Tamiya's T-72 kit has been around for over ten years now, and is still the best T-72 on the block.  The kit is certainly not without room for improvement, however, and has enjoyed something of a renaissance of late amongst aftermarket manufacturers.  I somehow got it into my head that I wanted to build a Finnish T-72 as one of my pinnacle models, one that would be as accurate and highly detailed as I could make it.  So I have acquired a number of extras for this kit: JS Models' excellent T-72M-1 turret, Finnish stowage box and gun barrel; Modelpoint smoke dischargers and antenna; Chesapeake's six spoke roadwheels; Karaya tow cable; SKIF's KMT-6M2 mine plow; and Eduard's latest photoetched set for the Tamiya kit.  For all of that, there is still plenty of sheet plastic and elbow grease invested in this conversion, which is very far from over.  The latest addition to this immense pile is CMK's new multimedia exterior upgrade set for the Tamiya kit.

Packed (densely) in the familiar CMK sturdy blister pack, this set contains approximately 60+ resin parts plus a 6 x 7 cm photoetched fret that help to dress up the hull and turret of the T-72.  Perhaps the most prominent component is the deployed snorkel and gunner's hatch - certainly an unusual feature.  Another item that is not usually seen is the driver's cold weather hatch cover.  The commander's gun shield is also included; this part is very nicely rendered and is quite welcome, given its omission in the Tamiya kit.  Other turret detail pieces include resin smoke dischargers with photoetched wiring harnesses and resin conduits, resin antenna mounts, stowage boxes with separate lids and interior detail, and resin spare ammunition cans with photoetched straps.  Although not noted as such, parts PUR 27 and PUR 28 seem to be stowed antenna parts for a T-72K command vehicle.   

A very nice pair of resin fuel drums with photoetched end plates (with Czech fuel company logos on them) and retaining straps take up a large portion of the set as well.  A nice touch is a resin tarp that fits in between the tanks.  I was very happy to see the upper portions of the rubberized fabric armour skirts (which cover the sides of the fuel tanks and stowage boxes on the fenders) included as separate resin pieces, since I was not happy with their representation in the Tamiya kit.

There are certain areas of the kit which I wish this set would have addressed (for instance, a new NSVT machine gun would have been nice, as would new searchlight mounts), the improvements which this set makes to the base kit are noticable.  While some of the parts are duplicated in some of the other aftermarket sets that I have, there are a number of items unique to this set, and several pieces which are better rendered in resin than photoetched.  This set does not address some of the major concerns with the Tamiya kit (notably the turret shape), but it does bring a lot to the table in terms of bringing a somewhat dated kit up to today's standards.  All in all, I'm happy with this set and looking forward to using it on my Finnish T-72.