Sounds like I might have to expand my Russian armor with an Eastern Express kit or two!
The BMP-3 is almost ready for paint. As Rob mentioned about the EE kit above, the Eduard PE set is just about a necessity to make an accurate BMP-3 with the Skif kit. Most of the detail is way overscale, and some of it is just plain wrong, according to the tons of ref pix I used. Which are absolutely necessary, as the instructions are extremely vague as to the location and positioning of many parts. Fit varies from great to rotten.
Be prepared for LOTS of cleaning, which basically translates into re-sculpting each and every piece. The sprue attachment points are huge, often extending onto the face of the parts themselves, and are very poorly planned out.
Then there are the myriad sinkholes and ejector pin marks that have to be filled. Right smack-dab in the middle of outward-facing pieces!
Seriously, it's almost as if they intentionally engineered the kit to require the absolute maximum amount of clean-up. Bless their hearts...
Having done all that grousing, I'm actually enjoying the build! It's taking a tremendous amount of work, but it's all coming together and is going to be a good representation of a BMP-3 when it's all said and done.