BMP-3
SKIF
| Catalogue No.: | 204 |
| Scale: | 1/35 |
| Media: | Styrene and Vinyl |
| Review Type: | In-Box |
| Rating: | Highly Recommended |
S u m m a r y |
|
| Contents: | 318 parts (308 in grey styrene, 10 in black vinyl) |
| Price: | L19.95 (around $34) |
| Advantages: | First kit of this vehicle in plastic; many optional position parts; partial interior (crew section and turret) included |
| Disadvantages: | Some sinkmarks and heavy detailing, but no worse than other SKIF kits; lack of interior details other than add-on parts; low distribution of original may lead to low recognition; no options other than Russian or Urkainian variants proscribes building actual export models |
| Recommendation: | For modern Russian and "Third World" armor fans |
B a c k g r o u n d |
During the early 1980s, the Soviet General Staff returned to its Great Patriotic War roots
and recreated what they saw was the best formation to defeat a massive enemy armor
grouping: the Operational Maneuver Group. This force was designed to be based on a tank
army or tank division, and to break through into an enemy's rear area and destroy as much
of his military infrastructure as fast as possible, permitting the rest of the Soviet
forces to proceed forward with little to stop them. But the BMP-1 and then-new BMP-2 were
not felt capable of providing sufficient firepower, and as a result a new, heavily armed
and armored vehicle was required.
The search led them to reexamine a related pair of failed light tank and infantry fighting
vehicle designs called Object 685 and Object 688, both of which dated from 1981. The
turret from Object 685 was rearmed with a new low- pressure 100mm gun and paired 30mm
cannon, given a coaxial 7.62mm gun, and placed on Object 688's hull. The new vehicle,
again called Object 688, was felt to be capable of performing as the standard IFV with the
Operational Maneuver Group as well as an airborne or amphibious light tank. It was
accepted for service in 1990 as the BMP-3. Unfortunately, by that time both the Soviet
Union and the Operational Maneuver Group requirement were things of the past, and as a
result, less than 100 were in service with the Russian Army.
Since that time, however, the BMP-3 has been popular with Third World countries, mostly in
the Middle East, and sales of over 1,000 abroad have keep the Kurgan Machinery
Construction Plant afloat during times of no sales to the Russian Armed Forces.
Cooperative efforts with France have provided those vehicles with air conditioning and a
thermal viewer, and this has been one of the few bright spots for the Russian defense
industry.
F i r s t L o o k |
SKIF has followed its modern T-80UD and T-64A kits with the BMP-3, and unlike the other
two, also have included a basic crew and fighting compartment interior with this kit. This
comprises all of the seats, the autoloader and turret basket floor, 20 rounds of 100mm
ammunition and eight AT-10 "Bastion" guided missiles, a rudimentary gun breech
for the 100mm weapon, and twelve optional position hatches. The kit also includes
two-section tracks in black vinyl, as well as mudguards and the cables for the tow cables.
Detail is very good if a bit heavy, but many small details are missing, especially the
30mm gun and feed arrangements and most of the autoloader for the 100mm gun. All of the
interior fittings such as wiring and lights, as well as the firing ports, are missing as
well as most of the driver's controls (he gets a decal for the instrument panel though).
If you truly want the interior to be seen, prepare for a lot of work and research to find
details. (The model is finished internally to what one could call "sales
brochure" levels.)
Externally, the model matches up well with the published information on the vehicle.
Note that the BMP-3 is a large, heavy vehicle, and weighs nearly 40,000 pounds combat
ready (around 18 metric tons). Also, the BMD-type adjustable suspension featured on the
original – a legacy of its proposed "Airborne Tank" function – is not
portrayed here.
Markings are included for a BMP-3 in Ukrainian service, which to the best of my knowledge
is fantasy as they did not ever deploy any to Ukraine in combat unit strength! The numbers
are acceptable, but the Ukrainian markings (flag and trident of Volodymir) should be saved
for another day. Color schemes and finish are correct for the Russian versions (first
page) which cover the sand/olive drab/black versions. The second page – which
provides what appears to be a "desert and mountain" scheme of sand/light
earth/brown -- does not match photos of those sold to Kuwait and the UAE, and should be
avoided. It may be based on the last Soviet Army painting regulations, which perhaps
covered more than the European Russia schemes used since the late 1980s; however, I have
no references to any such finish in service.
Overall, this is a nice little kit and will fill in one of those pesky blanks on the
shelves of Russian armor fans. Hopefully the after-market boys will provide the other bits
for doing the variants in service with the Third World and make the options a bit more
varied. By the way, Russia has a number of other vehicles which are offered on this
chassis as well, of which the best known is the BREhM-L light recovery vehicle. More to
come from SKIF?
Cookie Sewell
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