1:35 Russian T-62 BDD Mod.1984

The modernized T-62 of the 1980s

Series production of the T-62 got going in 1961 and the machine went down in history above all because it was the first tank in the world to receive a smoothbore gun. A caliber of 115 millimeters, the automatic ejection of spent cases through a hatch in the turret and a fairly low silhouette made it a formidable opponent, but one that the development of armor protection in the West soon caught up with.

The designation BDD belongs to a set of add-on passive protection that the machines received from the middle of the 1980s. A massive casting sits on the front of the turret, which crews nicknamed the eyebrows, and further plates cover the upper front surface of the hull. The layered material inside is meant to blunt the effect of a shaped charge warhead, the main threat that Soviet tank companies met in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the later conflicts in the Caucasus.

The kit in 1:35 scale captures exactly this form with the armor package fitted. The sprues of parts are waiting to be assembled, and the modeler takes care of the finish according to the unit and the period chosen.

Ideas for the finish and the setting

Several routes suggest themselves. A machine with a fresh single-color finish and sharp edges on the armor block looks as though it has just been collected from a workshop, whereas a version covered in a layer of light dust with worn tracks across the fenders tells of a long move. In a scene an open hatch, a crew resting on the turret and cargo lashed to the rear all work well, because that is exactly how the machines of that period look in period photographs.