ICM's 1/72nd Scale BTR-152V By Michael Kendix

Introduction

An earlier edition of Internet Modeler (July 2006) provided a full in-box review of the kit’s contents and a background on the vehicle. In brief, this is an armored car that was used not only by the Warsaw Pact countries in the 1950s and 1960s but was also used widely in countries supported by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and occasionally even captured and used, such as in Israel.

This is a simple kit but can be enhanced, either by scratch building or using aftermarket products; for example Extratech’s photo etch set, which I used. The Extratech sheet is small but substantive. It provides a cornucopia of interior components, including scale-thickness benches, seats, equipment containers, interior rear door, and dashboards made from clear acetate marked with the vehicle’s dials. The photoetch exterior pieces include the “windows” for the side doors and front observation hatches, in addition to a couple of tools and alternative configurations for the car’s radiator grille.

Assembly

I built the kit by dividing the kit into three basic sections: the mantle, chassis, and the wheels and axle gear. In order to make room for the photo etch pieces, I drilled out the upper sections of the side doors, the front hatches, and the radiator grille. The photoetch parts for the side upper-door pieces are obviously very thin compared with the kit’s lower door. To correct this, I would have had to sand the entire interior area. A partial solution would be scratch building the entire door. I left the kit as it was since I felt I’d been sufficiently adventurous just using the photoetch. I glued on the photo etch radiator and the mounts for the front hatches; I left the windows and hatches off and glued them later. The kit’s rear door has detail on the exterior but nothing on the interior but fortunately, the Extratech set has this piece, which I also attached at this time. I also added some panel lines for the engine hood and removed some extraneous raised lines around the top and front section of the mantle, which I took to be molding seams.

At this stage, I sprayed the chassis, the mantle, and the remaining photoetch parts with Pollyscale’s British Brown Drab PC10 (PC10), which is decidedly at the green end of the PC1- spectrum. Once this had dried, I began assembling the various benches and equipment containers that are in the rear of the truck. I also added the dashboards and instruments dials, and steering wheel.

I painted the wheels and axle gear Engine Grey, except for the wheel hubs, which I painted PC10. I replaced the kit’s metal axles with plastic because I find the plastic axles are easier to adjust to ensure each of the wheels touches the ground, and I wanted to reposition the front wheels into a turning position. I also added MV lenses and the photoetch headlamp guards, the latter are a huge improvement over the thick plastic ones in the kit. Once I had completed the individual sections, I glued them together to prepare for the decals and weathering.

Decals and Weathering

I found the decals problematic. Initially, I selected the Soviet Army scheme in the instruction sheet but the number decals disintegrated. Next, I tried the Czechoslovakian Army scheme also shown in the instructions. Same result. Finally, I decided on East German decals, which held: so this is a generic German Democratic Republic vehicle for which I have no photographic evidence but given the ubiquity of this vehicle in the Warsaw Pact, its existence is highly probable.

After giving the model a coat of clear flat, I applied a burnt umber oil wash, some pastel chalks, followed by highlighting using a Prismacolor silver pencil. I made the base from a piece of precut wood at Michael’s craft store, stained it and added a coat of polyurethane clear satin. I glued on a piece of felt for the underside and a piece of fancy brown patterned card for the upper side. When the model was complete, I glued it to the base with super glue.

Conclusion

This is an excellent kit, with or without the aftermarket photoetch. It is simple and the pieces fit well. The decals were problematic but one can address this by pre-coating them with a liquid decal film. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Testors for supplying this kit