Skytrex 20mm Russian moderns Q's

[Trysop]

Hello,

I have been trying to source good 20mm / 1:72 Russian vehicles to go with Elheim Figures cold war NBC Russian troopers. I am particularly interested in Skytrex's 20mm BDRM2 and BTR-60PB, but I cannot find any pictures of the vehicles anywhere and Skytrex don't have any online.

I was wondering if anyone here who has the models could share a picture of theirs, or even just comment on the quality of the vehicles as I am reluctant to buy them without feedback.

Of course I would also welcome any comments of the compatibility of the figures with the vehicles if anyone has both of them or other suggestions for these models.

The vehicles are listed here:
http://www.skytrex.com/159/ff-ussr/

And the troopers are listed here:
http://www.elhiemfigures.com/cold_war_65.html

thanks

[carlos marighela]

I can't comment directly on the BTR 6 0 PBs but I did/ do have some Skytrex 20mm from the late 'eighties early '90s. They are all completely metal kits, heavy beats. Fairly well detailed, my T-54 holds up well against its plastic chums. Not sure what the moulds are like 20 + years later but when they came out they required minimal clean up, usually just a few mould lines here and there and the occasional distortion or gunge in tracks. The best items were IMO the tanks, which tended to be two or three part kits. I had their M113 which was a multipart kit and it was a bear to put together, part of the problem being the very weight of the component parts the other being part fit. Ultimately only the turret and tracks survived.

For the BTR-60s there is the PST plastic kit as an alternative. Their kits build very easily and look good. For the BRDM Skytrez is probably your best bet. The only other BRDM-2 I can think of is the ACE short run kit, which, trust me, really is a complete pain to put together. In fact where possible I would avoid ACE kits. Great subject material, accurately sculpted but really require too much time to complete.

[cataphractarius]

Had much the same problem some time ago. As for BTRs, I'd go for the PST kits as carlos has suggested; good fit and nice end result.

There is another BRDM kit out there (actually several) by Armo; that's a resin kit, and a very good at that:

http://www.jadarhobby.pl/armo-72002-brdm-p-899.html

As I had already built another Armo kit, I decided to get one of these and not a Skytrex one, and I'm quite pleased with it.

Another alternative would be a Trumpeter/Easy Model BTR-80, which come either as kit or as ready made vehicle. Normally I'm not a great fan of ready mades, but every now and then I succumb to the temptation, and the BTRs are definitely nice (though as always there's scope for improvement).