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Trumpeter 1/35 scale BRDM-2 (Early)

Kit:05511 // Scale:1/35 // Price:$46.95
Manufacturer:
Trumpeter, from Stevens International, 856-435-1555
Pros:
Good moldings; posable hatches; well-detailed
Cons:
Minor fit issues; incomplete decal instructions
Comments:
Injection-molded, 253 parts (12 photoetched metal, 8 vinyl), decals
MOD-MO1012_Trumpeter03
FSM-WB1212_21
FSM-WB1212_22
FSM-WB1212_23
FSM-WB1212_24
FSM-WB1212_25

The BRDM-2 (Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina, or Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle) is an amphibious, wheeled, armored reconnaissance vehicle and personnel carrier designed and produced by the Soviet Union and still used by Russia. A whole line of vehicles was produced; anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical).


Trumpeter’s rendition has a detailed fighting compartment with posable hatches, radios, a gunner’s seat, and driver and commander stations. Markings are included for three different vehicles: regular army, airborne, and a naval vehicle. However, no there are no illustrations for the airborne or naval versions. I couldn’t even find any on the Internet.


Building up the lower hull in five steps, I didn’t have any issues with fit. The suspension is made up of many small parts. Care needs to taken when adding the belly wheels to the hull; they’re a bit on the tight side. You have a choice of stored or deployed belly wheels. The intake trunk, propeller, and photoetched-metal grille went together well.


An impressively detailed interior is next in the instructions. The radio sets, instrument panel, and driver’s controls are all there. There was no decal for the instrument panel, so I painted the dials gloss black. The interior lower surfaces are painted Tamiya dark green (XF-61); the hull top inside is white.


I test-fitted the upper and lower hulls and found a gap around the front; I filled it in and sanded it smooth. There are holes that need to be drilled — and some to be filled — on the upper hull. I had an issue with the vision blocks being too thick; I had to file out their locations a little to get a better fit.


The turret is built up from several parts, as is the 14.5mm cannon breech. I painted the breech dark green, the scope gloss black, and the barrels of the 14.5mm cannon and 7.62mm machine gun with Testors titanium before installation. The rest of the interior is painted white.


I left the tires in their natural black and weathered them with Tamiya pastels to see if they would stick, and the results were good. If you install the wheels according to instructions, the model will roll freely.


I painted the vehicle exterior with Tamiya dark green and applied Tamiya weathering pastels. My reference photos were in the book Soviet Wheeled Armored Vehicles, by Steve Zaloga (Concord, ISBN 978-962-361-013-1). 


I chose the markings illustrated in the instructions and put down the decals over a gloss coat.


The build took me 20 hours, a little longer than I thought it would, but it should pose no great problem for modelers with a little experience building armor.


The model is highly detailed right out of the box. I hope Trumpeter will bring out other versions — there are a lot of armies using this vehicle, so there are a lot of interesting schemes out there.


A version of this review appeared in the December 2012 FineScale Modeler.

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