Special Armour Panzerbefehlswagen 35(t) (SA35008) 1:35

[Mike]

Panzerbefehlswagen 35(t) (SA35008)

1:35 Special Armour by Special Hobby

 

 

Originally designed and built for the Czech army the 35(T) or LT 35 as it was then known, wasn’t an immediate success. Once its shortcomings had been ironed out however, it became very popular with the crews. This was Skoda’s first tank built with a turret, which mounted a 37mm gun and a co-axial machine gun. With the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the German army captured 244 tanks of the 434 built, pressed them into service and designated them the Panzerkampfwagen 35(t). Used extensively in the Blitzkrieg attacks in the invasion of Poland, France and even the opening attacks against Russia, it was at least partly responsible for the success of the initial advances.  The main hull was of bolted construction, the heads of which could shatter and become shrapnel within the vehicle in the event of a hit, even if it didn’t manage to penetrate the armour.  Although its armour was on the thin side, it could still cope well with shrapnel, small arms fire and rounds up to around 20mm, after which penetration was likely, and this was partly responsible for its withdrawal as the war led to larger and larger guns carried by both sides. Some tanks were converted to Panzerbefehlswagens, or Command Tanks by the removal of the bow machine gun and the addition of extra radio gear that was coupled to a Frame antenna on the rear of the tank.  It was better suited to the task of holding slightly to the rear and issuing orders to the rest of the squad, where its light armour was less of a risk to the crew, especially as it also contained their commander.

 

Most 35(t)s were retired from active service by 1942 and used as training vehicles until spares and wear & tear saw them off.  Some of the withdrawn tanks were converted to other uses by removing their turrets and fitting other equipment useful in their new role.  The turrets were retained for use in fixed emplacements in defence lines such as the Atlantic Wall.   Bulgaria had acquired a number of these tanks for their army, and finally retired their last training 35(t) in 1950.

 

 

The Kit

This is a reboxing of an earlier kit from the Special Armour line, with some additional parts to turn it into the Command variant.  It arrives in a medium-sized top-opening box, and inside are four  larger sprues in grey styrene, a smaller sprue in white styrene, a strip of five jerrycans on a resin pour stub, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), the decal sheet and A5 stapled instruction booklet on glossy paper with spot colour and profiles at the rear.  Although this is an older kit, with the PE having a copyright date of 1998, the detail is good, although the part numbers are engraved on the notional “back” of the sprues, with the majority of the detail moulded on the opposite surface.  Other than that, it could be mistaken for a much younger kit, and there’s very little in the way of flash apart from one corner of the track, where a small amount of mould damage may have crept in, but without damaging the parts themselves.  The tracks

are of the link-and-length variety, with long runs on the straighter sections, and individual links for the highly curved areas.  More on that later.

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the road wheels, starting with the drive sprocket and idler wheel pairs, all of which are made from three parts each, with small sprocket pegs on the idlers, which is unusual.  The eighteen road wheels are mounted in sets of four pairs on bogies with twin leaf-suspension between the two sides, and the wheels remain mobile because no glue is needed to hold them in the bogies.  In all, four bogies are made for use later in the build.  Firstly, the lower hull must be made up, starting with a floor that has angled front and rear sections, which match the angles on the two side panels that are fitted with a bulkhead that helps to hold the chassis square.  Two small torus shapes should be removed from the inner edges of the front sides before they are mounted, as per the accompanying diagram.  The glacis plate is laid over the front of the chassis after removing a small upstand in front of a hatch, then eight pairs of return rollers are glued to the inverted chassis, with the final drive housings at the rear and the idler wheel axles at the front.  The four bogies are fitted to their mounting points on the sides in pairs, and the drive sprockets and idler wheels are slotted in place without glue to facilitate building of the track runs.

 

The tracks are of link and length style as already mentioned, with two long lengths per sides and another four short lengths, joined together by the addition of fifteen individual links, with the drawings showing the correct orientation of the links to assist you in avoiding mistakes.  This is repeated on each side, then it’s on to the turret, with fenders fitted later.

 

The turret is built up on the main part that encompasses three sides and the roof, to which the mantlet and its sides are attached, then the cupola is installed with three side inserts and a domed top.  There doesn’t seem to be an option to open up the hatch and insert a figure, as per the box art’s suggestion.  The lower surface of the turret consists of two parts on a circular base, but before that the coaxial machine gun in the mantlet and the main gun must be built in.  The coax is a single part, and the main gun has the barrel and recoil tube moulded as one, with a two-part perforated muzzle added to the tip that gives the impression of a hollow barrel.  This is inserted through the mantlet from within, and held in place by a U-shaped cleat that you glue in place.

 

Attention shifts back to the hull, making the upper half from one large section with the upper glacis panel added to the front and fitted out with aerial base, headlamp (no clear parts), circular appliqué panel over the location where the bow gun would have been, a horn and some pioneer tools down each side of the upper hull.  On the right side a two-part exhaust is added toward the rear, and the towing cable is heated to bend it into shape and glued onto the sloped part of the engine deck.  The upper hull is joined to the lower along with the fenders, which locate on a pair of lugs on the sides of the lower hull.  The rear bulkhead with some extra detail parts is affixed to the rear along with some spare track links on the right fender, a pair of PE panels are glued to the upper sides of the hull under the turret, and a couple of lengths of 0.5mm wire from your own stocks are added to provide the wiring to the standard antenna at the front, and the large frame antenna at the rear.  More wire is added on the left side to another base, and the bed-frame antenna on the white sprue is made up and glued in place over the engine deck.  There is a PE number plate frame on the rear bulkhead near the convoy light, and there is yet more wire added around the front of the chassis, so make sure you have plenty to hand before you begin.  Finally, the resin jerry cans are freed from their casting blocks, and after clean-up are strapped together in PE brackets in sets of two and three.  The set of three fit to the sloped side of the engine deck on the left, and the two-pack sits on a stand on the fender on the same side.  A resin convoy lamp is drilled into the front of the left fender near the inner edge.  Twist the turret into position, and that’s the build complete.

 

 

Markings

There are two options on the small decal sheet, both wearing the same panzer grey camo that was typical of early war German armour.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• A03 3rd Panzer, Panzer Abteilung 65, 6. Panzer Div., Oberleutnant Marquart, France, Summer 1940, Russia, June 1941
• A01 1st Panzer, Panzer Abteilung 65, 6. Panzer Div., Abt. Commander Oberleutnant Schenk, France, Summer 1940, Russia, June 1941

 

 

 

The decals are printed anonymously, and there is no registration, just yellow or white markings with black decal numbers, all of which have good sharpness, although yellow is always of mild concern with decals, especially when applying them over dark colours.

 

 

Conclusion

An interesting reboxing of this little tank, and the decal options show a pair of Panzers that saw action in two of the major campaigns of the war, during Nazi expansion through Europe before the tables turned.  Time has been kind to the moulds, and detail is excellent for the age of the original tooling.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of