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Building the Panzer 1

step 5

Now I am usually a big fan of individual link tracks. I think all kits should be supplied with them. Yes they do usually take a long time to assemble, but against this is the wonderful appearance that can be achieved. These are no different. Their final appearance is, I think, great. However, it is a Panzer 1. The links are tiny, delicate and therefore prone to damage whilst removing them from the sprue.... and there seems to be an awful lot of them! I damaged an awful lot of them too! I eventually removed them from the sprue by using a pyrogravure, and therefore melting through the sprue rather than putting any pressure whatsoever on it. Still they broke. They are some of the finest moulding I’ve ever seen. If you are building one of these, you don’t get many spare, so please be careful. I actually did not have enough to finish both lengths, and so there are some half links cunningly placed on the right-hand track! Once removed from the sprue and cleaned up they go together like a dream, just push them together in a short length, run some cement in between and get them around the wheels.... not forgetting to add the proper amount of sag of course! With individual links I like to place them on the vehicle before painting, as I feel it’s easy to paint them with an airbrush, and very difficult to place them otherwise. If I had to use a brush however, it might be easier to build them, paint them, bend them and fit them! Study the instructions carefully when you come to fit them to the vehicle to ensure they are the correct way round!

steps 6&7

These stages deal with construction of the superstructure. I was slightly nervous about these parts, as having built a similar variant from a different manufacturer and having awful problems getting it to go together, I thought I might have had the same experience here. I need not have worried. It goes together like a dream! It constructed in a very unusual way, sort of like a double skin, with the armour-plating going over a skeleton that forms the basic structure. The option of having both hatches is there, with internal detail on all doors. It is here that you get to use sprue ‘W’ that contains the mechanisms for the working, transparent vision blocks! Some people have said that these are difficult to work with since being transparent it can be hard to see where mould lines are etc. I have to say, I love them. I can’t really see the need for transparent ones in this kit as the effect cannot really be seen on this kit, but the kind of plastic used is ideal for this sort of tiny working detail. The normal grey styrene just would not work; it would be too ‘soft’. It can extremely ‘fiddly’ to assemble these, the best way I found to do it was e.g. to cement W19 to W16 first, then W23 to W19, meanwhile fitting W21 to the superstructure wall. The completed assembly of W23, 19 & 16 can then be fitted through the opening. Seemed to work well!