Trumpeter 1/35 BTR-70 – And Why I Cannot Take The Blame For It

The other day it dawned on me I had not posted anything finished in quite some time. This is in part because - well, life and things, in part it is because I have not really finished anything to an extent I was entirely happy with. Which is weird, seeing as I spend almost every day at the bench for at least a couple of hours.

Sounds Like a Personal Problem

Well, although it definitely is, I am in the happy situation of having someone else to blame - namely the other guys from the iModeler team, @editor and @halvarvonflake! The thing is, both these fine gentlemen are very much into aircraft, and are positively divorced from the dirt and muck of your average ground pounder. So at some point - and for the sake of balance during nerdy modeler's discussions - I decided to revert back to my roots and pick up armor modeling again, something I stopped years ago because of acute Olive Drab-burnout.

Actually... it was kind of decided for me, with a couple of armor kits I received for review purposes over the course of last year. And with these kits not being US armor, I would not run the risk of an Olive Drab relapse, I would do what had to be done, and could then go back to my beloved US aircraft and ships. Or so I thought.

Mission Creep

In the past, whenever someone asked me what I build, I would tell them "US stuff - planes, tanks, ships, trying to get a complete collection of their military hardware". British stuff? Nah. German? Pfff... Russian? Well, one kit per year to keep as a kind of marital tradition.
That all went down the drain with Thunder Model's excellent Scammell tank transporter. After finishing that one, it had to get a proper load, so a Valentine it was. But what's a Valenine without a Crusader next to it? And a Crusader of course would feel lonely without its successor... you see where this is going? If not, how about the story of the Trumpeter Tiger I review build, which naturally had to be followed by a Pz.Kpfw.38(t) just for size comparison, and Panzers I and III in the stash to show the technological progress?

What's That Got To Do With Anything?

Glad you asked. When I stopped building tanks, it was mainly because I was not satisfied with the finish of my builds - and I could for the life of me not figure out what to do to improve. They always looked a bit bland, especially the single-color American WWII stuff. So I basically spent the past six months looking at photos, reading books like Mike Rinaldi's "Tank Art", and experimented around with various materials and techniques. Point in case: Trumpeter's BTR-70. I was quite fascinated by Rinaldi's approach of using pigments and fixing them in place with pigment fixer shot through an airbrush. Never had thought of that, needed to try. And I loved it. This simple technique finally gave me the the look I was after when depicting vehicles in a dry and dusty environment.

So yeah, there you go. I feel like I still have a long way ahead of me - and I am afraid you guys will be asked to give your feedback 😀

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.