Does anyone besides me wonder why there isn't more early war German armor? To me you'd think it would be more popular than later war German armor ,because that's when Germany seemed to be winning
Sure there are some kits But lets face it A lot of them could be vastly improved Like Tamiy's Panzer IV Ausf D-has the wrong tracks,it's an old Kit Also the same with Tamiya's Panzer 2 kit and their Sdkfz 251/1 AuscC The outside isn't bad looking on that half track,but that interior,eeeeeeeewwwwww
I guess it's because the early war armor isn't as neat to look at as a Tiger or Panther

Not only early German armor were not as neat looking or deadly as the later types, they also had some pretty boring and few variations of the color schemes, and I think that more than anything keeps manufacturers from making bigger investments on those earlier types. They are as uninteresting to modelers as all O.D. Green allied armor Yet, the trend seems to be shifting towards those erlier tanks.

Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

Possibly it is because the early tanks were not as "sexy" as the later ones?Ask yourself this,which would you rather build,a tiger 1 or 2,a Panther, or a Stug 3.A panzer 3 or an early mark IV?

I know i prefer later German tanks because they look better,are more interesting to make and interest me more.

Later
Hawkeye

Hawkeye,I totally agree the early stuff wasn't as "sexy" as the later stuff However I would like to build more early war stuff like a Panzer IV Ausf A or a good kit of an Sdkfz 251/1 halftrack I happen to looooooove the color Panzer Gray

It seems to me with the ICM, Alan, Mirge, RPM, Marquette and other Eastern European manufacturers, that there are more early German armor than any other nation with the exception of maybe Russia.

One reason may be the later German tanks were much larger.. thereby giving kit makers a reason to be able to charge more for it..

I'd like to see a decent early Mk IV, but there's plenty out there now. Watch for Tristar to come out with some self-propelled guns on their Pzkpfw IA chassis--pretty awesome.

Also when this stuff does come out does anyone buy it? Has anyone bought the Tristar PZ IA? Did anyone buy the ICM kits of the MK II? They had a number come out the past few years and were supposed to be nice. Their Luchs was nice with some shortcomings, but you can't beat the price. CMK has a nice PZ. 35T and Maquette has their nice PZ 38 series which both of these can be built into decent models.I have these kits in my stash and intend to build them at some time. DML has all the early Stug kits---very nice!

The only thing that's really lacking is the early Mk IV's and III's, I feel that everything else is just about covered. So buy those early kits and paint 'em panzer grey!!!

My 2 cents,
Andy

I think when the big kitmakers start doing (or re-doing) the early war vehicles they'll be more popular. Many experienced and particularly less experienced modelers shy away from smaller kit makers. After a couple bad experiences with poor quality kits, I rarely buy anything besides Dragon or Tamiya because I know I can count on a quality product (I just stay away from the old tamiya ones) that goes together well and shows a decent level of detail. I have been very leery of the eastern european manufacturers, but I did try one of the ICM pz II D's and it was a good value for the dollar and I think will look nice when finished. Anyway, I'm sure some new molds from the higher quality manufacturers will help a lot.

Bingo! When someone decides to tackle a German tank as a crossover builder, they aim for the more well known kits like the new Tamiya PzKfw IV or the Academy Tiger, maybe a DML Panther. Same with a new builder. Mom and dad are going to grab a Tiger or Panther for the little modeler.

I've bought the old Italeri PzKfw I when it came out, also the ICM PzKfw II Flamingo and Luchs. Of course I have a couple of the new Tamiya kits: PzKfw IIIL and StuG IIIG.

At the risk of being unpopular I'm going to have to disagree with this. I would prefer to build early war German armor any day over the late war stuff. I get sick of seeing the same old models every time I go to shows. I like variation and would love to see more people do some of the lesser known stuff. I guess that's why my current projects are a BT-5, a T-35, and a TK-3.

I am a German builder and I like early stuff too.

I am so glad that the Pz I A is out now, and in fact Tristar is selling very well for this little tanks.

I also got the Pz III A.

AND I LIKE TO SAY, I LOVE T-35 too!

Fellow treadheads, modelers and Pigs.

Duane Pfister inspired me to build up a Bison, A Grille and a 150cm on a PZ II chassis in the eightties when the only way to get there was to buy the parent vehicle and kitbash your way to the intended victim, er subject. I built up Hetzaer's in 1/72 scale from scratch and a set of plans out of an English modeling manual that I found in a second hand bookstore. That was when my mark one eyeballs were still enthusiastic enough to really get nuts. The magazine articles that Duane authored are still in my collection and date from the mid eighties. He was so prolific at that time he was writing for about four different model magazines and always ended his articles with, "and if your interested, this model is for sale", I think it was part of his contract that he carried. He's still around and was the subject of a discussion in the chatroom. He took a medal in the 2001 IPMS finals so he hasn't lost his touch, Duane where are you, we budding geniuses of the modlers art could use some of your alchemy?

But I digress, My first model book was an Aero Publication on the Pz I I have a long affinity for TKS and TKM minitanks, don't forget the UE's, Where would Renault be,. if not for the thousands that they fed to the Germans for their efforts at the Russian front? What about all the T-19s, T-21s, T-26s. And all the other minis that the Russians felt the need for in the 20s and the 30s. What could be sexier than a Renault UE with the cool little domed covers and a Pair of 40/32cm rockets slung on each side ala Stuka zu Foss? Thats almost as sexy as an M2 Stuart Lt. Tank With twin turrets, one housing a.30 the other a .50 cal. Browning machine gun, belt fed? The Army and Marine crews gave them the nickname Mae West's for obvious reasons.

I think that the early stuff has long been neglected, much to the loss of the hobby. It's good to see that alot of the data from the former Eastern Block is now available to us and some of the little jewels by Mirage and RPM are available through western impoorters. The Briotish had a long love affair wioth Carden Lloyd, Renault, Ford, yes, I did say Ford, what do you think was in those cute little Bren gun carriers? Good old Dearborn Blue Oval stuff before it was the Blue Oval.

Okay I've said my piece, go visit the chatroom on msn, lots of good people, lots of good conversation, and even some model stuff!

C ya' n the funny papers.

Oink-Squeal-Oink
Jay Pig, #53

It's true that tamiya doesn't make early armor... but check the other modelmakers !

I've bought the tristar PzI, ICM PzII, CMK Pz35T... that way I can work in grey !
If you wonder if one of the lesser known companies is good, just ask here, in the forum ! Someone will certainly know about the kit and give you an answer !

What I'd like to see is a remastered kit of an armored car... I just love them...

PenPen,how are those CMK kits? I realize there's a lot from Eastern Europe and Russia,but how are the kits? I don't mind a challenge,but then again I don't want to scratchbuild a lot of stuff,because the kit part is either wrong or warped real bad
I don't have a whole lot of room in my sleeper bunk on the truck that I drive,so I can't carry as much stuff as I'd like to I would also love to see the old armored car kits remastered too penpen

The CMK kits of the Panzerkampfwagen 35(t) and TACAM are great. They are very nice out of the box and there are plenty of AM kits available if you feel like going all out with PE and tracks.

Here is a good review of the kit (in fact it is the review that made me decide to buy the kit):

http://www.squadron.com/old/pzk35/pzk35review.htm

Everyone should build at least one old Italeri Panzer I. I love that old kit. It looks good in Panzer Grey or DAK brown.

Patrick

I too prefer to paint the few German vehicles I do in that loooovvvvvviely german grey

thanks

I consider it a break to be able to paint a tank panzer grey. Maybe tamiya will one day revamp their old kits. I like the early war equipment also

Maybe there should be an early-war panzer group build?.....

As it's been said, the CMK pz35T is a good model.
One detail I rely enjoyed is that in the box, you are even told where and how to apply the electrical wiring !

You are in luck. There is going to be a Barbarossa group build that is going to start at the same time of the year as the real Operation Barbarossa, the summer solstice. This will be mainly early German and Russian bantam armor, but softskins as well as animal drawn vehicles will be welcome. Also if anyone has any concrete proof of a particular allied lend-lease vehicle being used during this early war operation, it is welcome too.

That's great news Rob !
Now, if that new DML T34-76 could have been released by then...

Let me preface this by saying that I am not trying to bust anyone's chops, but this is something I have been confused about for a while now. I am curious why everyone says the Italeri Panzer I. I was under the impression that the kit was made by Zvezda and reboxed by Italeri. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the other way around because the Zvezda logo is molded directly into the hull. The same goes for all of the Panzer I based vehicles, BTs, T-26s, T-34s (and variants), and Italian WWII vehicles. They all have the Zvezda logo molded into the bottom whether they are boxed by Italeri or Zvezda. Besides that the Italeri boxes have the Zvezda logo on them while the Zvezda boxes don't carry the Italeri logo. One guy told me that the molds were mastered by Italeri and then Zvezda actually poured the plastic, but this doesn't make sense to me because of the logo molded on the hull and the logos displayed on the boxes. Can anyone tell me what the real story is? Are these kits Zvzeda's or Italeri's originally? I've been curious about this for a while and have not heard a definative answer yet.

Adamus,

I never had any Italeri/Zveda kit, so I cannot comment. But from what you said, it seems to me that the tool master is by Zveda rather than another way around. It's the only way that the logo will be there. It seems that Italeri might be only do the injection job and reboxing.

O.k. here is some information that I got over at Track-Link from David Nickels regarding my question: