BTR-70 Soviet armored personnel carrier, early prod. 1/72 ACE MODELS 72164

 BTR-70 Soviet armored personnel carrier, early prod.
1/72 scale plastic model kit
Ace Models 72164 

Manufacturer: Ace Models
Scale: 1/72
Material: Plastic
Condition: New in Box

The BTR-70 is an eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier (Russian:бронетранспортер, BTR stands for Bronetransportyor literally "armoured transporter"), originally developed during the late 1960s under the industrial designator GAZ-4905. On August 21, 1972, it was accepted into service and would later be exported to the Warsaw Pact and other allies. Introduced as a successor to the earlier BTR-60, it most closely resembles a BTR-60PB. Other improvements include heavier armor plating and tires less prone to puncture. In other respects, the vehicle is very similar to the BTR-60PB, with a more powerful petrol engine configuration and armament of a primary heavy machine gun and secondary PKT machine gun on a roof mounted turret.

The vehicle's designers moved the side troop doors. On the vehicle's predecessor, these doors were located above the beltline between the second and third pairs of wheels on both sides of the vehicle. On the BTR-70, the doors are below the beltline between the second and third pairs of wheels. As Soviet tactics calls for unloading troops from the vehicle while it is in motion, the door location increases the chances that a soldier will be pulled under a wheel and injured or killed, although it also means that the troops can get out quicker while exposing them less to the enemy.

Like the vehicle's predecessor it is fully amphibious with minimal preparation. A licensed Romanian copy was designated the TAB-77 and had various improvements and changes to make local production easier, including a better turret and different engines.The BTR-70 is powered by two gasoline engines. Early production vehicles had GAZ-69B 6-cylinder engines of 115 hp each installed but most vehicles have the stronger ZMZ-49-05 V-8 engines. The vehicle is fully amphibious, propelled when afloat by a single water jet mounted at the rear of the hull. To prepare the vehicle for water, the driver erects a trim vane and switches on the bilge pumps from within the vehicle.

The standard equipment includes a central tire-pressure regulation system that allows the driver to adjust the tire-pressure to suit the terrain being crossed. Also fitted is an R-123M radio set and an R-124 intercom. The driver's optical equipment consists of three vision blocks TNPO-115 and a day vision device TNP-B that can be replaced by a night vision device TVNO-2B. The commander also has three TNPO-115s and a TPKU-2B day or TKN-1S night sight that works together with the infra-red search light OU-3GA-2. The turret is fitted with a PP-61AM (or 1PZ-2) periscopic sight for the gunner and the infantry group in the troop compartment is provided with TNP-B devices. The BTR-70 also has an NBC filter system FVU and a DK-3B detection device.

The armaments consist of a heavy machine gun KPVT with 500 rounds and a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun PKT with 2,000 rounds. Also on board are two "Igla" or "Strela-3" MANPADS, and optionally two AGS-17 grenade launchers at the expense of two infantry men

BTR-70
BTR-70
Type	Armoured personnel carrier
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1972 - present
Specifications
Weight	11.5 tonnes
Length	7.535 m
Width	2.80 m
Height	2.32 m
Crew	3 (+7 passengers)
Armor	9 mm (front) 7 mm (sides)
Main armament	14.5 mm KPVT machine gun or 12.7 mm DShK
Secondary armament	7.62 mm PKT machine gun
Engine	gasoline ZMZ-4905 120 hp (88.2 kW) (x2)
Power/weight	20 hp/tonne
Suspension	wheeled 8×8
Operational range	400-600 km
Speed	80 km/h, swim 9 km/h