Hello everyone,

I had an old DML BRDM-2 lying around for 5-6 years, half-built and forgotten in a deep shelf. When I heard that Trumpeter was releasing a new BRDM-2, I remembered my old DML relic. I was either to dump it or complete it... so I decided to give it a try.



This is how I found the kit. I think I abandoned the build when I couldn't find suitable after-market tires. Afterwards, I have obtained resin tires from Trakz, but the build was forgotten anyway.

I have sanded some parts, made small tweaks and tried on the new wheels. Looks set to go. The level of detail is a bit basic in this Dragon kit. The fit of some parts is.. well not so good and there are accuracy issues. But still, it shall be built!

At this point I have built three only-green vehicles in a row, so I was really sick of monotonous green. I asked here in these forums for some camouflaged examples and got some great feedback, thank you! Based on those, I decided to use Russian colors on my BRDM. I don't know how correct I am in terms of accuracy... but since the kit itself is inaccurate I think a "wrong" paint job would not hurt.

The colors chosen were green-sandy yellow and flat black. The green and yellow are Gunze colors, while the black is Tamiya's trusty XF-1. While I was painting, however, I realized my Iwata started quitting on me. It started to sputter and paint was coming out of the tip even when the trigger was not pulled. Lots of over-spray as a result, it's a miracle I got this far. The problem got worse and worse.

After a lot of search-trial-error maintenance, I found the problem with my airbrush. A very basic error, the quick coupling somehow got the end of the trigger stuck, which in turn forced the needle backwards anytime I pushed the trigger to get air. Removing and reattaching the quick-coupling solved the problem.

Now my airbrush was like new, I touched up the camouflage to correct those nasty oversprays. I also added some fading to the base colors to create some depth.

Filters, a dark wash and some streaks were done with oil colors. The photos are a little blue because of the flourescent light in my room.






And finally, I was done yesterday night.

These are the final photos. Any comments and criticism welcome.
I would like to thank the folks here in the Russo-Soviet forums once again for their help for finding camouflaged photos of BRDMs.

very very nice! great work!

Excellent work !!

Love that paint and weathering. Just right

Cheers,
ED

Wow, thats absolutely superb Emre! The camouflage is just perfect and I love the subtle fading you have achieved. Top work! Just goes to show what can be done with some of these older kits.

Love the camo scheme and subtle weathering- a very nicely finished model.

Thank you folks, glad you like it

Emre-
Very nice work on the BRDM. I also have that kit and think about it once in a while. Now seeing the results you have achieved with the kit OOB, except for tires, it is not a bad kit after-all (setting aside accuracy issues).

Again, nice job,

Stephen

Hi Emri,

Just saw this thread for first time. what an awsome job you have done. great camo and i like the less is more weatering look that you have. Very nice indeed!

Gary

Very nice. BRDM-2 is my favourite vehicle.
Thanks for sharing
Euan