ZBD-89 Spratly Islands 2000
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This is a semi-fictional conversion of a Chinese ZSD-89 (APC) into a ZBD-89 (IFV). This existed (YW-309) on the Type-85 chassis, but I did it here on the Type-89 chassis. The Type-86 turret was converted from a Trumpeter BMP-1 kit. I had to do a lot of surgery to the roof panels and hatches on the hull, added welds, and filled many oversized locating slots.
The model is painted in a 1990s-2000s era PLAN (Chinese Marine) camouflage. This is a quite striking -- arguably hideous -- camouflage, but I chose it for a fun weathering challenge. The what-if scenario of its combat service is a territorial dispute gone hot in the contested South China Sea islands.
I painted and weathered this model in a full step-by-step presentation for the 2024 IPMS USA National Convention in Madison, WI.
