Hmm, after yet another frustrating problem with my BTR-80 I think I'll put up some pictures in the hope it will help inspire me into finishing it!

I'm putting together the Zvezda 1/35 kit, and it all started off ok with the turret









I've found some neat walk arounds of Hungarian vehicals, so have wired up the smoke grenade launchers, and added a 'plug' on the side of the turret, plus a searchlight mounted over the gun.

I concidered replacing the gun itself with a metal part, but that would have cost more than I can afford at present and it should look good when painted.

Then the problems started.... All the hinges were terrible, 'movable' items which I started to replace. Not so bad as I was expecting this.

Next the grab handles, the thinkness looked ok in styrene, but almost all broke cutting them off the sprues so wire replacements were made (note the shape of the front set differs from the kit supplied ones. I also realise the roof level ones are not present in the Hungarian vehical I based the turret on

Ok I'll leave them for now, but may have to remove them later

Now another straight forward job replace the terrible hatch handles, finish 2 out of 4 ok but then loose my scrap brass strip I need to make them from

Followed by loosing the internal windscreen assembly which remains missing even now even though it should be large enough to see.



The splash board at the front was undersized from the photo's I've seen so I patched in an extra section. That went ok and I'm happy with the result .

I gave up on the missing windscreen and decided to close the armoured covers, but surprise surprise they are too small so 'll need to build some replacements when I get hold of a new styrene sheet

Now on to the lower hull, I'd started modifying the kit based on some plans, plus photos of a couple of 'acurized' resin parts as I could not find any underside photos.



However NOW I have some pictures from my appeal on here about the suspension, and the drain plugs look to protrude, rather than being recessed so I'll have to redo them

(I sometimes wonder why I'm spending time on stuff that will not be seen )

And finally where I've hit a wall, the hull just does not fit together atall well, so loads of putty and loads of inconvenient sanding

and the suspension is terrible and I just don't know what to attempt to change....



Ah well that's my moan, I'll give the kit a rest and wait for my sheet styrene to come through the post. Hopefully I'll feel more inspired by then!

Nice work so far. I know what a bear of a kit it can be if you really want accuracy. I suggest taking a step back and having fun with it...and save the super accurate one for whenever Trumpeter comes out with their BTR-80 in 1/35...

I agree with Jacques here. But I think you've made a bloody good go of sorting many of the accuracy issues. I too replaced most of the grab-handles (on the BTR-80A kit) with brass rod.
The Eduard PE sets also add some refinement to it but I think you've already built most of the kit rendering most of the etch bits fairly redundant. (Perhaps for another time!)
If you have some acetate sheets you might be able to fit it in behind the front windows?

Anyway, keep up the good work.

Good luck.

-Karl187-

I agree with Jacques

You are doing a very stunning job

Personally I've decided to not consider the old eastern kits and wait for new Trumpeter releases


But anyway congrats for your skill and your patience

cheers

Thanks for all your positive comments, I've now sanded back a lot of the filler, and scratched the armoured front window covers so I'm feeling more cheerfull about the kit.

I still have to decide what to do about the suspension though!

The link below

http://armyrecognition.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1197

shows that Belarus fields BTR-80's with both grab handles on the roofline, and gun mounted lamps

so problems solved!