Kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen 1KLA
(Light Command Tank T-1KLA)
1/35th #T3502
First Look Review by Terry Ashley
This is the second kit from Master Box Ltd in their Panzer I series and represents the earliest version of the leichte (Funk) Panzerwagen which was based on the 2.Serie/La.S Panzer 1 hull with the narrow hatch on the glacis, two fuel filler caps on the engine deck and vision port on the right rear of the superstructure.
The alterations to the standard Panzer I consisted of the turret being replaced by a fixed upper superstructure with three vision ports and radio aerial on the right rear panel and the kit follows this by providing the new superstructure with separate front and rear plates along with a vision port on the front and rear plate as well as a machine gun ball mounting on the front plate.
The rest of the kit is the same as the first Munitionsschlepper kit, so all comments with that review apply also to this kit.
Unfortunately according to the plans and data in the Panzer Tracks No.1-2 book by Thomas L.Jentz and Hilary Doyle there are three vision ports with plain flat plates as well as no machine gun mounting. No other reference I could find showed the MG mounting on these early vehicles but it would be quite easy to replace the front superstructure plate with plastic card and add the vision port to show the correct configuration.
As with the first kit this will build into an attractive Panzer I variant with a little work needed on the new superstructure but nothing excessive.
Recommended.
The Decals:
The decal sheet has markings for three Panzerbefehlswagen, one from the
Spanish Civil War, one from the Polish and French campaigns with a selection
of vehicles numbers, tac signs and crosses in various colours applicable
to the various campaigns.
The Instructions:
These are in the form of exploded view drawings that are fairly easy to follow
but one thing to note is that the parts are not numbered on the sprues
as with most kits but the parts layout diagrams on the instructions show
the part numbers which you then match to the parts on the sprues. I didn’t
see any problems identifying the parts as most are fairly obvious anyway.
Some of the diagrams also show more detail than is actually on the parts,
especially on the internal engine bulkhead and superstructure walls, maybe
this was planned but not included on the final kit?
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Page created 25 January 2004
