The BT-5 was origanlly an improvement over the BT-2 Tank with a new 45mm gun and new styled turrent. It was used in Spain and against the Japanese. But it was short lived as a new improved turrent was developed and replaced the BT-5 tank as the BT-7.

     The Zvezda kit is also under the Italeri name. Molded in bright green with gray link and length trcks. The moldings look good and the instructions are fair, showing some different markings and even color schemes, which is something of a rare for Soviet vehicles. There is some flash, but is easily cleaned up.

     Construction is prety straight forward. The hull is broken down into plates, as are most Russian made kits. The plastic is soft, so care must be taken in assambly of the parts. The inner springs are shown and a seperate hull plate cover is provided to go over the spring structure on each hull side. The hull top looks pretty dull, and you may want to add to it. I recommend getting a detail kit, mainly for the engine screens. The ones the kit supplies are not very good. The fenders are alright, the front part of the fenders can be a little tricky. There is a drivers seat provided, but that is about it for an interior. The driver doors look good and can be positioned open or closed. The wheels of the kit look great and fit easily together. You can have a tank with tracks or without, as the BT-5 tank could move on roads without the tracks. When used like this the tracks were stored on the fenders. The kit's instructions show this. The kit tracks were something of a disapointment to me. I am not saying they are inaccurate or anything, they just don't look quite right and the fit was not exactly great, but in the end, they worked out.

     The turrent has a bit to it, especially if you use the antenna rack. The turrent fits together fairly easy and quick. The antenna rack requires some clean up and will take some time to get it to look right. The turrent hatches can also be assembled open or closed, including the rear loading hatch. Jordi has a replacment barrel for this kit, togehter with Eduards or Aber photo etch kit, you can really enhance this model.

     The model is fairly easy to assemble. I really did not have any problems with it. I painted mine Russian green with red stars and some numbers on the turrent. I recommend the kit, it has alot of possibilities. You can find interior drawings from www.history.enjoy.ru/index.html and they are a few conversions you can do. Some of these are available from manufactures. It makes a very nice project, if you decide to go out to detail it, convert it, or just plainly build it out of the box.