Lovin' Russian

Fresh from the Urals.. I have here for you one of my favorite modern Russian armor vehicles... Trumpeter's 1/35 BMP-3E IFV, and what a delightful kit.. I have built another variant of this vehicle by Trumpeter as well and it was wonderful to build as well . That was the BMP-3 w/ ERA and I highly recommend all variants of their offerings of this vehicle..

This kit goes together very well and I had little to no gaps in the joints and what little there was is easily taken care of.. Photoetch included in this kit is standard Trumpeter PE and some can be a bit thick and hard to bend.. The kit does include a nice interior but I chose to omit that aspect of this build.. I had done it in the other variant I had built previously and can tell you the turret interior is fantastic, the drivers compartment is a little soft on detail and the troop compartment is very basic with seats and fire extinguisher and that's about it.. You could build this with all hatches open and easily add accessories or figures to enhance the interior, or what little is seen even with hatches open.. I however chose to button her up and get to the paint and weathering more quickly. Tracks are individual link and individual guide horns.. I recommend building the tracks in top and bottom halves to ensure fit and finish is accurate and neat, so take your time and don't get in a rush to get past the tracks.. The only modification done to this kit was the unditching log was replaced for a real wooden dowel and distressed with bench tools.. the strapping to hold it to the model were also made from spare photoetch metal..

Paint scheme is from the kits paint guide which comes is color and I opted for Tamiya and Vallejo model air acrylics.. Masking the cammoflauge was a bit of a challenge but I had fun with getting as close to the pattern in the paint guide as possible..

Weathering was done with home made oil washes, Tamiya weathering master sets, and dry pastels.. I very much enjoyed this build and will fit right in with my modern armor collection that seems to be ever growing! I hope you like it.

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