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Scale Model Shop

Zvezda BT-7 Soviet Light Tank 1/35

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The BT-7 was a decent tank in its day. It was fast, reasonably armoured and had a respectable gun, all good enough at the outbreak of war. It was a bit odd in that it adopted the Christie suspension of the early Vickers tanks that were sold to the Soviets, including the ability to drive on roads without tracks. This was one of Christie's ideas to make tanks faster. It took about 30 minutes to remove the tracks then lock the first road wheel at the rear to the drive system, release the lock to allow the front road wheel behind the return roller to steer and for the driver to attach a steering column to steer it with. The long travel verticle coil Spring suspension gave a decent ride and was kept and modified through many Soviet tanks through the War and beyond including the ubiquitous T34. The ability to run without tracks though soon disappeared.


The kit is OK. It isn't a Tamiya or Dragon but it has a fairly low part count and appears accurate enough to look like a BT-7. Good enough for me. The detail, such as there is, is well moulded and the box art depicts a command vehicle easily identified by the horizontal antennae around the turret and the red band, sometimes white and possibly other colours, to identify it. In fact it might as well have carried a big placard with "Shoot me first" written on it. Early in the war, and even surprisingly late on, most Soviet tanks did not carry wireless sets. The Command tank had the radio and communicated with other tanks in the troop by sticking signal flags up through a small hatch on the turret top. So, lose this tank and the others were blind and deaf to what was going on.


There are some issues with the kit and, being suitably forewarned by that cheery chapie Harry Houdini from Australia who has a superb and entertaining YouTube channel, I was aware of the short falls. For extras, well, I have followed Harries lead and got the Eduard photo etch set, an aluminium barrel for the main gun and the Bronco track set.


The track set is a must. The supplied tracks are just wrong. I don't mean this in a rivet counting way, they are the wrong tracks and do not fit. Zvezda appear to have included tracks for a later type and the links are too long. As the tracks have a guide pin every other track, it means that you cannot take out a single link to correct this. Weird I know, but there you are.


So, I have bored you enough, on with the pre build pictures.


All the bits


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Photo etch


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Barrel (cost me £1)


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Bronco Tracks, says workable but we shall see


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And the kit itself


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Pretty standard instructions


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And those track links


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Hopefully you can see the difference compared to the correct brown Bronco links


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So that's the plan. The photo etch replaces quite a bit of plastic and just about doubles the part count but it will be an interesting exercise to get me back into some serious photo etch. In fact planning the PE will be the first stage


First update will be soon, hope you enjoy :)
 
i did this a couple of yers ago......minus all the after market stuff lol.......and enjoyed it, went together a treat
 
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I have to do one of these one day, or BT-5, but comes beautifully you to do one before, and we currents such is.


You mind what you say cost the tracks and PE ?, thanks and greetings
 
Thread owner
Me too! I've been sniffing around the new tool tamiya of this tank, so am all ears and eyes! That's some nice looking etch.
 
Thread owner
\ said:
i did this a couple of yers ago......minus all the after market stuff lol.......and enjoyed it, went together a treat
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The hull is proving 'challenging' probably as I only have two hands and it has no locating points to help align and hold in place. However, I am over that and I have moved on :confused: so from now on, I hope it does indeed go together a treat ;)
 
Thread owner
\ said:
I have to do one of these one day, or BT-5, but comes beautifully you to do one before, and we currents such is.
You mind what you say cost the tracks and PE ?, thanks and greetings
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Thanks Piakio, the tracks were about £11 and the photo etch around £8 plus postage so not too bad.
 
Thread owner
\ said:
Me too! I've been sniffing around the new tool tamiya of this tank, so am all ears and eyes! That's some nice looking etch.
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Now he tells me there is a new tool Tamiya :( . Some of the etch is superfluous such as this drivers control panel which I put in for a laugh as there is no other inside detail for the drivers position other than a dubious looking 'armchair' and a steering wheel which would only be used if building it trackless :rolleyes:


View attachment 244258



However, what I really wanted was the etch fenders and engin grills. There is interior turret details though which I might build up to see if it is worth leaving the turret hatches open as, like most Soviet tanks, there isn't a turret basket as such so I will see how that goes.
 
Thread owner
\ said:
Now he tells me there is a new tool Tamiya :( . Some of the etch is superfluous such as this drivers control panel which I put in for a laugh as there is no other inside detail for the drivers position other than a dubious looking 'armchair' and a steering wheel which would only be used if building it trackless :rolleyes:
View attachment 144011


However, what I really wanted was the etch fenders and engin grills. There is interior turret details though which I might build up to see if it is worth leaving the turret hatches open as, like most Soviet tanks, there isn't a turret basket as such so I will see how that goes.
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Yep, I only found out a week or so ago, as I heard a few folks alluding to it on another forum, and have been looking for some new-tool tanks to build, after the Dragon Tiger is finished. My Matilda was new tool, and such a brilliant kit to make, beautifully detailed, with a great "cast" texture, where appropriate, and a choice of tracks. I want another Russian beast, as I think they offer great scope for the weathering techniques I'm experimenting with. I agree its an odd looking beast, but lots of nooks and crannies to mess around with in weathering. Plus, I'm a sucker for that yellowy green the Russians used, and the hand painted symbols so common on WW11 tanks!
 
Thread owner
\ said:
Yep, I only found out a week or so ago, as I heard a few folks alluding to it on another forum, and have been looking for some new-tool tanks to build, after the Dragon Tiger is finished. My Matilda was new tool, and such a brilliant kit to make, beautifully detailed, with a great "cast" texture, where appropriate, and a choice of tracks. I want another Russian beast, as I think they offer great scope for the weathering techniques I'm experimenting with. I agree its an odd looking beast, but lots of nooks and crannies to mess around with in weathering. Plus, I'm a sucker for that yellowy green the Russians used, and the hand painted symbols so common on WW11 tanks!
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Any of the Bronco Russian armour kits are lovely John. They're like Dragon but without the unnecessary fiddly bits & come with proper instructions at no extra cost!
 
Thread owner
\ said:
That's making me think of an armoured Hot Rod... something about the front axle stubs perhaps?
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What just stick a couple of big fat rubbers on the back and a couple of moped wheels on the front........ Mmmmmm, err, no.....
 
Thread owner
\ said:
Any of the Bronco Russian armour kits are lovely John. They're like Dragon but without the unnecessary fiddly bits & come with proper instructions at no extra cost!
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There's one on my wish list! ;)
 
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Thx for reply, just out of curiosity, how much it cost the BT-7? ...:rolleyes:
 
Thread owner
Looks good, chair pulled up, looking to see what you do with this one Graham;)
 
nice start on this one ,Graham,I have had the same kit sitting for a yr or so,


do like the workable tracks and added PE,will be interesting to see , ;)
 
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