Today our man Paul Lee takes on the complicated command version of the new Bronco Models Pz.35(t) in 35th scale. He has already shown us his PTI of the build with a full interior but today he finishes her off with painting and some deft weathering. Take a look at how it turned out in PTII of the article.
Build Review: Panzerbefehlswagen 35(t)
Manufacturer: Bronco Models
Scale: 1:35th
Type:
Multimedia kit
Available
from Bronco distributors worldwide
Part
I – interior construction & Hull..
Part II Exterior painting and weathering
Part II Exterior painting and weathering
...So with the major construction of the hull and turret done it
is time to move onto the running gear. This unit alone consists of over thirty pieces,
but if glued carefully, is also fully workable which enables to completed model
to be placed on an uneven surface when completed, if that is what you desire.
However there are four of these units to complete, as well
as the forward and rear sprockets as well as an individual wheel so a fair
amount of time will be spent cleaning up and putting these parts together.
While I did find this model to be a real struggle to put
together due to the sheer number of pieces, I must say that the pieces go
together very well and this is something that Bronco has to be commended for.
To have so many pieces, the potential for ill fits is very high, but in this
case, the fit provides almost no problems at all.
For this build I decided to try out the Lifecolor German AFV
Panzergrau Contrast and Desaturation set, which is basically three shades of
grey, with the base grey, then a darker shade for the shaded areas, and then a
light shade for flashed areas. Sounds simple enough. I'm sure there will be
issues with the scheme I have chosen since there is research to say that early war
Panzer's were grey and brown, however, I just fell in love with the large white
crosses and white marking on the rear deck of the Polish invasion tank and
thought that the brown would detract from the grey finish so I just went with a
plain grey vehicle.
I have used Lifecolor paints before and found these to be no
different. The paints are ready to spray straight from the bottle and similar
to Vallejo, levelling out very well, but still a bit on the fragile side and
will scratch very easily. This shot illustrates the dark grey on the lower
hull, and then the light grey sprayed over the base grey on the upper hull.
A clear coat later and it is ready for the decals, and here
are the ones that I just couldn't turn down.
By attaching the rear decking before the fenders as opposed
to the instructions, it is possible to attach the fenders without glue and they
just click into place with a little pressure. I had originally planned to leave
the forward section of the upper hull removable so that more of the interior
would be visible, but it would mean some hollow sections would be visible so I
stuck to the instructions and attached it to the hull. It is a shame that so
much of the interior is lost this way.
Bronco lists the track for this kit as fully workable and
assembled without glue, which in this case is almost accurate. The links do
click together and are fully articulated, however some of the pins are weak and
do not hold the links in place very well so it is best to use these pieces for
the lower run, unless you are planning on placing the kit on an uneven surface.
Bronco gives you plenty of spare links so you can choose the
amount of sag you want on your tank, and as these photos show, there really
isn't anything such as too much or too little sag on the Pz35.
I chose a slight amount of sag on my tank, and did find them
tricky to wrap around the sprockets because some of the pins were quite fragile
so the tracks would come apart, but after a while we got there. As you can see
I leave the outer faces of the return rollers off to make placement of the
tracks easier so the teeth don't have to be threaded between the inner and
outer faces.
I then painted the tracks in Vallejo track primer, and then
weather them as well as the tank with Abteilung oils, going for a dusty finish
that was characteristic of early war German tanks. And here are the results.
Some details of the tank close up...
So what are my final thoughts on this kit? I will say that
it was a real struggle and very hard to motivate myself to continue at time due
to the slow progress because of the large amount of pieces, but as I mentioned
earlier, the fit of the pieces is great.
Is it over engineered? Definitely. But
the effort is not for nothing as you do get a terrific looking model in the
end. Definitely not one for a beginner but highly recommended if you do enjoy
the construction side of modelling, or are looking for a challenge.
Paul Lee
Thanks to Bronco Models for
sending this kit to review and build
