I have started on a dio about the Ukraine war showing the valiant Tractor BDE “recovering” a Russian BMP-2. So far, I have the tractor detailed and reworked to fix some of its issues since it is a 1/32 Ertl die-cast and plastic piece.

This is what I stared with.

It is a German Fendt tractor that is used in Ukraine, as seen in the below pics.

Fendt Tractor in Ukraine 21035×582 124 KB

Fendt Tractor in Ukraine 11280×720 136 KB

I took it apart and began improving it. First, I cut open the door so you could see inside. I also replaced the oversized steering wheel with one from the spares box. Next, I painted the floor and seats black and the rest of the interior parts a sand color, including the inside of the window frames since the “glass” is one piece and you could see the green paint from the outside. I then detail painted the dash and controls on the sides of the seat and added a few warning placard decals.

On the outside, I cut off the rubbery exhaust pipe end and replaced it with a piece of hollow plastic tubing. I then cut off the out of scale handle on the rear attachments and drilled out the ends to better represent the attachment points. I drilled a vertical hole through the rear parts for a tow point. I will insert a pin in it later. I also removed the orange beacons and replaced them with a couple clear ones that I painted orange. They are slightly better. I added the mirrors from a 1/32 die-cast truck and scratched the grab handles on each side. I also painted the whole frame flat black as it was weird, glossy dark grey color. Lastly, I painted the clear lights and the red/white tail lights. I also copied a Ukrainian license plate and printed it out, then added it to the rear.

Here is is so far.

Next up is some weathering then getting started on the Trumpeter BMP-2 w/interior.