From Bronco Models
1/35th scale
Product No: CB35095
two sheets of photo etch detail included
Decals also provided
Pt I: Inboxed Review
Pt III: Painting & Finishing
With the interior painted up, it’s time to start putting the upper hull onto the chassis which is a slightly tricky affair. I started by painting the lower surfaces in Vallejo’s Dark Blue Grey.
The lower hull goes on top of the chassis but the steering arm at the front needs to be threaded through the appropriate hole in the firewall, although the fit is perfect. The front section of the upper hull which includes the dashboard also needs the steering arm to be threaded through as well. Angled plates can be tricky although in this case, I found the fit to be great and didn’t use any filler at all. The fit of the upper hull to the chassis is a bit loose, particularly at the front where there are no real glueing surfaces and is held in place by the steering arm which results in some slight swivel.
However, the locating tab is in an awkward spot and is quite visible on the right side with the left being partially obscured by a gas mask canister. I didn’t notice this until later during the painting phase and chose not to fix it up since I had already painted the interior.
While dry fitting the doors to prepare for the upper colours, I discovered that the doors are not quite high enough if you have them closed and will leave a gap in the hull. While it isn’t a difficult problem to fix with a strip of plastic card, it does seem like a sloppy bit of design.
I then painted the upper surfaces in Vallejo’s German Grey and sprayed some highIlights in Dark Seagreen although the colours are quite similar and the contrast is hard to see. I also picked out some of the hinges in Light Grey.
One of the issues I have with Bronco colour schemes is that they always portray German vehicles in overall grey although research has shown that German pre-war and wartime vehicles up until the end of the French campaign to be in Grey and Brown. While searching for pictures of the SdKfz 247, I was quite surprised to find such a good quality photo of this given how rare the vehicle is.
Deciding to do the vehicle with the white crosses which were commonly seen on Polish campaign vehicles, I sprayed what I thought to be roughly a third of the vehicle in Chocolate Brown.
Unfortunately, I must have accidentally deleted the progress photos from this stage onwards because I can’t find them, but to cut a long story short, I sprayed highlights in Light Grey, followed by AK’s Blue filter to reduce the contrast between the colours. I then applied a pin wash to pick out some of the raised details with a mix of Black and Raw Umber oils.
I gave the chassis, the lower hull and wheel wells a dusting with Flat Earth, building up more coats on the lower sections. The sides of the wheels were also treated similarly and then a wash of Abteilung’s Basic Earth to bring out the tread detail. The Basic Earth wash was also used on the sidesteps as well as other areas on the vehicle where there would not be much activity to show accumulated dust.
The interior of the vehicle is quite cavernous and a bit sparse with the vehicle being unarmed so I added a sub-machine gun, helmet and vinyl shirt to give it a somewhat lived-in appearance. I also added some foliage from the Joefix Studio range to the outside of the kit to act as camouflage. To finish, a final matte coat all over and the model is complete.
Final thoughts? The mention of a Bronco kit is usually accompanied by moans and groans due to Bronco’s reputation for complex models. This kit is no different and requires a bit of perseverance to get through, although it is by no means Bronco’s most complex model, and like their other kits, it comes up quite nicely if you push through to the end. So with the lower hull of the Protze now in their moulds, I wonder when we’ll see the rest of the Protze?
Pt I: Inboxed Review
Pt.II: Construction Guide.
Paul Lee
Thanks to Bronco for ending this to Paul to build and review – check out the Bronco Models website for more on this and all of their other kits.
