D-2 Motorized Armoured Railcar
Dryenkov´s Most Successful Draisine

The MBV D-2 was a Soviet pre-WW2 design for an armoured, self-propelled railcar, being a precursor to the bigger "Railcruisers" of the later part of the 30s. Design work on what led to the D-2 began back in the 1920s and was headed by a more or less successfull but surely productive Soviet engineer named Dryenkov. He created a twin-turreted railcar powered by a Hercules engine through a reverse transmission, making the vehicle able to go both forwards and backwards at the same speed. Though not built in the quantities initially envisioned, 30 vehicles were completed and took part in WW2 on both sides and are sometimes cited as the inspiration for the Germans to create their Panzerjäger Triebwagen 51.
UM labels the kit as an experimental vehicle, yet it seems to represent the mass produced product.
For more information on this and other armoured railcars, I did some research and have an article in the writing covering their history.
As for the build, I planed to add a twin Maxim AA plant on one of the turrets as was often the case on the D-2s in service, but restrained from it in the end as fitting it to the turret would have looked a little too tight. For the painting process I´ll try my hand at some preshading for the plain green basecoat to be interesting...

The model will be put on 10x10cm base to be part of the "Novemberprojekt" group build from Abenteuer Modellbau which has the aforementioned base-size as the main theme.