T-64BV to Ukrainian T-64BM Bulat

Scott Dutton
Nice idea

Grease Monkey
Thanks! There is no complete kit of the T-64BM Bulat in 1:35, except a very old Skif kit. The Bulat is a strange looking tank, it resembles the look of the Iraqi T-55 Enigma a bit.

Scott Dutton
Yes I like a lot, a modern makeover for an ageing queen, I think I have the same in SP Designs range. Do love the Miniarm stuff I have used, so should be a great project

Grease Monkey
I was a little concerned about the Trumpeter T-64B, because of all the ERA blocks, but the Miniarm kit has new side skirts and a new turret as well. So I don't have to putty all the holes of the ERA blocks😉

Scott Dutton
Good plan not sure but think spdesigns goes on skiff kit

Grease Monkey
I don't know, currently there is no T-64 stuff on the SP-Design website.
All the cottage brands make limited runs of their kits. I have seen a couple of very nice MT-LBu versions from SP-Design & PanzerShop, but you can't buy them anymore.

Scott Dutton
Yeah, I've been buying for years, before Trumpeter got interested in Cold war russian. It's a real internal conflict for me, keep all my resin and Skif etc or new Trumpeter. I've elected to keep as Inf8md Trumpeter can have high parts count. Sergei stuff of recent years is much higher quality than early stuff, but it has always been fine f9r my taste and he was the only one interested in the topic. I checked and mine is actually marked as T-64U which may be slightly different to your version, but seems almost identical.

Grease Monkey
T-64U is one of 2 variants of the modernization program in 1990s, while "Bulat" is the most recent modernization from 2004. The other one is (I think) T-64BM. The one I have is T-64BM Bulat. So that seems to be the latest version of the BM. BTW, it seems the Bulat did not well in the recent Ukrainian conflict, they send them back into storage and start using their T-64B agian, so it seems. I think the Bulat is too heavy for the 5TDFM engine with 850hp. The top speed is much lower than all other modern tanks. There is an 1000hp 6TDF, but that was an option and I don't believe the operational Bulat's had that powerpackage. But that said, I read conflicting stories on the internet...

Ingo F
T-64U was an prototype of the T-64BM Bulat and was first shown in 1999 during the Independence Day of Ukraine. As far as i know only two prototypes were build.
T-64BM and T-64BM Bulat are two different tanks. The T-64BM was an soviet modification of the T-64B with an 1000l engine in the early 1980s. Bulat is an modification of the ukrainian T-64B/BW tanks.
Only my two cents here. Hope you dont mind. 🙂

Scott Dutton
Always happy to learn, externally much difference? May need to convince myself I need the Miniarm turret, I love their quality stuff 🙂

Ingo F
Unfortunately there is not much information about the T-64U.
Here a little summary of the information i could dig out:
In 1999 there were three variants for the modification of the ukrainian T-64B/BV and T-64B-1/BV-1 tanks.
The prototypes were called T-64U.
A total of nine modified T-64 tanks were sent to the Independence Day parade:
Six T-64BV-1 with a mockup reactive armor. (1st variant)
Two T-64U (Object 447AM1) with reactive armor, modified gun, reloading and aim systems. New weather sensor. (2nd variant)
One T-64U (Object 447AM2) with reactive armor and modified internal systems, the same that were used on T-80UD (Object 478B) and T-84. (3rd variant)
All in one it looks like the T-64U had a different reactive armor on the glasic plate and the ERA layout on the turret was also different.
You can see the pictures here: dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enc_tech/4413/%D0%A2
The information on the site is from an russian modeling magazin from year 2000.

Scott Dutton
Many thanks

Grease Monkey
Good info! Not a lot of info on the internet, about the Bulat and it's predecessors, at least not in English.

Ingo F
If you need some information, just ask me. I can try to find and translate it for you.

Grease Monkey
Thanks!
I just did a search to check what antenna should go on a T-90K, and in Russian I got a lot more info. (More useful info I should say😉 )