a small bottle of liquid cement is included as well
Conclusion:
The list-price sits around 40€, which I believe is a bit on the high side with regards to the quality of the parts. However, for someone who plays WoT on regular basis the bonus-code for 30 days Premium gives a discount of 10€, to the pricetag is probably not so bad after all.
The kit seems quite easy to build so I believe this for WoT players what want to build a replica of the tank that have in their Garage or like me just want to build a cool WoT-inspired dio.
If you think the tank itself looks kickass but want something more out of the build, save your money and go for the Tamiya T-55A instead. It is basically the same tank but a far better kit (no firsthand experience but all the kit reviews points unsurprisingly in that direction), better quality and details are more accurate. You get what you pay for
Cheers!
Tommy
i need to get one o these , it looks awsome 
