Project: 1/35 Aer ASU-57

Accepted into service in 1951, the ASU-57 was an attempt by the Soviets to develop an airborne, air-droppable light AFV to support Soviet Airborne forces. While the 57mm Ch-51 cannon was more effective in the anti-tank role than the 76.2 D-56T cannon then arming the PT-76 tanks, it would stilll have had trouble dealing with heavier tanks and the like. In addition the armor protection was barely worthy of the term. Still, in an air-landing operation any tank is usually better than no tank, and the ASU-57 was successful for a number of years until replaced by the ASU-85 and ultimately the BMD-series of vehicles.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Warsaw Pact dissolved, there was a lot of hope from modelers of seeing what the model hobby was like in the East. What had been a trickle of kits in the Glastnost era became more common. Aer of Moldova was one of the first companies marketing kits in the west. Unfortunately I have no idea what the status of this manufacturer is anymore, lacking a web page, and not much in years in terms of new releases. Still, the kits can be found from time to time, and this is certainly an unusual subject...

When one gets a new kit, the range of emotions one can go through ranges from "Cool!" to "Hmmm...." and finally "Can I live with this thing?" Usually this range of emotions happen during the actual build process, but in the case of Aer's ASU-57 kit, you'll get there just from opening the box.

In a word, the kit is terrible! Fit is overall sloppy, with the hull sides "spiderwebbed" with what looks like the result of insufficiently hot styrene during the injection process. Also the gun barrel was riddled with sinkmarks, and actually shattered while I was trying to construct it. You absolutely must invest in aftermarket parts just to complete the model. This is a real shame, but I can't complain as I got the model for a mere $3 several years ago from Ebay.

Into the mix I added Eduard's 35734 ASU-57 1/35 photo-etch kit, from Modelpoint MP3550 ASU-57 return roller set, and MP3529 Ch-51 57mm barrel. The entire Modelpoint line may be OOP as their website no longer registers and most stocklists seem to be out of product. I'm also thinking about picking up Miniart's 35064 Soviet 57mm & 76mm Shells w/Ammo Boxes. The Ch-51 cannon could fire the range of ZiS-2 ammo as well as more modern rounds, so this set will work if not specifically accurate.

Construction starts naturally with the lower hull. This is where problems began. Lacking the technology (at the time, or perhaps capital investment for better molds), the lower hull does not benefit from multi-part molds like found with Asian manufacturers, and instead is built up from several flat parts. Fit was sloppy, and required a lot of filler (the white spots in the photograph are the results of this. I have attached a handful of photo-etch details as well. I have also begun modifying the upper hull to accept the photo-etch parts.

Project: 1/35 ASU-57 Progress

I've had this model for some time, but haven't made much progress on it in over a year. As can be seen in the previous post on this subject, the Eduard photo-etch set is very extensive, and will require a lot of work to bring it about. The picture below shows a few pieces already in place, as well as basic construction on the hull. The metal pieces are the photo-etch parts, the gray pieces are the kit plastic, and finally all the white bits is where filler was required. Pretty much every joint required filler, the fit was so bad. Furthermore, as can be seen in the photo, the upper hull has been modified to accept the better detailed Eduard parts.

Still yet to be acquired are the turned brass return rollers from Modelpoint, as well as a supply of ammo for the 57mm cannon.

Project: 1/35 ASU-57

The ASU-57 was the Soviet Union's first post-war attempt at an airborne tank. Less a tank and more an assault gun, it mounted a 57mm cannon, which by the standards of the day (early '50s) was already obsolete as a tank-killing armament. Still, a tank is a tank, and in an airborne operation, the ability of the vehicle to toss HE shells or kill light armored vehicles must have been appreciated. Lightly armored, it had an open topped crew compartment, making it very vulnerable to indirect fire and airburst weapons (not to mention "fightability" in an NBC environment).

When the Cold War finally ended, and there was a thawing of relations between the former Warsaw Pact states and the West, we started to get a trickle of kits from the former Soviet Union as well as Eastern Europe. A lot of times this showed the abysmal nature of manufacturing in these countries, with most kits being toy-like or otherwise poorly molded or detailed. Still, in those early days, for many subjects they were the only game in town, and welcomed if you wanted a kit of an unusual or rarely seen subject.

Over time, Eastern Europe benefited from contact with the West, and kits steadily improved. While modern kits from this region are still not up to the level of kits coming out of Japan, China, Italy and the like, they can still put out decent quality kits at an affordable price.

The AER kit originates from Moldova, and was a post-Cold War product. While many kits benefited from modern molding and construction practices, the AER kit is not one of those. Just about ever component of this kit is either poorly molded, poorly detailed, or both. Still, if you want an ASU-57 in your collection, it's really the only game in town, and I'm not even sure the manufacturer exists anymore (I got mine off ebay). Along with this kit you MUST also get the Eduard photo-etch set, which adds considerably to the level of detail of the kit (fortunately the Eduard set is very cheap according to the manufacturer's website). Along with this it is reccommended you use the cannon barrel from Modelpoint (if you look closely at the pictures on the Eduard site, you can see the massive sink marks in the barrel; while trying to fix this problem, my barrel shattered, so I must get the Modelpoint piece to complete the model!). They also make a set of return rollers too, which should be useful. All these latter goodies are available from Modelpoint's US website.

While we're at it, the shells should be replaced as well, since the kit ones are barely detailed blobs. There are no shells on the market for the Ch-51 cannon, though this was a development of the WWII era ZiS-2, and used much of the same ammunition. Modelpoint comes to the rescue again with a full range of 57mm ZiS-2 ammo.

This kit is going to be a real challenge to build. But when done will be a pretty unique subject. Now if only there was an affordable ASU-85...

This kit is a big challenge