| KIT: | UM 1/72 BA-6 Armored Car |
| KIT # | 318 |
| PRICE: | $8.98 ($7.97 at Squadron) |
| DECALS: | Two Options |
| REVIEWER: | Scott Van Aken |
| NOTES: |
| HISTORY |
The BA-6 armored car was the result of a 1935 design that used the GAZ-AAA truck chassis as a basis. This version had a turret containing a 45mm gun and also mounted two 7.62mm machine guns. The armor was but a mere 9mm, but it was designed to stop standard gun bullets and not a hit from a tank! An anemic 40 hp 4-cylinder engine was used to power this 5 ton vehicle giving it only about 8 hp per ton, so fact it really wasn't. The vehicle had 4 crew members, making things a touch cramped when combined with the 60 cannon and 3200 machine gun rounds! A total of 386 were built and it saw action where ever Soviet material was used, including the Spanish Civil War, the Russo-Finnish Wars, the Manchurian War and, of course, the Great Patriotic War.
| THE KIT |
I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when opening the box. The five medium green sprues are full of well detailed, flash and ejector pin-free parts. There were no sink marks that I could find, and while the sprue attachment points may be a bit thicker than the norm, it should provide no problems. The tires for the vehicle are separate and made of a flexible plastic. There are no clear parts and for an armored car, none are really needed.
Instructions are quite good and use Humbrol paints as color references. Some modification of kit parts will be needed as, with many model companies, there are multiple variants of these kits so some commonality is expected. Markings for two vehicles are provided. One is a 1938 vehicle and the other a 1943 version. The decal placement guide is in Russian so I am unable to read it. The decals themselves look to be well done. I've had fairly good results from Ukraine-made kit decals so these should work well. Both vehicles are in overall Soviet green for which Humbrol 155 is recommended.
| CONCLUSIONS |
This is a really nice looking kit. Complex enough to give it good detail, yet not so much so as to make it a chore to build. It should find favor with a lot of 1/72 armor modelers and make a nice addition to any small scale armor collection.
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