Hobby Boss German 3.7cm Pak 35/36 auf Pz.Kpfw. 35R(f) (83895) 1:35

[Mike]

German 3.7cm Pak 35/36 auf Pz.Kpfw. 35R(f) (83895)

1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

With a chassis originally designed by Renault, the R35 was a light infantry tank used by the French army in their unsuccessful defence of their homeland at the beginning of WWII, after which it remained in service with the German forces as a beutepanzer, where it was either used in second line service, or heavily converted to a makeshift gun carriage and used as a self-propelled howitzer. There were almost a thousand R35s in service at capitulation, and they had been found by the Germans to be unreliable, poorly armed to combat tanks, and with too little armour.  Nevertheless, all the remaining vehicles were taken on charge by the Germans and more than a little tinkering with cutting torches ensued.

 

This type had their turrets removed to mount the 37mm Pak 35/36 and served as roving light gun emplacements, after fitting of an extended splinter-shield that still left the crew exposed at the sides and rear.  The gun was well-liked by the artillery crews of the day, although by 1942 it was hopelessly ineffective against a well-armoured target, and was being replaced by the 5cm Pak 38 as early as 1940, then the more widely-known Pak 40 in 1941.  It was given a brief reprieve in the run-up to obsolescence by the use of a tungsten cored shell that gave it greater penetration, but its days were still numbered.  When faced with the new T-34 that began flooding the battlefield when Russia counter-attacked, it would ricochet harmlessly away unless it could fire from close-range to the side or rear, which was dangerous even before it was attached to the inadequate 35R chassis.  Couple that with the enemy troops that would be on the field and the lack of any meaningful protection of the crew, and many were killed before they could engage their targets.

 

 

The Kit

This is an minor re-tool of Hobby Boss’s 35R kit that we reviewed here some while back, sharing seven sprues and upper hull with its progenitor, as well as a Photo-Etch (PE) sheet that differs only slightly from the original.  The new sprue contains all the parts needed to build and mount the gun, with a simple new decal sheet finishing the package.  Inside the top-opening box are eight sprues plus the upper hull in sand-coloured styrene, two sprues of tracks in brown, a fret of PE, decal sheet, instruction booklet and separate colour painting guide.  Inside the box is a card divider to keep the parts in place during shipping, and one sprue is partly wrapped in foam sheet to further enhance protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The engine is first to be constructed, with a two-part block that is heavily detailed with additional parts, a great many of which are absolutely tiny, which goes together in stages that results in a very nicely depicted motor for your R35 chassis. Work then commences on integrating the engine with the lower hull, beginning with the sand-cast rear bulkhead, which has the idler tensioning devices and towing hook added, after which the radiator, cooling fan and tin-work ducting are assembled with the power-take-off wheel projecting from the rear of the box. The hull itself is made up from two side panels and a floor piece, into which the radiator housing, a styrene/PE stiffening plate and driver controls are added. The side panels are fitted out with three return-rollers and a final drive housing per side, and four bogies with two wheels per housing and a big suspension spring are built up. Two more solo bogies, two drive sprockets and two idler wheels are also constructed, and are installed on the suspension mounting points on the hull sides. At the same time the driver's seat, fuel tank and engine-mount bulkhead are placed within the hull, and the cast bulkhead closes up the rear. After adding a few more driver controls and their linkages, the drive-train is dropped into the hull, with a transmission housing added to the front, and prop-shafts joining it to the sprockets, completing the drive-train.

 

 

Given their small size in 1:35, HB have decided to go down the link and length route with the tracks, and it's hardly surprising. The straight track runs are made up from six parts with a few links in between the curved lower sections, and twelve individual links at each end. Each of the individual links have three sprue gates, while the moulded lengths have additional dead-end tabs that protect against short-shot links, and also double as ejector-pin locations, saving the delicate detail from marring by mis-alignments. Unless you're going to the trouble of using metal replacements, these should do you proud with a bit of sympathetic painting and weathering. Give them a rub with an artist's pencil to impart metallic sheen where they get worn, and you'll never know they weren't metal. With the tracks in place, the full-length fenders are added, along with a little stowage and a big bottle-jack on the right rear.

 

The upper hull is detailed inside with the driver's instrument panel, plus a choice of actuator for his vision hatch, which can be posed open or closed. The final drive inspection hatch is added along with some PE parts, as is the lower part of the driver's hatch, with the upper section added in the open or closed aspect, depending on your whim. The hull is then closed up by fitting the upper hull and a host of pioneer tools that are threaded through their tie-down blocks to be added to the sides of the hull, together with the silencer/muffler and exhaust, the feeder pipe for which comes from the rear of the vehicle.

 

The gun is last to be built, a process that begins with the carrier for the barrel, which is dropped on top and has the breech block inserted into the rear of the gun tube.  It has a hollow muzzle thanks to a little slide-moulding, and it is joined by all the aiming and elevation mechanisms, then the mount with pivot-point is closed around the cradle.  The splinter-shield is a single part, which has some small parts added before it is slid over the barrel and fixed in place with the addition of a bracing strut.  Underneath the cradle a custom mounting adaptor is made up with turn-buckles allowing removal on the real thing, and this receives the gun’s pivot peg.  There are two holes in the front of the upper hull, which accept the pegs on the bottom of the mount, leaving the crew having to stand in the turret ring, which is still present and unaltered.  At the rear a shallow retaining-rail surrounds the engine deck to help crew and equipment stay on the tank as it moves.  It's a bit of a lash-up, overall.

 

Markings

There is one decal option in “field grey” depicted on the painting guide, although there are two rows of serials from 0-9 and four additional crosses with a yellow centre on the sheet to give you some additional options if you wanted to depict a certain vehicle.  The option presented is identified only as “Erwin”, without any information regarding where and when it was used, which is par for the course with Hobby Boss and their decals.

 

 

 

The decals are mostly white, with just the yellow printing on the four unused crosses.  They’re perfectly adequate for the task, and have good colour density and sharpness, but a tiny difference in register between the white and yellow of the unused crosses.

 

 

Conclusion

It’s a nice kit of a woeful tank destroyer (read: tank irritator), and it would have taken a brave man to man that gun whilst under fire.  Well-detailed and conveniently small to fill up a small gap in your cabinet or corner of a diorama.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of