1/100 Object 279

Easily the most complicated tank model I've ever made, Object 279 was originally the brain-child of L. S. Trojanov, and built in 1957.  The 60-tonne tank was designed as a Supreme Command Reserve vehicle, to replace the T-10 as the main defender of key Soviet territories in the event of nuclear war.  The thin, eliptical shield around the entire boat-shaped hull, along with the retractable hydraulic suspension, theoretically prevented the tank from being flipped over if caught in the secondary blast radius of a nuclear warhead.  While that claim was never tested, the double tracks certainly made it possible for the tank to traverse terrain and obstacles that no other tank could, and also gave it one of the lowest ground pressures (if not the lowest) of any armoured fighting vehicle ever built.  Like the earlier T-10, Object 279 is equipped with NBC protection.  Unlike the T-10, however, this one is armed with a 130mm cannon, similar to that found on the IS-7, but with a fume extractor and more modern muzzle break.  Though the prototype was extremely successful, Khrushchëv ordered in 1960 that no tank over 37 tonnes was to be developed, mainly because most Russian bridges could not reliably support more weight than that.  Though the 50-tonne T-10 was already in production, Object 279 was still in development, and the entire heavy tank programme was stopped in favour of lighter guided missile tanks.  The prototype was stuffed and put into the Kubinka Tank Museum, where it sits to this day collecting dust and paint jobs.

Please note that unlike most of my other tanks, the turret on this one is not interchangeable with any of the others.