Maquette 1/35 BA-64B Armored Car By Kent Kirkpatrick

Overview

In 1942 the Gorky automobile plant, under the guidance of V.A. Grachev, created an armored version of the GAZ-64 automobile used by the Army. Utilizing the practicality of the GAZ-64 combined with 4mm - 15mm armored steel body and a fully traversable turret with the BA-64 the end result. The two-man open turret contained the DT 7.62mm machine gun with a 71TK tank radio for communications. The 50-horse power engine pushed to BA-64 armored car to a maximum speed of 80 km/h. The up-graded BA-64B was based on the GAZ-67 automobile and appeared in the spring of 1943. The BA-64 went on to serve the Viet-Cong Army in the Vietnam conflict.

The Kit

This kit is rebox of the AER/Moldova kit but now is part of Maquette's Red Army Collection series. A color photo of a BA-64 in an olive drab paint-scheme covers the box. It makes a good painting reference. Inside the box is a two-page six-step instruction sheet in Russian and English. There is a parts diagram for locating a part on the sprues. Kit instructions have a symbol legend for filing, gluing, cutting, etc. that might guide you through assembly. Diagrams are hand-drawn but good enough to reference from.

The kit comes in one sealed bag with two part sprues. The sprues are molded in a soft gray styrene. This kit also includes a decal sheet. My sample kit had some flash especially around small parts. Be careful removing the flash as to not destroy these small parts. Individual one-piece wheels are nicely detailed for 1/35th scale. Tread surface is pronounced but true to scale. Dry brushing will bring out the detail in the tread.

Major assembly, involving four of the six steps, is the suspension. The two-piece (upper and lower) hull is simple in detail but the lower hull has injector pin indentations on the outside rather than on the inside where it can be hidden. The decals printed by ProDecals are thin. These white decals represent the unit markings of two (2) vehicles with slogans. I would suggest you look through your parts box from some stowage parts (e.g., shovel, pry bar, machine gun, etc.) that would replace or improve the BA-64B's look. MV lenses would be nice for the headlights.

Conclusion

For as simple as this BA-64B kit is the overall detail is good and accurate. My sample kit had some flash on both sprues but this could be the result of inadequate injection of the mold itself. From a visual inspection, I give this kit thumbs up for subject detail and accuracy but a thumbs down on injection quality. With some improvement by the builder this kit would make a nice addition of an armor car collection. Due to the amount of flash and injector pin indentations on the parts I would suggest this kit to an experienced modeler. I would like to thank Squadron Mail Order for the review kit.