German Panzer Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G
Panzerbefehlswagen Pz.BfWg 38(t) Ausf.G
Tristar Kit No. 35022
1:35 Scale
Review by Terry Ashley
As the majority of this kit is the same as with the Ausf. E/F with just a few revised parts for the Ausf.G much of the review below is from the Ausf. E/F review to save re-inventing the wheel with additional comments as required.
The kit has 249 parts moulded in light beige plastic with an additional 220 individual track links, a revised fret of etched parts and 8 clear plastic parts plus the decal and instruction sheets.
Standard of moulding is again very good with very few pin marks and those present in unavoidable places are quite shallow and easy to remove with only the odd bit of fine flash but overall the parts are quite clean. There are many very small parts that will require care when removing from the sprues and during assembly and the level of detail is very good with well defined rivets and extensive use of slide moulds to add extra details.
Lower Hull:
The lower hull tub is made up of the full length bottom plate that includes
the lower front plate with separate hull side panels and the rear plate that
when fitted together form the basis for the rest of the kit and as such the
fit of these parts is paramount to the final outcome. The fit was spot on without
any warping to start with and precise location that resulted in a perfectly
square and robust assembly not requiring any trimming or filler.
I use Tenax-7R cement for quicker bonding than some “conventional” liquid cement and this helps get a perfect fit by minimising the chance of panel movement while the glue dries.
The bolted front armour plate and glacis are also very good fits again not requiring any trimming and the separate glacis inspection hatch is a very snug fit and it is interesting to note that there is interior detail on the side panels and inside of the inspection hatch as well as floor panel detail in the engine compartment for future details to be added.
Added to the front plate are the towing shackles and spare track links with separate attachment brace while at the back the circular engine inspection hatch is also a separate part with separate central cap and other small details such as the towing shackles, idler mountings and an impressive exhaust muffler which is a single cylinder hollowed out using slide moulds with separate end cap and pipe with this approach completely eliminating any mould seams or other cleanup needed on the muffler.
Suspension/Running Gear:
The suspension units are made of seven parts each and are designed to be movable
if you are sparing with the glue. The bogie mounting plate fits neatly to the
lower hull and the large spring is then attached without glue and held in place
with a small U retainer (part E25) but this needed the inside deepened a little
for a better fit, this is quite tricky due to the small size of the parts.
Next the two outer axles are fitted again without glue and the axle end caps (parts E7) carefully glued in place allowing the axles to move freely and this allows the suspension to rock back and forth to give the suspension articulation, the springs don’t actually compress but it the next best thing.
The eight road wheels have the correct 32 outer rim bolts and 16 inner hub bolts cleanly depicted on both sides of the wheel as well as having the rubber section as separate parts for good definition and also allowing these to be painted separately from the main wheel. The central hub is also a separate part and there is an inner pin that holds the wheel to the axle allowing free movement and this attachment pin is moulded as a hex bolt even though you can’t see this after assembly showing the attention to detail evident in this kit.
The wheels also match available 1:35 plans in the books listed below perfectly as do the other suspension components and most of the hull and turret dimensions with any discrepancies well within acceptable tolerances mostly being less than 1mm.
The upper return rollers also have separate mounting brackets and inner hub with separate rubber sections with the “continental” embossing included and this allows for the very crisp detail on the hub.
The drive sprockets have excellent details on both sides of the sprocket discs as well as having separate hubs with well defined bolt heads as do the rear idlers which again have details on both sides of the wheel discs and separate hubs.
The Tracks:
These are in individual links designed to clip together for fully working track
to go with the movable suspension and the details on the links is very good
with crisp detail and the moulding process adding detail to the guide teeth,
there is a little flash on some links to be cleaned up as well as a few where
the track guide has excess plastic but these are in the minority plus the
sprue attachment scar for fairly minimal cleanup.
Each link has two small pins and corresponding locating holes on the opposite side of the link and is designed to clip together in the same manner as many resin track sets.
They click together easily but due to the small size of the links the pins and locating hole edges are quite fine and there was a quite high attrition rate where the links simply came apart with only light handling. With care you can assembly enough to go around the driver sprockets and idlers with those that won’t clip together used for the ground contact run and glued in place.
But the assembled track runs do look impressive and add further to the level of detail in the kit.
Upper Hull:
Moving up the full length fenders have very nice raised rib details and attachment
brackets on the top but no detail on the undersides with other items added
to the fenders such as a five part jack, the distinctive 38(t) perforated storage
box in five parts with the holes cleanly depicted as well as the pioneer tools
with some tool clips moulded on and others added from etched parts included.
Alternate full length fenders are supplied for the Command version as well as
the larger storage boxes on both fenders which held the tools and so there are
no locating holes in the fenders and the separate tools are spare for this version.
Each storage box is made up of five parts for good detail definition
The driver’s plate has the revised bolt layout for the Ausf.G (fewer
bolts than the E/F) with separate visors that can be shown open or closed with
inner etched and plastic details added as well as having clear plastic inside
visor details.
The full ZB vz.35 machine gun, or Besa in British use (for the standard Ausf.G)
is in two halves with the inner gun and outer barrel section with very well
defined rib details and this is held in place with the circular retaining plate,
the MG barrel is also hollowed out using slide moulds but not to any depth
and is more a locating hole for you to drill out the barrel further. The fit
of the driver’s plate to the hull tub is again excellent without any
trimming needed. For the Command version you have the round blanking plate
for the machine gun opening as this was not fitted to the Command version.
Added to the side plate is the large vision port on the right side with clear plastic inner visor detail and the smaller visor on the left hull side and the two part driver’s hatch has excellent inside padding and latch details included.
The upper hull plate with turret ring cut-out and the angled rear engine deck cover are next to be attached and again the fit is perfect not requiring any trimming or filler, this certainly makes assembly easier as trimming and filler a riveted vehicle can present all sorts of problems.
The engine deck has separate large side opening access doors minus the two rows of rivets on the lower angled sides (correct for the Ausf.G) but there is a fine mould seam along the door curve to be removed which this is easily done as it is not very prominent. Added under the outer edge of the door are fine intake screens from etched parts and considering these are impossible to see due to the fenders is an nice inclusion but will look impressive if you add an engine (CMK already have an excellent Praga engine in their set #3049) and the doors shown open.
The small square angled intake at the rear has separate fine plastic grills further enhanced with a fine etched screen to add over the top with the angled sides needing to be bent into shape to fit the engine deck contours, easily done with any of the available etched bending tools.
Also provided for the Command version is the large frame antenna over the engine deck which is thinly moulded with additional etched parts for the mounting brackets and makes this version of the 38(t) quite distinctive from the standard gun tank.
The Turret:
This is again made up of separate turret ring, left, right and rear plates
as well as separate front plate with revised rivet details for the Ausf.G and
riveted chin strip with the roof plate and upper cupola made up of additional
dozen or so parts.
The fit of the turret panels is good but not as precise as the hull with some minor trimming needed to get a snug fit of the front plate and minor trimming around the rear turret plates, but while this is minor you have to take care due to the many rivets located around the turret panels.
The fit of the cupola panels and visors which have additional clear plastic inner visors is excellent thankfully especially considering the many small parts that make up the cupola. The separate cupola hatch again has superb inner padding texture and can be shown open or closed as you wish.
The 3.7cm main gun is moulded in one piece with just a very fine mould seam to be sanded smooth and the muzzle is slightly hollowed out but again more as a locating point for you to drill out further for a better look. On the inside is a separate three part breech and gun guard with spent shell case bag plus other gun controls as well as the full co-axial ZB vz.35 machine gun the same as fitted to the driver’s plate.
The main gun is designed to elevate as is the telescopic sight which has a movable mounting and elevates in unison with the main gun for an impressive assembly. The instructions show to attach the turret roof before fitting the front plate with gun assembly and this does mean you have a tricky job to fit the gun assembly through the front turret opening. It does fit but it may be easier to fit the front plate and gun assembly before attaching the turret roof.
Decals:
The large sheet is well printed with a selection of turret numbers and balkenkreuz
with six vehicles shown in the instruction with some colourful marking included.
The markings are:
Conclusion:
The kit has the same superb level of detail as the Ausf.E/F included the good
fit of the parts, especially the all important lower hull tub being a standout
and should make assembly as trouble free as you can get.
The level of detail included is again exceptional for a small vehicle from the excellent detail on the running gear to the well defined rivets and full 3.7cm gun and the inclusion of the subtle detail changes for the Ausf.G plus the alternate befehlswagen parts makes for another attractive kit.
Highly recommended.
The sprues
Click for larger image
Detail images
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Thanks
to CK Pat from the Tristar
Shop for the review kit.
Page created August 5, 2006