BTR-4E Ukrainian APC with GROM Turret

IBG Models, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

Background

The BTR-4E also nicknamed ‘Bucephalus’ is the export version of the BTR-4, an 8x8 armoured vehicle personnel carrier (APC) designed by the Ukrainian Company Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau.

This is the latest generation of wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APC) manufactured by the Ukrainian defence industry. This is a new development of an 8x8 armoured vehicle that is not based on Russian technology of wheeled combat vehicles as the BTR-80 family.

The BTR-4E APC is designed to be used as a personnel carrier vehicle for infantry units or as a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle with a weapon station to provide fire support. It can be operated under various climatic conditions. In July 2012, Ukrainian Defence Ministry had announced the delivery of the first BTR-4E APC for its armed forces. The BTR-4E is already in mass production and is in service with Ukraine and Iraq.

On December 24, 2019, the Ukrainian army had taken the delivery of 12 BTR-4E 8x8 APCs and more again in 2020.  In 2014, Ukraine had delivered 10 BTR-4Es to Nigeria.

 armyrecognition.com

Wikipedia adds that Russia captured over a dozen in the 2022 operations, and that about 750 have been built so far. The GROM turret in this kit features:

1× 30 mm automatic cannon

1× 30 mm automatic grenade launcher

1× 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun

4× 9P135M Konkurs or Baryer AT missiles.

FirstLook

IBG has built up a huge reputation for offering modellers a range of excellent, though complex, kits of soft-skin and AFVs from WWII and more recent conflicts. This kit from the Polish manufacturer is the third one in the series which started in 2023 with different armament and armour, and comes in the usual strong top-opening box with an illustration of the vehicle in action in a devastated urban scene.

Inside is a twelve page A4 instruction booklet, a photo-etched fret with a mass of fine details, a decal sheet and 15 sprues containing an astounding 253 grey plastic parts and a clear one of 11 parts. This is no weekend build, and, having built at least a dozen IBG kits, my advice is to take your time, constantly check the instructions and only remove parts from their sprues when needed.

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Thumbnail panels:

There are two body tops provided so make sure you select the correct one for this variant.

Parts are beautifully moulded, with great detail, small gates, very little flash or seams but many are very, very small or fine and you will need to take care cutting them from the sprues. Interior detail is pretty complete with the driver’s cab complete with panels, seats with tiny grab handles and all manner of bibs and bobs - doors must be left open to see all this. Similarly the rear cabin has seven five-part seats to make up, consisting of both plastic and PE details. Again, the rear doors will have to be left open to see it all. The specific colour information is provided for the six brands listed on the colour table, being Vallejo/Modelair, Hataka, Life Color, Mr Hobby , AK Interactive and Mission Models - all acrylics. So if you do not use these paints or are an enamel user you will have to do some researching. For example, the interior is ‘grey’ but if you don’t use any of the six named brands then you are stuck as to the shade.

The suspension is extremely detailed with 42 parts to put together - keep checking to make sure that it is all level so that the eight wheels will all be in contact with Mother Earth! Each of the eight wheels is made up of three parts and the tread and hub detail are great.

The exterior of the body is festooned with mass of PE and plastic detail that will require care in placement.

There is quite a lot of finely moulded detail, such as cables and tools on the body that might be a challenge to paint. The remotely-operated turret is made up of 25 plastic parts and 13 tiny PE pieces and is rotatable.

The instruction booklet is very detailed and clearly shows where all the parts go and what each of the thirty steps should look like - a great idea.

Markings

The decals provide markings for two vehicles.

They appear to be well printed with good density:

1. a green vehicles with sand blotches of a training unit in Lviv in October 2018, and

2. an overall green machine of an unknown unit in the Ukraine in March 2022, numbered 102 and with a unit badge on the turret and a white stripe along the body.

Conclusion

This is a great little model that ends up being about 100mm long, 40mm wide and 50mm tall  - that’s a lot of parts crammed into a small volume!

If your interest lies in this scale and modern conflicts then prepare yourself for a treat and as such comes highly recommended.

Just take your time with it for a great reward.

Thanks to IBG Models for the sample