Ref : KT-111
This resin
set fills the empty hull of all the plastic kits currently available that
derived from the original Dragon kit, including the Italeri, Zvezda, Revell and,
of course, the Dragon BMP-2 offerings. The intention of this kit is good,
however the final product has not fully reached the goal. Coming in a sturdy
cardboard box, it consists of approximately 80 parts in grey and yellow resin
including a resin lower hull that enables you to detail the troop compartment,
the turret and the driver compartment. The parts are wrapped in ziplock bags and
the lower hull is protected with air bubble film.
The cast quality varies, some parts present resin blobs and the lower hull is
"wrinkled". The level of detail is also varying and certain parts are wrong.
The lower
hull is a copy of the Dragon one in which AEF have prolonged the "wings",
and detailed the interior with torsion bars along with some details on the
walls. After comparison with pictures, those details are either wrong or only
partial. Unlike Dragon, the AEF offering details the bottom of the exterior hull
. Unfortunately, all the axles for the roadwheels, idlers, return rollers and
sprockets are missing. Due to some cast trouble, the surface of the lower hull
is totally "wrinkled" which makes the part useless.
The engine compartment is represented by the two walls, the base of which fits
to the floor details.
The troop
compartment comprises the bench seats, the central fuel tank, the vision
blocks, the firing ports and the two rear doors.
The bench seats are not correct for a BMP-2. Moreover their legs are missing and
you need a good documentation –hard to gather- to figure out how the benches
rest on the floor.
The central fuel tank and the batteries compartment are well cast, you just need
to bevel the base to set the part in place.
The firing ports are well represented for the ports themselves. On the contrary
their supports do not have the right angle. Consequently, they are parallel to
the hull sides. Some plastic card will help fixing that.
On the Dragon upper hull, you must move rearward the squad leader firing port
before setting the inner part.
The vision blocks have some air bubbles that need to be filled.
The rear doors are rather well cast. However they miss some details on the inner
face: a protection bar for the vision block, the “plugs” for the fuel pipes and
the locking handles. On the outer face, you’ll need to redo the handles
protections and remove a kind of stiffener. The firing port base must be
reshaped and its cover added. AEF did the same mistake as Dragon did by molding
the cover in recess whereas it should be flush.
The turret
is the more complex part and comprises the largest number of parts. The detail
is excellent, but the cast often spoils the overall quality. For example, the
locating holes are completely filled and in some instances a small resin ball is
present.
AEF includes the turret basket with the seats, the co-ax MG ammo box and a kind
of control box. The turret floor is missing the 30mm ammo boxes. The co-ax ammo
box must be thinned in order to give it a rectangular shape. Lastly, the seats
supports are ill-placed. They must be moved rearward. A kind of extinguisher and
the bracket for the AT missile stowed inside the turret are missing.
Concerning the upper part, it look like AEF have imagined some parts. The 30m cannon breech is simply wrong. The co-ax MG cradle is missing. Some parts provided are impossible to spot on pictures of the real turret. Furthermore, the instructions are not detailed enough which makes it difficult to get the proper location of the parts. Thus, it is advised to have at hand a good color documentation to build this assembly.
The gunner
sight is incorrect. Both handles on the sides should be removed. You need to add
the controls for one of the two stations. AEF have only provided one set of
controls which can be a good template. Do not follow the instructions to glue
this part. In reality it is not attached to the turret ceiling!
The vehicle commander sight is also wrong. You need to dramatically thin its
front face.
Only one electronic device has been provided for the turret bustle and the
missile controls have been omitted.
A turret ring
is also included and needs a cut-out in the plastic upper hull to fit the
turret.
The driver compartment comprises a dashboard, a steering device, the
vision blocks and of course the seats for both the driver and the soldier behind
him.
The dashboard is wrong, it misses two from the seven gauges. The steering device
does not come with a steering column (pretty complex in reality) and AEF vaguely
show how to glue it.
The seats are too wide and their supports are not correct.
AEF added a set of wheels which are quite well carved but suffer from the general cast problem leaving the positioning holes filled. Most importantly, they are not BMP wheels but MT-LB ones, maybe this is due to some boxing mistake!
The instructions are a succession of black and white drawings which are not always clear enough. No painting directions are given by AEF. For both these reasons, you need to get a good documentation prior to beginning building this set. Finished model pictures would often be useful.
Conclusion
AEF is praised for having released this set, as an infantry fighting vehicle is always more interesting to look at with its interior visible. However, the cast quality and the instructions spoil the set. Some parts are useless as they can’t be spotted on the instructions or on real vehicle pictures.
This set is really disappointing and not to be recommended.
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