Srbijanci BMP ( Serbian BMP ) of Yugoslav Federal Army during Feb 1998 to June 1999 anti-insurgent campaigns against break-away southeastern region of Kosovo. By this time, Yugoslavia only consisted of Serbia and Montenegro, all other regions have formally separated from the federal union. Thus, Yugoslav forces fighting in Kosovo were almost completely manned by Serbian forces.
1998-1999 Kosovo War | Wiki
1.35th model items from : 1) AMT ERTL Soviet BMP-1 MICV model kit was modified for this project, 2) DHsK heavy machine gun DML Communist Chinese PLA Volunteers in Korean War, 3) Anti-ditch timber log in rear from AMT ERTL T-72 tank kit. Model started and completed circa early-1999 during height of Kosovo War.
Boxart of 1.35th AMT ERTL BMP-1 model kit used to build this model conversion. Door panels were molded in place, only the turret roof and front hull hatches could be set in open / close position. Hard tracks were provided with large section molded tracks for top and bottom roadwheels, while sprocket / rear idler wheels had individual track links.
As a country, Yugoslavia was intended to forge some national consciousness among various Slavic tribes in Balkan region after WW1 end from collapsed ruins of Austro-Hungarian Empire. First nation lasted 1918-1941, by which 27 March 1941 military coup overthrew pro-German Yugoslav government, which compelled 6 April 1941 German invasion to secure the Reich's southern border before commencement of Soviet Union invasion. Yugoslavia was broken up into various pro-German ethno-centric nations with partial territories absorbed by neighboring German allies ( ex, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia ).
Reconstituted after WW2, Yugoslavia existed from 1945 – 1992, when civil war broke out among States secession from the Federal Union among Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Between 1992 – 2003, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( aka Yugoslavia ) only existed in formality, not in actual fact. Russian Federation still used this formal title, while US called nation simply as "Serbia and Montenegro" ( its last remaining constituent States ).
To regain United Nations membership and normalize international recognition, it formally reconstituted as "Federal Republic of Yugolsavia" in 2000, with Serbia and Montenegro as sole member States. In 2003, this name was replaced by title "Serbia and Montenegro". This union was more Confederate than Federal since the 2 States only shared national defense, but followed separate economic policies ( ex. Montenegro used EURO as sole legal currency, while Serbia used its DINAR )
Union lasted until 2006, when Montenegro formally declared independence, thus ending myriad of Yugoslavia incarnations since 1918 once and for all time. Serbia renamed herself as independent nation "Republic of Serbia".
BMP model depicts field-mounted 12.7mm DShK heavy machine gun on turret roof for wide field of fire against insurgent personnel, building emplacements, or soft-skin vehicles. Note that DShK heavy machine gun was designed in 1930s by the Soviets, used extensively in WW2, and distributed to Soviet client states in postwar era. Hence, DShK has same wide-spread utilization repute in 3rd-world conflicts, on par with AK-47 assault rifle and BMP-1 IFV.
Launch rail for 9K11 Malyutka ( NATO title is AT-3 Sagger ) anti-tank missile removed to accommodate DShK machine gun placement. In addition, spare tracks drapped over front as appliqué armor along with helmets and shovel. Practice of US naming foreign military hardware based on self-imposed easy-to-recall nomenclature can be traced to WW2 era when American forces had difficulty recalling Romanized titles of Imperial Japan combat aircrafts, hence substitute method was employed by using American boys and girls names ( ex. Girl name Betty for G4M Bomber, Boy name Tony for Ki-61 fighter plane ).
Insurgent group battling Yugoslav forces was Kosovo Liberation Army ( KLA ), an paramilitary group comprised of ethnic-Albanians who resided in Kosovo region of Serbia. With KLA being a foot-mobile insurgent group, highest caliber weapons were RPG anti-armor rockets and DHsK large caliber heavy machine guns. Thus, mechanized Serbian forces augmented their armor vehicles with anti-personnel weapons for such engagements.
Model top view, airbrushed overall Tamiya acrylic Field Green, then paint washed Testor enamel Military Brown, dry brushed with Testor enamel Tan. 3 crewmen were modified from 1.35th TAMIYA German FLAKtruppen in winter garb, their dapple uniform pattern was hand painted via overlapping technique ( similar to German WW2 "Ambush" camouflage pattern ).
Boxart of Tamiya 1.35th WW2 German FLAKtruppen ( anti-aircraft crew ), figures were modified to suite late-1990s era Serbian armor infantrymen in model vignette. For WW2 German forces wearing white winter uniforms on Ostfront ( Eastern Front ), red cloth bands pinned around both sleeves distinguished German versus Soviet forces. Soviets were the first ones in Winter 1941 to wear winter uniforms, thus when Germans began deploying similar winter white uniforms in 1942, they had to institute the "red band" to to prevent friendly-fire incidents.
To mimick muddy terrain of Kosovo region, entire lower hull & roadwheel assembly were painted Elmers Glue + Baking Soda solution for a mud-caked sandy appearance, then airbrushed with Tamiya Light Brown in lower hull section. Anti-RPG screen made from plastic styrene bars and model camouflage netting.
In confined combat arenas ( ex. build-up urban, thick foilage or woodland ), armor vehicles are vulernable to close proximity enemy amush if advancing without foot-mobile infantry to protect its flanks. Thus, anti-RPG screens enhance crew protection by forcing RPG warheads to expell majority of its "burn through" penetration power before reaching the hull.
Although Soviets ( latter on Russians ) insisted that both AK-47 and RPG weapons originated solely from their post WW2 weapons design bureaus, nevertheless their weapon lineage can be traced directly back to late-WW2 German infantry weapons, by which Soviets replicated and improve on its design ( namely the Sturmgewehr 43/44 assault rifle and Panzerfaust anti-armor weapon ).
In 1945, Germans designed up-warhead Panzerfaust 150 & Panzerfaust 250, both with cone shaped warhead and pistol gripe for aiming accuracy, both of which are also classic RPG design layout.
In 1960 – 1980s era, West Germany deployed its man-portable anti-armor weapon via Panzerfaust 44 ( PzF 44 ), based on WW2 Panzerfaust 250 design. By 1990s, this was replaced by Panzerfaust 3, designed to defeat Explosive Reactive Armor ( ERA )on Soviet/Warsaw Pact tanks via tandem warheads ( spike tip warhead compelled premature ERA detonation, thus allow main warhead to penetration tank hull ).
Serbian trooper figure sitting on turret holding 9K32 Strela 2 ( Strela is Russian for Arrow ) surface-to-air missile launcher for defense against NATO ground attack aircrafts. NATO designation for the Strela is SA-7 Grail ( or Surface to Air Missile 7 Grail ). Developed in mid-1960s, Strela combat debute was during Vietnam War when Soviets secretly supplied North Vietnamese Army ( NVA ) communist forces with this missile type during their 1972 invasion of South Vietnam.
NVA used weapon to counter US attack helicopter battlefield dominance, in one famous 21 June 1972 incident, NVA forces shot-down US AH-1 Cobra "White 725" attack chopper manned by Pilot Capt. Brown and Weapons Officer Capt. Cordon, severing their chopper tail section in mid-air, forcing crew into a 4,500-foot spiral drop. Both officers survived the crash landing ( also being the 1st American crew to survive a Strela missile hit ) and made design recommendations on AH-1 counter measures against such weapons ( ex. L-shape exhaust port directed into propeller blades to dissipate heat signature since Strela used Infra-red homing guidance ).
All 3 model figures painted Serbian Army M-93 camouflage BDU ( battle dress uniform ) pattern, which conforms to heavily forested Balkan regions.
AKS-74U Krinkov short assault rifle hung behind commander hatch cover, developed from AKS-74 assault rifle for personal defense among tank – artillery – helicopter crews, the "U" suffix in Russian means"Ukorochennyj" ( or "Shortened" in English since barrel length is 210mm ). AKS-74U has compact size and effective range of a submachine gun, but does not use pistol caliber ammunition, rather 5.45x39 mm-caliber AK-74 assault rifle ammunition and magazines, thus interachangeable with its weapons family on the battelfield.
Boxart of DML 1.35th Chinese Volunteer DShK anti-aircraft team from Korean War, its DShK heavy machine gun part used in Serbian BMP-1 model. From history, Chinese officially stated their 250,000 troops in 1950-1953 Korean War were mere volunteers to circumvent legal pretext of war between itself and US / UN forces. But US played the same legal game calling conflict an international police action and not enact Congressional declaration of war against North Korea and Communist China ( for war declaration would legally compel US to either secure unconditional or conditional surrender to formally end the war ). Hence, that is why to this current date since 1953, there is only a military truce in Korean War, which means warfare may resume on-demand by any participant. In fact, US has not formally declared war on any nation since WW2. Another military tidbit... Korean War is the only war in American history by which no American POW was able to escape from enemy POW camps in North Korea, northern China, or Soviet Siberia.
BMP acronym derived Russian Cyrillic alphabets, which Romanized into Latin alphabets as "Bronevaya Maschina Piekhota" or Infantry Fighting Vehicle ( IFV). Its first version called BMP-1 was developed in early 1960s and publically showcased in Nov 1967. Liberally supplied to Soviet allies and client states in 1960s – 1980s, BMP-1 is as ubiquitous to IFVs as Soviet AK-47 to modern assault rifles.
Although mounting of anti-tank weaponry on wheeled – halftrack – fully tracked Armor Personnel Carriers ( APC ) has been in existence since WW2 ( such as German Panzerjagder series ), the IFV concept combined anti-tank firepower, high mobility, troop carrier, armor protection, and most importantly nuclear - chemical – biological ( NBC ) protection ( ex. radiation filters and sealed crew compartments ) for modern nuclear battlefield. In 1960s, US was operating its sturdy M-113 APC, it would have to wait until 1981 before M-3 Bradley introduction to have its own IFV inventory.
Standing Serbian trooper slugged a Russian-made RPG-22 rocket propelled anti-tank grenade over his back. Its compact design some what resembles early 1970s Vietnam War era US M72 LAW man-portable anti-armor rocket launcher. RPG-22 ceased production in 1993 and was superceded by RPG-26 in warhead penetration power. However, due to large RPG-22 stockpiles in Russian inventory, it was readily sold off to Russian client states and global arms market throughout 1990 – 2000s.
Number 424 decal from 1.48th Microscale F4U Corsair decal sheet. Tri-color Serbian national insignia on gun barrel made from individual white – blue – red decal stripes from 1.48th British aircraft tailfin insignia.
Note distinction between Federal Republic of Yugoslovia, which has a Blue – White – Red tricolor band, while Serbia Republic had Red – Blue – White tricolor band, as depicted on model.
Budges on rear access doors mount fuel containers, design layout was necessary to provide sufficient internal space for accompanying troops. Anti-ditch lumber model part from 1.35th AMT T-72 tank kit, hand holds on top of lumber made from office staples. Netting around lumber edge was to prevent wood splinters after prolonged usage ( model netting made from medical burn bandages superglued into place ).
Private Collection | S.U@Austin.Texas.USA
