this will be my entry for the modern armor sig
this is Meng's "terminator" kit that was released in 2014 so basicly a very new kit
after going through the kit wich has a ton of parts it seems to be a very nice build and if it compares to the D9R Bulldozer they make it should be fun to build it too
but first a introduction on this vehicle
in the early 1960's infanrty fighting vehicles appeared on the battlefield wich represented a substansive improvement of the infantry's combat vehicles firepower
mainly because up to that point all there was where APC's wich had limited firepower that was formed by a single machine gun in most cases
since then there has been significant developments in the coordination between and tanks and the relevant tactics and operational methods
armored forces ,as the elite units of the ground forces thus became more important
however with the devolpment and improvement of anti armor weapons the threats they where facing where getting more and more serious
experiance obtained in actual fights and research showed that : if the performance of the accomanying vehicles was better , the suppression of infantry anti armor weapons and low flying enemies would be improved and the efficiancy of the tanks would be increased
so finally battlefield experiance and new military theories gave birth to a new type of armored vehicle
the heavy infantry fighting vehicle
in 1984 , the tank teachings and research office of the military acedemy of armored forces in the former Soviet Union had put forward a plan about these Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicles based on the chassis of the T-72 Main Battle Tank
Marshal V.I. Petrov (1917-2014) the then Deputy Minister of Defence authorized the research and devolpment of this project and defined this kind of vehicle as Tank Fire Support Vehicles or BMPT for short (when translated to russian)
the research was mainly proceeded by Design Bureau of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Minselhozmasha and Tula Instrument Design Bureau and received positive response and active participation from the Main Armored Tank Directorate of the Ministry of Defence and the Military Acedemy of the Armored Forces
at that moment the design idea was that : it should have the same armor protection as a tank and be equiped with automatic guns/cannons
it should mix with the tanks when deployed and even lead the attack
the BMPT could soften the defences and suppress the anti tank units so the tanks would be able to flank the opposing forces and hit them from this position
the chassis of the T-72 MBT was chosen as a base for this vehicle , the chassis was produced by Uralvagonzavod
the crew was planned to consist of 7 men while 4 of them could act as mechanized infantry if needed
in the beginning of 1987 , 3 prototypes of the BMPT where produced wich by then was called Obiect 781
however by that time the military was preparing to get equiped with the new generation of MBT's
there for the Design Bureau of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Minselhozmasha suggested that the chassis should be changed to match the chassis used by the new MBT's
the military-industrial Commision agreed to this proposal and on the 18th of february 1991 the plan for the "frame"was carried out
the core of this plan was to develop the prototype of BMPT Obiect 782 wich was based on the Obiect 187 tank chassis by UralVagonZavod
but soon the falling of the Soviet Union came to be and the funding stopped
and the entire project was ceased
during the Chechen war (from 1994 onwards) the Russian had lost a lot of Men and Equipment to anti tank units that operated from tall buildings
the tanks in this situation where helpless as they were too close in most cases and their guns could not elevate that high to fire back
so for the time being they used lightly armored anti aircraft vehicles wich had this feature as most are able to fire in a 90 degree angle
but these vehicles where not protected enough againts even the lighter anti armor weapons and soon fell victim to the units they where meant to attack
in view of this situation the new leader of Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Minselhozmasha decided to use private funds and restart the BMPT project and quickly recovered the stored research
they soon abandoned the idea of developing a completly new vehicle and decided to use the T-72 chassis wich had been in production for years by then
this would make the BMPT a special multi role vehicle that could lead atacks and make sure the tanks could do their part as attack units without the problem of suppressing anti tank units
so in 1996 the prototype of Obiect 787 was produced , it was equipped with 2 30mm 2A72 automatic guns and 2 7,62mm coaxial machine guns where mounted
one on each side of the turret
however the National Security Authoraty decided it was illegal to develop a combat vehicle if this was done by only a industrial company
so the project was stopped for a second time
but fortunatly the plans for the BMPT where reserved
in July of 1996 Colonel General I.N. Rodionov was appointed as the new Russian Minister of Defence
and in September of the same year he held meetings to learn about the research and developments of military vehicles that had been conducted at the end of the Soviet era
as a result of these meetings the BMPT project was started once again
on the 12th of August 1998 General S.A. Mays , the Director of Main Automotive-Armored Tank Directorate of the Ministry of Defence had decided to deliver the BMPT project to the Ural Design Office of Transport Mechanicl Engineering
the project was thn named Frame 1 and later renamed frame 99
the man who was put in charge of this project was G.F. tyutyuhyn and the Chief designer was A.V. Yakovlev
at first they started with the chassis of the T-72 MBT but this was later replaced with the chassis of the T-90A
a model of the Frame 99 made it's debut at the Russian Arms Expo in 2000
at that time the BMPT was simply named "Fire Support Combat Vehicle" but there was no specific note of it's usage
in the model there where 5 crewmen including 1 commander , 1 driver and 3 weapons operators (instead of 7 crewmen)
weapons included 2 30mm 2A42 automatic cannons , 1 7,62mm coaxial machine gun and 4 9M133"kornet" (AT-14 Spriggan(NATO name) anti tank missle launchers wich where independently stablized
it also mounted 2 30mm AG-30 automatic grenade launchers on the front fenders
it was able to fire all weapons at the same time and due to the brand new fire control system it is even able to effectively fire at long distance with accuracy in complex conditions (wind and other weatherconditions)
the test vehicle of the BMPT was shown at the 2002 Russian Arms Expo
it's arsenal cosisted of 2 30mm 2A42 automatic cannons and a coaxial 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun that where mounted on the turret
by this time the Kornet Anti tank missles where replaced by the modern Attack-T anti tank missle system
the secondary armament consisted of 2 30mm AG-17D automatic grenade launchers that where mounted on the front fenders of the vehicle
the vehicle was equipped with dvanced topographic and navigation systems aswell as latest in viewing sensors
the test vehicle was also equipped with reactive armor modules on both sides of the hull and grille armor fences where mounted to the rear of the vehicle
at that point the protection it provided to it's crew was superior to the T-90 MBT
the BMPT completed the National tests in 2006 and was recommended for use by the Armored Forces
due to it's mighty appearance and large amount of Weaponry it was given the name Terminator
the BMPT can be fitted with both the KMT-8 mine plough and the EMT Electromagnetic Countermine System
the plough is able to clear a path with a width of 4 meter although the actual mine sweeping range is 3 meters ,outside that range it just digs them up without any detonation the EMT has the same effective range
the system weighs in at about 250 kg per side , it uses 0.5 kilowatts of power and can be mounted by the vehicles crew in less then 60 minutes
the source was the instruction book for this part although i did some editing because of the translation problems
and now for some wikipedia wisdom and some pictures of this machine
Type Tank support combat vehicle; Missile tank
Place of origin Russia
Service history
In service 2011–present
Used by Kazakhstan
Production history
Designer Ural Transport Engineering Design Bureau
Designed 1998–2002
Manufacturer Uralvagonzavod
Produced 2002–present
Variants BMPT-72
Specifications (BMPT)
Weight 48 t (53 short tons; 47 long tons)
Length 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Width 3.37 m (11 ft 1 in)[a]
3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Height 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[c]
3.44 m (11 ft 3 in)
Crew 5
Armor Combination of composite armor, reactive armor and steel
Main
armament
4× 130 mm Ataka-T launchers
2× 30 mm 2A42 autocannons
Secondary
armament
2× 30 mm AG-17D grenade launchers
1× 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun
Engine V-92S2 diesel engine
1,000 hp (736 kW)
Power/weight 20.4 hp/tonne (15.0 kW/tonne)
Suspension Torsion bar
Ground clearance 406 mm (16.0 in)
Fuel capacity 1,200 L (320 US gal)
Operational
range
≥550 km (340 mi)
Speed ≥60 km/h (37 mph)
if you look at this ,you know why it scares the cr*p out of people
you don't want to be on the receiving end of all those barrels and missle tubes
and now finally for the kit it self
the boxart
sort of "first" look
as you can see there is a box of friul tracks on the edge but i am having doubts on using them
i kind of like the no glue needed idea of the kit tracks
sprueshots and all the other bits and pieces that are in the box
i like the way it all looks , everything looks well detailed and free of flash or other small inconveniances
the little photo etch mask they provided is a nice touch though and should save me some time with the painting later on
but for a good review you should watch this
Lee did a review of this kit a while back and he is better at reviews then me so i let him do the talking ( if he is okay with that and me using his review)
and that is all for now , i have been typing long enough and my fingers start to hurt
i'm looking forward to this build altough i made a small start already (Yesterday)
so untill next time
cheers Mark
Hoping to get mine started in the next day or so.
We need to see more 
