Model Forum / General / Models / June 2006

Kit Review: Tristar 1/35 Scale Model Kit No. 020; German Panzer Kpfw.
38(t) Ausf. E/F; 530 parts (482 parts in tan styrene, 40 etched brass,
8 clear styrene); retail price US $42

Advantages: nice, crisp new kit of old favorite; if you have to use
putty on this kit, then YOU made a mistake!

Disadvantages: tracks are not particularly fun to assemble (see text)

(NOTE: Review sample is essentially a "Beta" kit with no etched
parts, no figure, and no decals)

Rating: Highly Recommended

Recommendation: for all early war German and "Small Army" fans

    Imagine the surprise the German army felt when they "merged" with
Czechoslovakia in 1939 and found that the Czechs had a better tank
industry than they did, and better light tanks! The Czech Army was
equipped with two well-thought-out light tanks, the LT vz 35 (S-II) and
the LT vz 38 (TNHP-S). Both were products of the famous Skoda factory
and were superior to their German equivalents of the time, the Pzkw. I
and Pzkw. II. As a point of fact, both were as powerful as the German
Pzkw. III variants of the time but weighed less.

    Needless to say, the Germans knew a good thing when they saw it and
took both of them into service as the Pzkw. 35(t) and the Pzkw. 38(t).
The latter had such a reliable and flexible chassis that it also served
to provide the Germans with a large number of self-propelled guns, the
most well known being the Marder III and Hetzer self-propelled antitank
guns.

    Over 1,300 Pzkw. 38(t) tanks in seven production series served in the
Wehrmacht and fought in Poland, France and Russia. The largest group
were the Ausf. E and similar Ausf. F, with over 525 being built for the
Germans by Skoda. The tanks were armed with a good 37mm gun and two
Czech 7.92mm machine guns, possessed 30mm armor protection (two layers
of 15mm plate) and 50mm glacis protection (two layers of 25mm plate).
It could do more than 40 kph and had a range of 230 km with a full
fueling.

    While the small the tanks gave a good account of themselves until they
ran up against the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, and as attrition (and
conversion to SP guns) took its toll they slowly left the German
inventory.

    The TNHP-S has always been one of the more popular "small army"
tank designs, and a bit over 30 years ago Italeri (back when it was
still Italieri) came out with a nice kit of what was reportedly an
Ausf. G. It was a very nice kit for the time, but over the years it was
found to contain a lot of flaws or (no driver's hatch!) areas that
Italeri had overlooked (wheels with no backs to them.) It could be made
into a nice model, but it took a lot of work and a lot of after-market
bits to make it so.

    There is evidence that one of the Eastern European companies came out
with a kit - Alan
I think - but it was given very short shrift and rarely shows up in
commentary.

    Now Tristar has released a brand new kit, and just before the Memorial
Day Weekend in the US I received a "Beta" version of the kit -
complete less decals, etched brass and the figure. Having nothing else
to do (I am awaiting materials for two projects which are on order) and
having seen the sneers of the "experten" on the Internet that one
has to build models to review them, in spite of any other relevant
skills or experience, I put this one together to see what it was like.

    The model has at least twice as many parts as the old Italeri kit, and
even thought it uses a similar parts breakdown that is about all the
kits have in common. Nearly everything I recall as having been left off
the Italeri kit is now present, and to top it off, the kit provides
very clean single link tracks. It took me only 10 hours flat to
assemble the kit, and that includes the tracks; this speaks volumes
about them, for many other kits require at least that amount of time in
cleaning them up, fitting them, assembling them and then attaching them
to the model.

    This is a very precisely engineered kit, and as noted above if parts
don't fit then it is YOUR fault and not Tristar's! I had some fit
problems which soon turned out to be "operator error" on my part
and not theirs.

    Assembly starts with the wheels, which are very delicate and require a
great deal of care in assembly. Tires for the road wheels and return
rollers are separate parts, nice if you want to paint them before
installation, and since the last step is installing the tracks you may
prefer that. Like nearly all "flat kits" (belly, sides, and rear
plate as separate parts) the hull is next, and you will have to take
care to find the detail parts on the very compact and busy sprues.

    In Step 4 you begin using the clear parts; note that part G-3 is
mounted as far to the right in the glacis opening as possible in order
to clear handle C-19 if the visor C-18 is left in the open position.
There are two visors for the right side, G-1 and G-2, but I have no
idea what the difference is and simply used the G-2 one. Mounting the
bow machine gun is tricky as the handles are difficult to get through
the opening in the glacis and take some finesse. They are parallel to
the ground whereas the shots I have of the Czech machine guns show them
slanted downward like "cadillacs" but I have no idea if this is
correct or now.

    Step 5 - tools and stowage - would have been easier with the
etched brass straps! I cannot comment on the etched as it did not come
with the kit.

    Step 6 covers the upper hull and again note that all parts are a snug
- but correct - fit. I suggest mount the rear deck frame (A-4)
first as it has to have its rear edge butted against the rear plate and
not on top of it. The driver's hatch is nicely done - padding is
molded on the inside and no ejection pin marks. (There are some on the
inside of the hull and under the fenders, but none in any place of
importance.)

    What I think is the smoke candle box in Step 7D is somewhat tricky for
the slotted section (part D-45) is the only one that did not seem to
self-align. Once assembled the box fits well on the stern plate. The
only problem I found in the entire kit worth mentioned took place here.
The kit offers you the adjustment splines for the track tensioning
devices (parts E-33) or covers for them (E-34) but suggests that the
covers go over the splines. That flat out will not work, as the covers
are supposed to fit flush and if assembled per kit instructions there
is a good 2 mm of daylight under them. I left the covers off, but I
think the right choice would be to install the covers and skip the
splines.

    Step 8 is the initial turret assembly and it requires care. If you do
it right, the gunner's telescopic sight (B-26) rotates with the gun
and this is visible from the front of the turret. Step 8-3 covers the
commander's cupola and if you take your time and care the entire
assembly literally goes together without any seams that should not be
there.

    In Step 8-4 - turret body - I cemented one side in place, then the
back, then the other side, and finally the roof and front skirt. This
way I was able to align all the parts and again, no gaps. The turret
front is a dead-on fit and the side plates (C-14 and 15) also snug up
without seams.

    Step 9 is the track installation; I did one their way and one my way.
Their way is simply snapping the links together and installing them,
but most of the pins are too weak to hold so it was more than a bit
frustrating. I did make a small jig for assembly out of a section of
0.080" square (2mm) strip glued to a section of 0.040" sheet (1mm) to
assist in alignment. "My way" was to use Tamiya "Orange" cement
and make sections of ten with the pins filled off the end sections, and
then assemble them on the model. It was faster and a LOT less
frustrating!

    Overall, while I cannot comment on the quality of the etched brass and
the figure, or the decals (the directions show six different finishing
options from 1941-1942) the kit is one of the neatest assembly jobs
that I have found in some time, rivaling some kits with fewer parts.
The tracks are fussy but nothing you can't survive, and only take
about an hour to clean up  - that's over 200 links which only need
a couple of quick passes with a sanding stick over the hinges if you
use a sprue nipper. A fun build - and quick!

    Thanks to Bob Lewen of MRC for the "Beta" kit!

Cookie Sewell