I do virtually all my armor modeling in 1/72 scale; so, as an admirer of most things Finnish, I couldn't pass up this UniModel offering of the squat, bulldog-looking Finnish BT-42 'Assault Howitzer.' The vehicle was a home-brewed combination of captured Soviet BT-7 light tank chassis with QF (Quick Fire) 4.5-inch/114 mm howitzers, a WW1 design (Model 1908) supplied by the British to the Finns during the Winter War in early 1940. The Finns constructed a new turret to house the still-serviceable weapon, and fielded 18 of the SP guns starting in 1943.
Their brief combat service was notoriously unsuccessful. Though adequate against soft-skinned targets, they were essentially useless in the hoped-for anti-tank role. The high-profile turret was cramped and too heavy -- dangerously stressing the engine and suspension -- and attempts to increase the effectiveness of the older gun by copying the design of German high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds resulted in persistent fusing failures with the new ammunition. (In one terrifying encounter with a Russian T-34 during the defense of Vyborg, a persistent...but apparently luckless...BT-42 scored no less than 18 hits...yet failed even to immobilize the enemy vehicle due to those faulty fuses.)
The type was quickly withdrawn from service as supplies of more-capable captured Soviet equipment became available. A single preserved BT-42 still survives, displayed at the Finnish Army's Parola Tank Museum near Hämeenlinna, north of Helsinki.
The kit was a pleasant-enough build, though the instructions -- with arrows in the assembly drawings wandering vaguely in all directions, and too-few helpful views of what the completed steps were supposed to look like -- were an occasional challenge. Reference to photos of the surviving vehicle...and to builds of the larger-scale Tamiya offering of the same type...helped me (mostly) sort it all out.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
And...just for fun...a shot of the poor wandering BT-42 apparently preparing to drive off the edge of the forest....
