BT-42
Finnish Assault Howitzer

UM, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

UM's 1/72 scale BT-42  is available online from Squadron.com

The BT-42 was a Finnish adaptation of captured Russian BT-7 tanks to an Assault Tank by using a British 114mm howitzer in a rebuilt tall turret. There were about 18 built.

The kit uses the hull parts from the earlier BT-7 kit and a new sprue for the turret. As is usual for UM kits, the sprues in dark green are beautifully moulded with no hint of flash and sink and ejector pin marks only where they can't be seen. Almost all surfaces of the lower hull are separate parts giving plenty of opportunity for misalignment hence my over-engineered remark in the summary. Unlike earlier UM kits, the road wheels have no separate soft rubber tyres and are all in one piece. Although the hull hatch can be mounted open the turret hatch is moulded closed but wouldn't be a major problem to open.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The PE doesn’t look over done although there is a bit of rolling to do but that shouldn't cause a problem for any-one with PE experience.

Decals look like they may have a small misalignment problem with the blue and white of the Finnish markings. There are also several decals on the sheet which are not on the instructions and I think this is a pity as some of those decals look interesting.

The instructions also don't tell you where, when and by whom these tanks are operated, however, I think I can live with that.

This kit looks to me like a very interesting build of an equally interesting vehicle especially in the Finnish three colour scheme mentioned in the instructions.

Highly recommended to all experienced modellers.

Thanks to Squadron for the review sample.

Review and Images Copyright © 2005 by Glen Porter
Page Created 15 August, 2005
Last updated 14 August, 2005

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