In my preparation for my next dio I have been trying to find the operation life of certain soviet AFVs in service to the Red Army. It is a rather large dio and has a larger amount of vehicles than I would usually use.

This is my current list of AFVs for the dio with either the year they went into service/production or the year they were identified by the west. Note all of these vehicles will not necessarily be used in the dio but are speculative at the moment.

T-72) 1971
BTR-70) 1978
BRDM) 1966 (Although it begins to widely replace the original BRDM in the mid 80's) (For my dio I would use the SA-9 Gaskin version)
MT-LB) 1970
T-80) 1978
BMP-1) 1967
BMP-2) 1981

Now through my research it has been relatively easy to find these years but the operation record get a bit murkier as more versions are introduced especially the export versions.
So my question is would the Soviet red army have operated these vehicles at the same time period. Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance. Oh and also thanks to everyone who has helped me recently especially on soviet AFV topics gearing up for my next project. The answers have all helped immensely.

Going by the numbers:

1. T-72BM and T-90 series are still in service with the Red Army now.

2. BTR-70 has pretty much been replaced by the BTR-80, although (using the old system) catagory 2 and 3 units still have them. Basically a "National Guard" vehicle now.

3. SA-9 is being phased out in favor of the newer systems, like the Tunguska. They are still in reserve unit use for now.

4. MT-LB's are still in use as artillery tractors, there are several varaiants still in use, and the follow on MTLBu series is being used extensively.

5. The initial T-80's are all up to T-80BV stadards (ERA) at least, with much of the current Red Army being made up of T-80U's and follow on from there.

6. BMP-1's are pretty much gone except for some of the specilized vehicles...PRP-3/4, BREM series, POTOK...etc.

7. BMP-2's are still standard AFV. Most updated to at least the -D standard (Additional armour) and there are a fair amount of the upgraded variants with the AGL system.

Hope that is what you were looking for...

Yes that does help alot. Thanks for the response.

Also say i set the dio in the early to mid 80's and had all of my mentioned vehicles except the BTR-70 and the BMP-2 would it be accurate? The current dio setup has the BTR or the BRDM in one spot and the BMP-1 or BMP-2 in another so those two sets are undefined as of now. I have all of the kits except for the MT-LB and I just have to begin to buy all of the AM sets I should have a build thread up outlining the dio and my progress pretty soon so keep your eyes open for that.

EDIT: Also I do have a T-80 with ERA in the stash so I could use that in place of the straight T-80.

Daniel,
Would a unit be operating T-72 and T-80 tanks at the same time?
Tom

I had figured if I based it right after the introduction of the t-80 (around 1980) I could get it when they were stil in the process of phasing out the T-72 and were just introducing the T-80.

Also would anyone be able to ID this T-80 variant. In this pic it shows it with the wading gear on which I have already begun to scratch build



The front one appears to be a straight T-80 and the other definetly has the ERA blocks on it but I just want to verify the version.

Hi,
to me the ERA fitted one looks like a T-80BV.

Allycat,
no chance to see T-80's and T-72's in the same unit/battalion. In the former system a division would have T-72's in the regular battalions and one separate tank bn possibly equipped with T-80's. But to my knowledge there was no mixture of the different tanks.

olivier

Thanks for the reply Olivier. I think I may lose the T-72 and use two T-80s. Using what I have in the stash I could either have one plain and one with ERA or just have two with ERA blocks on them.

T-72 units used T-62/T-55's before them.

T-80 units used T-64's before them.

Units switched over totally. No left overs...hence, only one tank type per scene (unless it is a maintenance area...)

The Two T-80's are indeed a T-80B (forground) and a T-80BV or even a T-80BVK (Commanders tank.) However, you are better to go with twoT-80BV's as the DML T-80B turret will look strange compared to the picture (it is incorrect in the kit).

Otherwise, a BMP-2 would be with T-80 units early to mid 1980's (Catagory 1 units) as well as with BTR-80's. SA-9 and MTLB would be fine.

T-72's would be with BMP-1's and BTR-70's. THey also would have SA-9's and MTLB's.

Happy building.

Thanks for the info Jacques.

I think the final loadout for the dio will be:
Two T-80BVs
One BMP-2
One BRDM-2 Gaskin
One MT-LB.

All of the kits are DML except for the MT-LB, which will be the Skif kit. I am fairly certain I will use 2 T-80 BVs with the ERA blocks but in the stash only one of them is the DML kit and the other is the Lindbergh kit of which I have no experience with their kits and have never heard anything about this kit of theirs, so if it turns out to be a poor kit I may have to use the non ERA DML kit.

Also does anyone know where the tube in the center in the pic above connects to the tank? I know the rear one connects to the exhaust system and is for venting out the exhaust and the other one connects to the commander's hatch for crew observation and access but I can't figure out where the other tube (used for venting in clean air) connects to the tank. If anyone has any ideas I am open to suggestions. Thanks again for bearing with me on this.


EDIT: Ah one more thing. Does anyone know if Fruil makes a set of T-80 tracks. I hvn't been able to find them if they do but as I usually find, that is by no means a definet indication.

The Lindberg kit is BAD. I would advise you to not use it.

THe only T-80 tracks I know of are from SP Designs

THe third snorkle hooks up to the air intake onthe rear deck behind the turret. I am assuming they either have a way to get the tube through the screening, or have a cover or bag to seal it to the screening. Probably explains why they invented the BROD-M trunck system....

Well I have a good bit done on the first tank, which will be just a T-80B. Since the entire rear deck will be obscured and some of the rear of the turret, most of the inaccuracies are not visible.

The rear intake screens do have hinges in the kit but it does not appear that they are raised in the photo. This detail should be no problem on the B but on the BV in which the entire tank is visible I think I will drill out a whole and then make a sleeve out of putty or tissue.

Also can anyone recommend a good color or mix to make a soviet green? These tanks compared to most soviet tanks I have made appear to have a much lighter paint job, although this could be due to weathering.

Thanks again.