The Trumpeter BTR-50PK APC represents a vehicle that saw very widespread use amongst the Soviet Bloc and allied nations, and indeed it is still in use. The BTR-50 was first introduced in 1954, and the PK version, which had an armoured roof, came in 1958, following experiences in urban combat where the open top proved a liability. The hull shape went through several production versions, with the earliest bow noticeably shorter and stubby, angled at 45 degrees, later becoming longer and more pointed, at 35 degrees. At the same time, the whole upper hull was raised by 130mm, leaving the mesh areas of the rear deck sunk below the level of the surrounding plates, and requiring a slight cut-out on the left hull side. This change improved the buoyancy and performance in water - the BTR-50 is fully amphibious and powered by hydro-jets from the rear. The majority of photos show this later type of hull, and the earlier type may have been phased out quite quickly, or given to satellite nations. The Trumpeter model represents the rarer early type, and is a close copy of the vehicle preserved at Lesany in the Czech Republic. To modify it to the later type would represent a major rebuild. A first look at the model in the box reveals the one-piece upper hull, with tremendous detail and every sign that the kit is really state-of-the-art. The parts that are associated with the BTR-50 are really excellent, and show how much Trumpeter has improved the quality of their moulding since the earlier releases in their range. However, it turns out that the lower hull is simply a re-hash of their PT-76 kit, released in 2007, and the parts associated with this are crude by comparison. This would include the wheels, suspension arms, idler and tracks. It is a shame that these parts were not improved in line with the upper hull, because although perfectly usable, the older parts seem to belong to an older generation of models.
