Zvezda 1:72 Soviet Dnepr M-72 Motorcycle with Sidecar & Crew

The M-72 was a motorcycle built by the Soviet Union. Conceived as a replacement for the two heavy motorcycles used by the Red Army, the TIZ-AM-600 and PMZ-A-750, both of which had performed unsatisfactorily during the Winter War against Finland and were considered outdated designs. The replacement chosen was the BMW R71, which had been rejected by the German Wehrmacht as a replacement for the R12. As a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the necessary legal, political and economic procedures were in place for BMW to provide the design, tooling and training for the manufacture of the motorcycle and military sidecar.

The M-72 was intended to be built at three factories located in Moscow, Leningrad and Kharkiv, with ancillary items coming from several other factories. Only the MMZ factory in Moscow produced any complete motorcycles prior to the German invasion in 1941 and commencement of the Eastern Front.

Then, the Moscow factory was moved east to the town of Irbit in Western Siberia, becoming the Irbit Motorcycle Factory (IMZ). The Kharkiv and Leningrad factories were relocated to Gorky on the outskirts of the GAZ plant, becoming the Gorky Motorcycle Plant (GMZ). During the war, motorcycles were produced at both factories. However, all sidecars for both the M-72 and Lend-Lease bikes were produced at Gorky only.