BT-5 wheel-track tank with cylindrical turret
1/72scale plastic model kit
UMT360
Manufacturer: UMmt (Ukraine)
Scale: 1/72
Material: Plastic
Condition: New in Box
The BT tanks (Russian: БыÑтроходный танк (БТ), Bystrokhodny tank, lit. "fast moving tank" or "high-speed tank") were a series of Soviet cavalry tanksproduced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941. They were lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for their time, and had the best mobility of all contemporary tanks of the world. The BT tanks were known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or its diminutive Betushka.
The direct successor of the BT tanks would be the famous T-34 medium tank, introduced in 1940, which would replace all of the Soviet fast tanks, infantry tanks, and medium tanks in service.The BT tanks were "convertible tanks". This was a feature designed by J. Walter Christie to reduce wear of the unreliable tank tracks of the 1930s. In about thirty minutes the crew could remove the tracks and engage a chain driveto the rearmost road wheel on each side, allowing the tank to travel at very high speeds on roads. In wheeled mode the tank was steered by pivoting the front road wheels. However, Soviet tank forces soon found the convertible option of little practical use in a country with few paved roads, and it consumed space and added needless complexity and weight. The feature was dropped from later Soviet designs.
BT-5: larger cylindrical turret, 45mm 20-K gun, coaxial DT machine gun.
- BT-5 Model 1933: new turret with twin hatches and larger bustle.
- BT-5PKh: snorkelling variant (prototypes only).
- BT-5A: artillery support version with 76.2mm howitzer (few made).
- RBT-5: rocket launcher artillery version, equipped with two 420mm tank torpedoes (prototypes only).
- BT-5 flamethrower tank: (prototypes only).
- BT-5-IS: experimental model with heavily sloped front armor, it served as "sloped armor testbed" together with the BT-SW-2 experimental tank.
| BT-5 | |
|---|---|
 BT-5 |
|
| Type | Light cavalry tank |
| Place of origin |  Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1932–45 |
| Wars | Spanish Civil War, Soviet–Japanese border conflicts, Winter War. World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | J. Walter Christie, Morozov |
| Designed | 1930–31 |
| Manufacturer | KhPZ |
| Produced | 1932–41 |
| Number built | BT-2: 650 BT-5: 1884 BT-7: 5556 |
| Variants | BT-2, BT-5, BT-7, BT-7M |
| Specifications (BT-5) | |
| Weight | 11.5 tonnes (12.676 tons) |
| Length | 5.58 m (18 ft 4 in) |
| Width | 2.23 m (7 ft 4 in) |
| Height | 2.25 m (7 ft 5 in) |
| Crew | 3 |
- Stock: 3
- Model: UMT360
- Weight: 0.21lb
- DATE ADDED: 03/03/2014
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