Review - Warlord Games BA-6 Armored Car

The Broneavtomobil 6, or BA-6, was a slightly upgraded version of the BA-3 armored car. It is based on the three-axle GAZ-AAA chassis and entered service in 1936. The BA-6 featured the same turret as the BT-5 and T-26 m 1933, a conical design housing a 45mm 20-K anti-tank gun and a co-axial 7.65 mm DT machine gun. A second machine gun was mounted at the front. The design was severely under motorized with a meager 40 hp engine for a 5ton vehicle, and it lacked maneuverability off-road. Top speed (55 km/h) and operational range (200 km) were also significantly less than those of its German counterparts.

It was used in the Spanish Civil War and served in the early Soviet campaigns of WW2 against the Japanese and Finns. The BA-6 was still in used when Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, but it was quickly replaced by the T-60 and T-70 tanks.

The Warlord Games kit comes as a combination of resin hull and turret and metal parts. I was slightly concerned about that because it can sometimes cause trouble during assembly. Luckily,  Warlord Games used a lot of pegs and holes and building the vehicle was quite enjoyable.

The details are very good, and both resin and metal parts are casts in good quality. As always, the exact alignment of the wheels is a bit tricky, but I have seen worse. The only issue was the axle for the two spare tires - it is too short...

Overall a kit that satisfies all expectations. My only minor criticism is the lack of any extras like stowage, crew or decals, but those are rarely included in this type of model (although I think that is what turns a good kit into a great one).

 

The Warlord Games BA-6 is 8,6 cm long, 4,8 cm high and 4,2 cm wide,  which corresponds to 4,8 m, 2,7m and 2,4m, respectively. This is reasonably close to the size of the original (length 4.65m, height 2.2m, width 2.1m).

All in all, the BA-6 is a kit from the upper third of the scale. It is easy to build, well detailed and a good representation of the original.