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BTR 60PB

"Soviet Motor Rifle troops at rest"

The Soviet BTR 60 APC has to be one of the most -produced AFVs of the postwar era and it’s certainly been a fixture of countless wars and conflicts across the globe. While not exactly a „Beast on the Battlefield“ I’ve always wanted to build one. Trumpeter gave me that chance many times over with their excellent BTR range, out of which I chose the classic BTR 60 PB. The kit comes with a fully detailed interior and includes a multitude of clear & PE parts, so I built it out of the box. While I’m not a fan of Dioramas I do like to add figures to my models for added scale effects. BTRs are often seen crowded with troops riding on their hulls so I decided to go for that with ICM’s „Armoured Carrier riders“ and a resin driver figure. The ICM set is made for BTRs so you get natural poses and contemporary coldwar uniforms & gear. Now I won’t claim that my subject is 100% accurate, but with the BTR series anything goes (almost…). However, I do recommend the excellent WWP publications books on the BTR series to get a better idea of interior layout, colors and vehicle details in general.

The build was straightforward but time consuming, thanks to the abovementioned interior and PE parts. Some adjustments were necessary to make the front wheel pairs steerable, but otherwise everything went together smoothly. I chose not to buy an aftermarket set of sagged wheels, but I probably should have… I definitely recommend to use special glue for clear parts for all those vision blocks, lenses and windscreens.

Having finished the upper hull and the lower hull I started the painting process with Tamiya, Vallejo, AK Interactive and Lifecolor acrylics. Interior and exterior got the same treatment of Tamiya Dark Iron plus AK Interactive rust effects as a base coat, followed by hairspray. Then the interior got its grey/off white topcoat, and the exterior received a simple camouflage pattern I had seen on the Internet. Once I was done weathering & chipping & washing the interior, I mated upper and lower hull, thus concealing most of the previous work – but at least I know it’s there😉

I went about the exterior in pretty much the same way: First chipping, then washing and finally going in with pigments.

For the figures I used mainly Vallejo and Citadel paints and washes. I will admit that I’m a big fan of dry brushing and that’s what I did to bring out textures & creases & fine details on the figures and their gear.

Well, I hope that you like my model and I wish you a lot of fun with your own projects!