Sunday 14 June 2020

3D Printed BMP-1 Infantry Fighting Vehicle

BMP-1 With Tank Girl

This is another of the  Bergman designs printed under licence by [chcha_5648] and sold on eBay for £12.

I filled large 3D Print lines in with Milliput and just used a thick undercoat to hide the finer ones.

The BMP was the world's first IFV, designed to transport Soviet infantry through radiation soaked battlefields on their way to the Rhine. More than 40,000 were manufactured and they still turn up all over the world in modern wars. The main weapon is a strange, 73 mm, low-pressure smoothbore firing an RPG out to about 500 m. Later an explosive shell was provided which was far more useful.

An AT-3 'Sagger' launcher was mounted over the gun but this was next to useless in practice so they were often removed. Later upgrades have all sorts of improvements, 30 mm autocannon, AT-3 or AT-5 ATGM, automatic grenade launchers etc.

BMP-1 Of The Afghan Police

There is very little room inside because the vehicle was designed to be ground hogging, partly to make it inconspicuous and partly so it would not be blown over by nuclear blasts. In the real world they are always festooned with baggage of various sorts or the baggage is inside and the passengers ride on top - a much safer proposition in modern wars where mines and IEDs are the primary threat.

Out Of The Box

The kit comes in two pieces, a hull and a rotating turret.

Spare Turret

You get the choice of two turrets included in the price, with or without the Sagger.


14 comments:

  1. Great job on the IFV John your painting has elevated the piece

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  2. Excellent little write up Dr L

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  3. I've always loved the BMP-1 & especially the 2, but I'd dread ever having to go into battle in one!

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    Replies
    1. *aesthetically I've always loved...

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    2. I understood your point. The back doors through which the infantry exit contain the fuel tanks!

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    3. Seeing the obvious design flaw, crews very quickly just started filling those with sand. Didn't really help much in terms of ballistic protection, but ANYTHING was better than fuel!

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    4. Hadn’t heard that before but makes sense. At least sand won’t explode when penetrated by a heavy bullet and trap you in the fire.

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  4. Nice job on this one too I like the judicious use of Jerrycans and baggage to hide the worst of the print lines the mashed milliput seems to have worked too

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    Replies
    1. Armoured vehicles often look like a barbarian migration on the move.

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  5. Hi John I saw on PBS america a couple of days ago a programme about Vietnam Gun trucks that the Americains used to guard convoys of the fuel and supply trucks they needed to keep the helicopters flying basically they put guns and armour around standard heavy trucks then painted in huge letters names on the side "Brutus", "The Misfits" et al this was all done in theatre Brutus had a mini gun and a couple of 50Cal MGs. When the Americans faced the same problem in Iraq they had to relearn it using anecdotal evidence just saying worth a watch (and perhaps a conversion or two)

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