Building the complicated Bronco kits does not have to be
difficult. – you just gotta know what to spend your time on! Paul Lee is a
Bronco veteran and he wanted this build to be short and preferably sweet –
Let’s see if he got his wish with the second part of his build of the new Bronco
35th scale early model Panzer III Ausf A (Sd.Kfz 141)…
Build Review
Pt.II:
Pz.Kpfw Mk
III Ausf A (Sd.Kfz 141)
Manufacturer: Bronco Models
1:35th scale
Type: Multimedia kit
Price: USD $¥6,960/ USD $61.06/
€55.85 from Hobbylink
Japan
Available from Bronco distributors worldwide
We saw what Paul thought of the
parts in
his review of this kit – now see if he was right in his build...
....As usual, construction begins
with the lower hull tub. The biggest difference between this kit, and the Bronco Panzerbefehlswagen 35(t) that I
did previously is that
this kit does not have a full interior and that pylon is all the interior
detail you get in the lower hull.
The lack of an interior is not a
major problem unless you want to leave the driver and radio operator's hatches
open which will then reveal the big emptiness inside. For this reason, I
decided to paint the interior black and then jam some figures in the hatches
with the black interior adding the illusion of depth.
I didn't follow through with the
instruction sequence because they go onto the suspension and road wheels, but I
just went and finished with construction of the hull. As with Bronco kits, fit
of the pieces is excellent and only small amounts of filler was needed. The
hull machine gun has some very nice breech detail, but unfortunately invisible
when the tank is viewed the right side up.
Suspension detail on the hull
sides is next and while the suspension arms and suspension springs are quite
fiddly, they go together quite well although caution is recommended to make
sure all the wheels touch the ground.
The fenders and tools present not
problem, and Bronco gives you the option to pose the front and rear flaps in
the raised or lowered position. I chose to keep them lowered. I also started
working on the tracks at this stage and this is definitely the most labour
intensive aspect of the kit. As the sprue shots showed, these tracks are the link
and pin type which mean that if glued carefully, can be fully articulated
although the instructions make no mention of this. A small jig is provided to
help with construction and fits the track links perfectly, although at only
seven links long, it is quite a lot of repetition when each side asks for 97-99
links according to the instructions, although keep reading. But the advantage
is fully articulate tracks that sag themselves!
The turret comes with a good
amount of interior details with full gun breeches for the main armament and
machine guns, and this will be quite visible with fairly large side hatches on
the turret, although I will be painting the interior all black and putting a
figure into the hatch and obscuring it all.
Typical of Bronco, general fit of
the kit is excellent and only small amounts of putty were needed. With
construction of the turret complete, I did a little masking to prevent
overspray into the black interior and now it is time to paint.
For this build, I was given this
AFV Painting System by Vallejo to try out. This particular set is
called Dunklegrau German Dark Grey - which is pretty self-explanatory.
This handy pack consists of six
paints although not the full sized Vallejo bottles and are as follows:
1.
#601 Grey Primer
2.
#054 Dark Grey
3.
#053 Dark Sea Green
4.
#052 German Grey
5.
#050 Light Grey
6.
#522 Satin Varnish
Step one is the Grey Primer. This
was my first experience with acrylic primers and I did find them a little
harder to use than a standard primer. Make sure you shake the bottle well to
get the pigment to mix but I still found it to be a bit on the watery side.
I followed the instructions and
went with the Dark Grey first in the deepest areas and recessed panels of the
model.
The next stage is the Dark Sea
Green sprayed onto the less recessed and more prominent parts, followed by the
German Grey on the more exposed areas of the model. However, the difference
between these two colours is very subtle, which is really what we are after and
found it quite hard to get a picture of the model with the two colours on. This
is the turret hatch showing the subtle differences between these two shades.
Finally, Light Grey is sprayed on
the raised detail panels of the model and this is the shade that really brings
the model to life.
However, rather than use the
Satin Varnish, I chose to use my usual Pledge high gloss finish to coat the
model in preparation for the decals and weathering. The variety of markings is
fairly minimal for this tank but I just had to do one of the schemes with the
large turret numbers. It was the tank with the dirtied white cross which took
my fancy in the end which only has five decals to put on so it was a very quick
job in the end. To dirty up the cross, I found Tamiya's Weathering Master to be
perfect for the job and did the job within minutes, and then a quick black pin
wash to bring out the details.
The tracks were sprayed in
Vallejo track primer and then wrapped around the running gear. As mentioned
earlier, I used 96 links instead of the recommended 97-99, and glad that I
didn't follow instructions. Even one link short, the tracks were still too
loose for my liking and would suggest a few less. Being workable tracks, the
sag formed itself naturally.
When I was first given this model
to review, I immediately decided I was going to put figures on this tank and
had just the perfect set of figures in my collection of figure sets, being the
Miniart German Tank Crew 35003. They are an older set and designed for the
Panzer IV but were perfect fit. I painted the figures with a variety of acrylic
paints and then did the faces with an oil wash although I still need more
practice with my figures.
Being a prototype vehicle with
only a short service life, I chose to keep the vehicle in fairly good condition
but with a good dusting from a good day's drive, so I simply gave the tank an
overall wash with Abteilung's 080 Wash Brown,
And then a good layer of dust on
the lower surfaces and then picked out some selected areas.
Put the figures back in the
turret, and then sealing it all with a matte coat and the model is finished!
I was a bit wary of Bronco and
their tendency to over engineer after my experiences with the Pz 35, but this
build turned out to be quite enjoyable. There is a disclaimer towards the end
of the instruction booklet at the end of the construction sequence which reads,
“This is a precision moulded plastic kit with exceptionally fine detail. It
will require a little more care during assembly, but you will feel the end
result is well worth the effort”. I think this sums up the model perfectly.
Highly recommended.
Paul Lee
Thanks to Bronco Models for
sending this kit to review.
Thanks to Vallejo as well for sending the Dunkelgrau paint set for Paul to use on this kit
