That looks great.  Following this one - quite the famous picture.

Great idea and great progress so far!  I'll be following this build closely.

tjs

Thanks gents.  The weathering does leave lots of options.

Some of the die-cast stuff can be incredibe.

They can make very noce starting points for detailing, too. 

Still, that's pretty amazing as a start to the dio.

Thanks CapnMac.  I have used a few die-cast pieces as starters for a more detailed piece.  They can be quite good.

Neat Gino, looks forward to more! 

Thanks Gamera. I hope to have some progress on the BMP by this weekend.

Excellent work, Gino.  You could also do one where two John Deere's are towing a T-72.  Or add a Lamborghini towing something else.

Thanks, but I am sticking w/the BMP-2 since it is what I have in the stash.

HeavyArty

Thanks, but I am sticking w/the BMP-2 since it is what I have in the stash.

 

I like the fact that you're using what's available without any extra expense. That tractor looks very good. I'll be looking forward to some more WIP pics. 

Thats a great idea. Looking forward to see what you are going to do with this one.

Thanks gents. I hope to have an update on the BMP-2 this weekend.

Cool, looking forward to this!

I have been working on the abandoned BMP-2, but didn’t take many in-progress shots. Here it is with the interior mostly complete.

It is pretty much out of the box. I added a few extra pieces such as a fuel can, a few ammo cans and a blanket to give it the lived-in look. I also added the fire extinguishers, a few boxes and bags up front, axe, tree saw, and three missile reload tubes for the 9M113 Konkurs ATGM. Lastly, I added a few hoses to dress it up.

The turret needed a lot of work. Trumpeter greatly simplified it. I fixed some of it, but it could use a lot more work. First, I added the half-circular ammo locker across the back of the turret that Trumpeter missed. I built it out of sheet styrene and added ribs on top. I also repositioned the control handles from the floor (basically) where Trumpeter had them to in front of the gunner and raised up the gunner’s sight so it is in front of him as opposed to at his knees.

The upper hull interior. I added a couple cables that will go out to the doors.

IMG_2013480×640 56 KB

More to come.

Hello!

Lookin' good! So it's a 1/32 tractor mated to a 1/35 BMP-2?

My pops always told us: forget the tanks, the BWP (that's the way the first BMPs were called in Poland) is a real fun to drive! I don't know about BMP-2, but does it have fuel tanks in the rear doors, too? Because that was one weird feature of the original BMP.

Respect for tackling the interior! Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel.  Thanks for the compliments.

Yup, 1/32 tractor and 1/35 BMP-2.  I have mixed scales often.  As long as they are not the same vehicles and you keep all accessories and such the same scale, they work together just fine.

Yes, the BMP-2 has the same fuel cells in the rear doors and the center fuel tank that the troops are sitting against/on.  Seems like a recipe for disaster to me.  I definitely wouldn't want to be in one when it gets hit.

Great job on the interior of the BMP Gino. So much fun to leave to hatches open and have to built all that extra detail in there! 

Looking forward to more! 

Thanks Gamera. I do tend to be a glutton for punishment and actually like to build detailed interiors.

Thats looking great.

Thanks lurch. It has been fun so far.

Excellent idea for a dio! I get a little jazzed every time I see a clip or still of something like this.

Thanks RBear. More work on it this weekend. I just found these on eBay to go with it too.

Water bottles and water bottle decals from Ukraine by DAN Models.

Gino, I see you support Ukraine as you build!

Those water bottles look very correct for an eastern european setting. I especially like the first one in the middle row - it says "Dobra voda" which translates to "good water", huh, huh...

Good luck with your build and have a nice day!

Paweł

Thanks Pawel. I too think the water bottles will look perfect on it. I can't wait to get them.

Pawel

see you support Ukraine as you build!

Have heard that 1/35 sunflowers are hard to come by of late ...

I have finished up the initial paint on the BMP-2. I sprayed it with a rattle can of Krylon Spanish Green. I added the "Z"s with craft paint and deliberately left them messy so they look hand painted.

I also changed out the tracks. The Trumpeter kit comes with rubber band tracks that were way too short. I had a set of link-and-length tracks from an old Esci BMP that I used on it. I also had to use the Esci sprockets as they had a different pitch and are wider than the Trumpeter tracks.

Here it is so far.

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I added a couple ration cartons on the inside from the FC Model Trend Russian IRP-P Rations box set. You can see one on the right side rear seat below.

I started adding some more details as well by placing a water bottle box of a Russian water label on the rear deck. I made the box myself using images lifted off the web.

Next up is weathering and I am waiting on a couple more items to come in the mail for the dio.

Looks great Gino! Looking forward to seeing everything all set up. 

Thanks Gamera. I like how it is turning out.