KIT: ICM 1/72 BTR-152V Armored Personnel Carrier
KIT #: 72531
PRICE: $12.00 MSRP
DECALS: At least three options
REVIEWER: Scott Van Aken
NOTES:  

HISTORY

Paraphrasing from the instructions:

"The first Soviet APC BTR-152V was designed between 1948 and 1950. Series production began in 1951 with the first public appearance being made during the 7 November parade in Red Square, Moscow. The BTR-157V  was developed on the base of the ZIL-151 army truck which was a highly capable cross-country vehicle. The welded armor plates formed a slope side hull completely enclosing the occupants, except for an open top. A total of six firing ports were provided for the occupants in the rear. A single 7.62mm machine gun was available for the crew.

A wide range of other vehicles were created based on the BTR-152, including a command vehicle, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, field ambulance and others. Because of its rugged construction and ease of maintainability, the BTR-152 was exported to Soviet client states world wide, including Egypt, Angola, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

THE KIT

Molded in white with the wheels in black plastic, there really is little to this kit as compared to some other military models in this scale.  The molding is fairly good, though many of the parts have ejector pin stubs with flash and some rather large sink areas were noted on a few of the bits. The dashboard is particularly badly done and some filler will be needed to fix this.  I also noted that the back of each of the wheel/tire parts was deformed, though not enough to cause any mounting problems. Every kit I've seen with these wheels is the same. Most of the ejector pin marks won't be seen but some will so be prepared.

The kit has a  driver's compartment that consists of a dash, steering gear and shifters, even though you can't see anything at all from the front as the windows are molded shut. A full crew bed is provided, which is basically wooden benches for the troops. A complete chassis is also provided to add underside detail.

Instructions are a single sheet with a short history, parts list and three construction steps. Options are three vehicles circa 1960. Two are Soviet and the other Czech, though there are no Czech markings on the decal sheet! The base color is Olive Drab with one of the Soviet vehicles carrying tan segmented camouflage. The small decal sheet is well printed and it looks like even the box art vehicle can be done as there are markings for it as well.

CONCLUSIONS

If you are like me and find armored cars and such to be cooler than tracked vehicles, then you will like this one. The kit seems simple to build and does not have a lot of fiddly bits. Will look nice next to your tanks and such.

June 2006

Thanks to and DLV Company for the review kit. You can find Icm kits at your favorite hobby shop.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by asite that has over 300,000 visitors a month, please contactme or see other details in the Note toContributors.

Back to the Main Page

Back to the Previews Index Page