Thursday, August 20

Paul Tzech’s out Bronco models Panzerbefehlswagen 35(t) Pt 2

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

Part I – interior construction & Hull..
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. 
 And a walk around of the whole thing...
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