Introduction:

ARMO of Poland have released this conversion set for the Trumpeter PT-76B (kit #00381) that provides a new turret and other details for the Polish version of the PT-76B which differed from others in having separate hatches for the Commander and Loader as well as mounting the 12.7mm DShK 1938/46 antiaircraft heavy machine gun on a rotatable mount on the Commander’s hatch.

The set consist of 29 parts in light cream resin, a further 73 resin link and length track link segments and 44 etched parts produced by PART for a fairly simply conversion as things go.

Etched parts

The Conversion:

Standard of resin casting sees very few if any air holes or other blemishes apart from some fairly substantial warping on a couple of the larger parts such as the turret shell and barrel, this warping is mentioned in the instructions so presumably it’s something common to all sets which couldn’t be overcome in the casting process.

The parts have the usual casting blocks to be removed which will require some care due to the resin being rather brittle and tends to snap quite easily compared to some other resin sets and I ended up repairing a few parts that broke during cleanup. On some parts it’s also not that clear where the part ends and the excess resin begins so you should take things slowly referring to the instruction diagrams where possible or reference pictures if you have them?

Details on the parts is well done overall with subtle weld seams on the turret, nicely defined details on the hatches and resin link and length track segments.

The largest part of the set is the full replacement turret shell, turret ring and 76.2mm main gun as well as the two crew hatches but a fair bit of work is needed due to the warped turret and gun.

The shape of the hollow turret sees the roof section done perfectly but the lower edges of the flared walls are quite warped and were egg shaped on my sample, this required the turret be given a good soak in hot water for over a minute and then when pliable the walls pushed out to form the rounded shape, a little easier said than done unfortunately.

Due to the thicker resin of the front gun mounting and the large ventilator dome at the back these two areas were harder to reshape then the thinner sides and I had to re-dunk the front and rear sections in hot water a number of times to get them to move.

After re-shaping the side walls I dunked them straight under cold water but the thicker sections tended to want to return to their previous shape and in the end it was very difficult to get the turret base fully rounded as it should be.

You also need to take care while the resin is soft that you don’t damage any of the other detail while re-shaping the warped wall sections.

Once the turret is formed as round as possible there is another issue due to all the reshaping and that is the lower edges are not perfectly even with a distinct downward dip at the sides which will need attention for the turret to sit flush on the hull roof.

The next problem arises from the lower turret ring being a modified version of the Trumpeter kit ring but the kit turret has a small lip around the bottom for the ring to sit into but this lip is not on the resin turret meaning the sloped walls of the turret don’t match very well with the vertical edges of the turret ring and some trial fitting and trimming will be needed to get even a reasonable fit.

On the inside of the turret is a resin gun breech which is basically a reproduction of the assembled Trumpeter kit breech and this is glued directly to the inside of the turret but there are no locating marks and you have to line this up with the barrel by eye as best you can, but not much of the breech is seen after assembly so to doesn’t really matter is it’s not lined up perfectly.

The main gun is in one piece with a two part muzzle brake but the barrel was also badly warped and dunking in hot water was enough to straighten this out okay with the join of the muzzle brake halves quite good leaving just a small join seam to deal with.

The gun is designed to glue straight onto the front gun mounting so there is no elevation possible with the co-axial machine gun barrel also provided which has the muzzle hollowed out slightly for a good appearance as it comes.

The hatches and hatch rings fit together nicely and you can show these open or closed but there is no internal detail other than the gun breech.

Also included with the set is the 12.7mm DShK HMG for the Commander’s hatch ring and this is made up of 7 main parts but care is needed during cleanup of the finer parts due to the brittle resin as mentioned above.

The level of detail on the gun is fairly basic in parts with the cooling fins on the barrel almost non existent with the muzzle needing to be drilled out for a better appearance and there are also no rear firing hand grips provided. The instructions are not that clear where some of the parts go and additional reference would be of assistance but with care it makes into a reasonable DShK HMG.

There are a few etched parts provided for smaller details around the turret as well as wire grab handles all around but the wire is not provided in the update set.

Details for the hull are fairly slim with the replacement resin fuel cells on the rear hull being the largest parts with other smaller etched parts with most details coming for the Trumpeter kit and also included is the new resin track in link and length which has nice cast link details included.

There is some fine resin film to be removed from most tooth holes after removal from the casting sprues with the 6 link segments used for the top and bottom track runs and the individual links for around the kit drive sprockets and idlers wheels.

Although the track links are presumably designed for the Trumpeter kit sprockets they don’t fit all that well with the drive teeth not centred on the link holes but are to the outside resulting in a very tight fit around the sprockets.

Fit of drive teeth in the sprocket holes

Instructions:

The instructions are basically two exploded view drawings, one of the turret and the other of the hull and some sequences are quite confusing with the resin parts not numbered and with the hull it’s difficult to work out what comes with the update set and what is from the Trumpeter kit.

But providing you study these carefully, take your time and test fit before gluing there shouldn’t be any real problems for anyone who would buy this conversion in the first place.

Conclusion:

While the overall quality of the resin casting is good there is some substantial warping to deal with especially with the turret shell and a fair bit of work will be needed to fix this before the lower turret ring and other parts can be added.

The new resin tracks have better detail than the kit tracks but the fit to the kit sprockets is a little off but may not be that noticeable on the finished kit and the detail on the DShK HMG while adequate is a little basic with the fit requiring care.

Overall this conversion will give you the distinctive Polish version but there is quite a bit of work needed along the way for a proper result.

Recommended for Russian armour fans 6.5/10
Resin Parts
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References:

Prime Portal PT-76 Walkaround
PT-76B, Jacques Littlefield Collection
Toadman's Tank Pictures PT-76B

Thanks to for the review set.