I’ve recently gotten more of an interest in cold war vehicles. What is the best BMP-1 kit out there? I also plan on purchasing some aftermarket stuff, PE and what not. TIA,
Colin
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I’ve never built a BMP-1 kit, but my gut recommends Trumpeter’s kit.
You can read this kit review from Britmodeller to help you out. The kit does come with a metal barrel and PE, so that’s a plus.
Soviet BMP-1 Infantry Fighting Vehicle - 1:35 Trumpeter - Kits - Britmodeller.com
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There are two (2) options:
- Trumpeter, first issued in 2012
- Dragon/Italeri/DML/Shanghai Dragon/Zvezda, first issued 1989 (before the Iron Curtain fell …)
I have built the original Dragon kit and have looked inside the boxes of Trumpeters kits.
Trumpeter is the best choice in 1/35th scale, as @SableLiger already posted.
The full history of Zvezdas boxing:
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There are also the Lindberg BMP-1 and ESCI BMP-1 & BMP-2 kits all issued around the same time as the Dragon kit in the late 80’s… The ESCI kit at least doesn’t feature working hatches, nor have the open vacant periscope slots, and has link & length tracks…
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Trumpeter kit, without any doubts.
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@Uncle-Heavy @SableLiger @HermannB @Stikpusher ,
Thank you all, I will most likely snag a Trumpeter kit. I saw the Trumpeter kits while I was looking on Scalemates but since I heard about some accuracy issues with their KV series I figured I should ask.
In Stock if you want to pick one up.
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As a benefit, you get both a one-piece styrene barrel and a turned metal barrel. And from the BMP-1 P kit you can also build the early BMP with the Sagger missile.
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Thanks Reynier! I will check it out.
@HermannB That’s quite the plus!
Also in stock if you want to go with the BMP-1P.
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Another note, Trumpeter’s BMP-2 kits come with full interiors too if that interests you.
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If you are located in the United States, Scale Hobbiest currently sells both Trumpeter kits mentioned above for about $38.00 US. Shipping runs about $10.00 US and takes 3 or 4 days to California. Chinese merchants on eBay sell them cheaper still if you are willing to wait a couple weeks. In my experience over about a dozen recent orders, Scale Hobbiest and Sprue Brothers are both excellent merchants. The couple things I ordered from China also arrived in good order. If you go the eBay route, eBay is currently extremely pro-buyer but chose someone with a lot of positive feedback.
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Alright thanks! I’ve never heard of Scale Hobbiest, but I’ll check them out.
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https://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagories/browse.php?kw=bmp-1
It’s spelled ‘hobbyist’
Google search would probably have found it anyway
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Oh oops thanks!
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+1 for Scale Hobbyist. Almost always best prices in USA, $10 shipping flat rate, and fast.
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The Trumpeter kit even comes with a turned barrel, hands down the best kit.
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An unmentioned advantage of the Trumpeter kit: It’s actually 1/35 scale.
KL
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One small issue with the Trumpeter kit is they did not include the tie-downs for the rear mounted un-ditching log.
You can see them here.
Another angle.
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From memory, 1989 near the end of the Cold War, close ~35 years ago, we were happy to have the Dragon BMP kits. They had fit isues, scale issues, detail issues etc but vs no kit they were OK for that era under the circumstances. However, other than nostalgia, I’d don’t think there much going for the Dragon BMP kits vs Trumpeter’s much newer BMP’s.
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