Rick Cooper builds and reviews the British Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Gun Archer from Tamiya in 1/35th scale.

Read the Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Any idea when it will be available ?

I think(???) should be out in the US in another week or two. I have heard Nov. 20th, which would be great. By Christmas for sure.

The Tamiya site lists it as a December release.

Thanks guys , looking forward to it .

My local hobby store here in Canada has it in stock already.

https://the-hobby-centre.myshopify.com/

I have noticed over the last few Tamiya releases, we seem to getting them in Canada before they are available in the States. Strange.

On pre-order at Hobbeasy. Release date 20/11/17. http://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/v5pjrx7nrjsq4kjoy03j.html

I want.
is there a review of the Bronco Archer anywhere?

David,
I will give you my one sentence review/comparison..If you want a highly detailed 2 to 3 month build, grab the Bronco, if you want something that you can finish within a couple of weeks with perfect fit and acceptable detail, grab the Tamiya kit.
But, here is a better review from Jim Rae.
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/5861

Cheers,
Rick

Good one here

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/bronco/cb35074.html

I've been looking at this one for many years. Four things have put me off

1) it is a complicated build
2) the wheel spacing on the smaller road wheels is wrong
3) no crew
4) expensive

Looking forward to the Tamiya one - it fixes 1 to 3 for me, hopefully 4 won't be a problem with the Tamiya kit.

Cheers,

Nigel

Very nice review Rick. Been thinkin about this one for a while. One question though. What did the driver do while engaging the enemy? I figure he could not sit in his normal position with the gun placed as it was. Did his seat lower for him to be out of the way or was he an integral part of the crew firing?

Hello Bob,
It is a strange step-up which brings up your question. I have heard that it is a myth that the driver has to vacate his position. The recoil of the gun seems like it would be stopped before it got that far, the back end of the guard would be knocked off every time they fired if the recoil truly traveled that far, let alone knocking off the head of the driver! The whole idea behind the vehicle is 'shoot and scoot' which would be hard to accomplish without a driver in situ. However, I know I wouldn't want that thing firing off behind my head despite whatever reassurances I might be given! I suspicion that if this is just a rumor it may have started both because of the obvious recoil question and the amount of time the gun would have been employed to deliver HE in support of troops who were not facing armored vehicles (more and more likely as the war entered it's final phase). That's my $.02 worth but Dick Taylor says that the driver had to vacate, and he knows WAY more than I do so perhaps my idle speculation isn't even worth the $.02!!
Cheers,
Rick

I think it's based on the Miniart Valentine, so there are more accuracy isssues with it than the heel spacing. This version should be close to 100% accurate as a Tamiya kit