ACE 1/72 BRDM-2 By Michael Kendix

Background

According to Wikepedia, The “Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina” (BRDM) is an armored personnel carrier used by a large number of Eastern Bloc countries and other countries supported to some extent by the USSR; for example, in the Middle East and Africa. It replaced the BRDM-1, has a waterjet for amphibious travel, and is armed with a 14.5mm KPV heavy machine gun with a 7.62 mm machine gun as a secondary weapon.

Box Contents

In the box there are three sprues of soft plastic, decals for some current and ex-Eastern Bloc countries, and a set of “rubber” (vinyl) tires. The small parts are quite thick, and all parts contain seams that need to be removed; significant cleaning up of these parts is required. Apparently, this kit is now out of production but I believe it can still be purchased. It costs around $15 and there several versions of the BRDM-2 produced by ACE. However, at that price, I was less than enthusiastic, especially given the short-run quality of the kit. Fortunately, I found this kit and the BRDM-1 kit for $3 each at a model convention. I have a slight weakness for these small modern, Soviet-type things so I started to build it.

Construction

The lower and upper hull parts, especially the former, needed lots of cleaning up. After I had glued the upper and lower hull together, there were gaps and seams that needed filing and sanding. I primed it with Mr. Surfacer to see where the problems were located and continued with the filling, sanding and priming process until I felt I had had enough! At this point, I looked at the model and was somewhat discouraged. Compared to the ICM and Omega-k truck kits I had built (Zil-157’s), this was a bit of a mess. Somewhat disappointed, I put it back into its box.

About a year or more later, I was rummaging through my kit stash and came upon this partly built model. It didn’t look too bad. I cleaned it up a bit more and continued with the build. I made the turret and added some grab handles using thin copper wire to it. I also added some grab handles to the top of the hull. I painted the wheels using dark grey acrylic paint but that just peeled right off when I tried to put the wheel parts into the tires. The tires themselves are so flexible that painting them prior to attaching them to the model was impossible; the paint just would not stick to the vinyl.

I managed to get the underside pieces glued together and onto the hull: axle, underside wheels, universal joint and springs. I painted some of these in dark grey and most of it can barely be seen because I glued the model to a base. Given the crude and somewhat sparse detail on the underside, this model is best built “Curbside.”

The wheels, once the hubs and other parts are squeezed into the tires, look good but there is no real attachment mechanism to glue them onto the underside’s axle mechanism. I drilled some holes and used plastic rod to attach the wheels to the underside. I drilled out the lights on the headlamps on the front of the hull and inserted some MV lenses. I used some headlamp guards from the spares box, although these are not really accurate for the BRDM-2: I’ll use thin wire on the BRDM-1 if I ever build it

I used Testors #2 Green for the model’s base color. Having just watched “The Lives of Others,” I selected decals from the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (East Germany). I weathered the model with an oil wash of burnt umber and some pastel chalks then highlighted some of the edges with a silver Prismacolor pencil and weathered the tires with a dry-brushing of medium grey: not too much because I was worried the paint would flake off again.

In conclusion, I would say this model turned out a lot better than I had anticipated. The smaller parts need a lot of cleaning and could possibly be replaced. The underside is best left hidden or scratchbuilt in more detail. However, once cleaned up, painted and weathered, it does build into a reasonable model, and it is the best BRDM-2 in 1/72nd scale. Conditionally recommended.