Don't worry Jon, in fact this is barely noticeable. I have the Kagero book and while looking at the vision blocks location and other things to add, I finished by noticing this point. But with the tarp you added, nobody will see anything wrong.

Modelpoint did a great job on the missile.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Sean I'm still working on repairing the Urban scenery at the moment on my T-90 project, I'm making some good progress though. Actually the T-90 itself is done and I've been considering entering it in the next Model of the Month Comp, maybe huh? While it isnt in a diorama?

Olivier I think your right, hopefully all should be well!

Heres a quick update, I've been working on the boring bits of fill out the interior tonight and also finishing off the exterior detail on the upper hull. Here's a quick dry fit with the injured driver bailing out of the open hatch. There will also be a crewman helping him out on the ground and a commander jumping across the upper hull firing an AK.





More to follow!

Very very nice work Jon.

What you've done with that BMP is really great thus far

Thanks Sean, I'm glad your liking it. For me it's now going to start getting real interesting as I can really work on the interior now and start detailing that up. Also adding the battle damage to the fenders on the right hand side is going to be fun too.

By the way how is your Challenger 2 Diorama going? Any progress recently? I got myself a Tamiya Challenger 2 yesterday, finally decided to branch out into other modern subjects!

Well I will be home for the summer in 3 weeks so the building will come. I want to finish that along with an ASLAV, M1128 MGS, Leopard 2A6M, and this new T-72B that came onboard. Not to mention an M1117, T-62 and countless figures to try and paint haha. We'll see what happens.

in the mean time, keep up the great work Jon!

Btw, do you have some good photos of Chechnya? I have some ideas as to how I will be doing my T-72 but the more photos the better.

If you're looking for good images of Chechnya drop Frenchy a PM. He has some great Russian Language books on the subject and was very helpful when I did this project.

I'm following this one closely, the BMP series is long overdue for an updated/upgraded kit(s).

Are you going to add the front end cap to the missile tube, or remove the back cap?
I think that if the missileis fired, the back cap is blown off, and until the missile is fired the front end cap is covered as well.

Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks for the comments I agree! I'm waiting with held breath for the miniarm BMP-2!

As for the missle your right I think. It's odd though that Modelpoint don't provide a front cap with the part. I'm looking at scratching a replacement one at the moment out of plasticard. It's an interesting point though and one I'd really like a solid answer for, maybe one of our Soviet Russo experts can help out on this point?

Managed to get some more work done on the interior recently.
Theres still a lot to do on this, the commanders station in particular needs a lot more work but its a start. I'm finished on the rear door interiors now though, aside from some work to fill the gaps and tidy things up a bit they are pretty much sorted.

Looks really good so far. Cant wait to see the finished kit.

Wow, these are very high detailed parts! They look great!
Some years ago I also built some BMP´s, but "out of box" only.

greetings...
Soeren

Yo Jon,

You're scratch work is very inspiring to me.

Nice trik with the beld/strap.

Greetz Nico

Thanks for the kind comments guys and the encouragement. This is my first attempt at large scale scratch building, its far from the masterwork you see in Osprey modelling guides but we all have to start somewhere right . I've actually found that during the build it's really helped my confidence with scratching, its always an area I shied away from in the past. I'm glad I took the step though.

First off heres my latest acquisition courtesy of ebay. It's certainly helped inspire me!



Here's my progress on the build. I've tried to make things as accurate as possible however there are going to be some mistakes as I'm working from partial interior photos and old technical drawings that aren't so clear.

Nice job on the inside Jon ! Doing it totally from scratch is really a challenge.
You should be aware of the wrong shape of the central fuel cell. It should have oblique sides and not vertical ones as you made. I think it's not too late to fix that.

Keep on the good job.
Olivier

Some great scratch work Jon. Love the interior so far!

The interior is coming along nicely Jon! It should look very good once painted up through the hatches!

Nice Russian tank helmet as well, wouldnt mind one of those myself, would go well next to my American and British helmets-how much did you pay?

Thanks for the comments guys.

Olivier when you say the central fuel cell do you mean the part that has the seats attached? In this photo it looks quite square but actually it's sloped at an angle, the top is thinner than the bottom. Although admit-ably the angle is quite subtle. I think if I did it again I'd make the sloping angle more pronounced for sure.

Rob the helmet I got from a vendor on Ebay called Soviet Army Stuff. It was about 15 dollars I think if I remember rightly. I've seen some on ebay from £10 - £50. This one is a Soviet helmet from the 80's.

Definitely Jon, the slope should be more accentuated.

Thanks again for the tip Olivier.

I'm going to have a go at changing the shape today, I can take it apart easily enough with a scribing tool actually. I've already stripped the rear panel and repositioned it once as it was too thick.

I think though first off I'll try to sand down the top edges to shape it that way without having to take it all apart and see how it goes. From the photo in the kageroo book the angle doesn't look that sharp. What would you say the correct angle should be? 45 degrees or more (60-70 degrees)?

Jon,

Very nice build so far. There's quite a few things that will be useful in my own BMP-2 build.

One thing regarding the exhaust. If I'm not totaly wrong the edging should be on all four sides. I used a piece of "sprue" from the Eduard set that had exactely the right height and soldered it in place. Not sure if this is to late to add?





Looking forward to seeing the rest of the build!

Cheers,
/E

Hi Eric, thanks for the tip. No it's not too late to add that now if I have to. Actually I was having trouble finding good pictures of this part because in the Kagero book it's covered with a metal cover so you can't really see it or the detail inside. I must say though that on other photos I hadn't noticed.

Olivier do you have any better images or diagrams of this part?

Jon,

Here's one from Primeportal:
http://data3.primeportal.net/apc/egor_kalmykov/bmp-2/images/bmp-2_10_of_36.jpg

Her's a BMP-1 from Dishmodels:
http://www.vif2ne.ru/smf/stuff/Ornst/01199_8928557.jpg

My favourite walk around on Dishmodels seems to have been removed...

Cheers,
/E

Jon
sorry for the delay in my answer, here is a picture showing how the fuelcell should be angled



Coming from military-quotes.com site

These ones come from Ru.modelism







HTH
Olivier

Erik, Olivier thanks for the photos, those are really helpful.

It's odd that Eduard didn't include this rear wall on the grill, and thanks for pointing this out I would have totally overlooked it. I'll probably do what you did Erik and use some spare PE sprue to cover the area.

I got myself some great books yesterday, in particular Fred Koch's Russian Tanks and Armoured Vehicles 1946-to the present. It's a real nice hard back with loads of photos and technical diagrams. It also has a big chapter on IFV's and APC's covering BTR family and BMP family.

Since most of the work on the exterior is now done I'm finishing off the interior as fast as possible so I can start painting it. This whole area of course will need to be painted before the hull goes together.

I've also ordered the last two figure sets from Battalion that I need to finish the scene and these should arrive shortly. This weekend I'll be off to Belarus and Russia for a Month so I will have to put this Blog on hold (along with my others). However I've ordered some kits to be delivered to Minsk so I have some things to build while I'm there. It'll give me a chance to post in a section I don't usually post, the Russo Soviet Forum as it will be a regular build minus a dio! Something quite new for me!

I've been giving the battle damage and the painting a lot of thought recently, and I've found some more good reference pics of knocked out BMP's I'm particularly interested in the burn marks and fire damage:







This last one would make an interesting dio, but isn't quite right for me on this project, but maybe in the future!

I've also found some great colour photos of BMP's in action (most of my others were black and white) these show of the wear and mud really well and will certainly help with the weathering stages. I'll be using photos like these a lot during the painting for reference.

Following feedback and the points raised by fellow modellers here on Armorama I've attempted to correct some of the outstanding issues. I've rummaged through my box and found and old spare plastic part for the rocket launcher to cover the end of the tube as was suggested, and I've re-worked the main fuel cell / seating area to take away the square edges and make it more angular. I did as much as I could to reshape it without taking the whole thing apart. The angle still isn't exactly accurate but for me at this stage in the build it's good enough. Definately next time I would change this and make the angle sharper and more pronounced as Olivier quite rightly suggested.

I've also covered the seats with aluminium foil to try and get the leather texture after I saw a similar trick done by Nic Cortese in the Osprey Modelling the T-55 book. His work is of course vastly superior to mine, but I think it looks better than the raw modelling putty.









I also can't thank Olivier enough for sending me details of the BMP-2 technical manuals. I used these today to detail the drivers compartment and firewall, using the diagrams as templates for the various hatches and covers. They also helped show me some errors in my initial interior build in terms of the basic structure and length of the engine bay section (it's a little too long), however this late into the project and since the front area will only be partly visible through the hatches I've decided to let the tiny errors slip





I've also added some extra detail to the commander and gunners station, adding the signal pistol and some pouches



My next challenge is to try and work out the plumping and wiring inside the drivers compartment. So far I havent found a diagram that covers the correct positions and through the hatch photos in the kagero book don't give me enough to make out. Olivier do you know if those manuals you sent me cover this?