Introduction

The Panzerkampfwagen 35(t), or Panzer 35(t), was a Czechoslovakian designed tank that started production as the LT vz.35, designed for cavalry use in the mid-1930’s. Following the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the German invaders made use of these tanks mostly with the 6th and 11th Panzer Divisions in the invasion of Poland and France. In 1941 during the invasion of Russia the Panzer 35(t) was used again in a supporting role, but as numbers dwindled the tank was taken out of service.

The Panzer 35(t) also saw service with Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Even after the tank was removed from the front line, it was used for training new tank crews in some of the Axis countries, like Hungary.

Contents

• 15 plastic sprues
• 20 plastic sprues of individual track link
• 1 fret of photo-etched
• 1 sheet of decals
• 1 instruction booklet
• 1 print of the box art

Review

This new kit of the Panzer 35(t) from Bronco is stated as in cooperation with SKP Model. The kit comes molded in a tan colored plastic, and a look, the moldings shows they are very well done, with little to no flash, no ejector pin marks, and no sink marks. There also a lot of fine molded parts, some I am surprised that are molded so fine. There will be great care needed to get some of these parts off the sprues.

The lower hull needs to be assembled from multiple parts, and as the vehicle has an interior, both side have great looking detail. The assembly does begin with the lower hull interior, adding the interior detail to the hull pieces. There looks to be a lot of detail on the interior with radios, ammunition racks, driver compartment, and rear firewall. It should be noted that there is no interior detail for the engine bay.

Once the lower hull is completed, work starts on the running gear. The running gear does look to contain a lot of separate parts, and even looking at the instructions, some care will be needed, and I suggest that you refer to them a lot as there are pieces marked for no glue. There are photo-etched parts required for the assembly, so I suggest that you be aware of this if you have a bit of a photo-etched phobia. From reviewing the parts and instructions, the bogeys should build into some well detailed sub-assemblies.

The tracks are individual links, small and fine. The instructions state not to use glue, thus you should have workable track. The tracks are left and right, and are marked on the sprues with an L and R, so you will need to pay attention when assembling these.

The fenders come next, and again there is some photo-etched details included. In my opinion the molding detail on the fenders looks great. Next onto the upper hull with the addition of both interior and exterior details, and more photo-etched including interior rivet details and exterior tool clasps. The detail, again, looks to be very well done. The kit provides 5 small sprues of jerry cans (2 per sprue, 10 jerry cans in total) and does provide the option of fuel can racks for the rear of the vehicle.

With the hull almost complete the assembly moves onto the front plate and bow mount machine gun, which is a fine piece of work. This is followed by the main gun assembly, with the gun molded in plastic and slide molded for a hollow end, the detail on the muzzle looks great. With another machine gun assembly the turret begins to come together with some more great looking photo-etched details.

Final assembly brings all the sub-assemblies together and you are now ready for paint. The instructions provide paint and marking schemes for six vehicles:

• German 6th Panzer Division, France, May-June 1940 Tank 212
• German 6th Panzer Division, France, May-June 1940 Tank 502
• German Unknown Unit, Poland, 1939
• Czech Army Unknown Unit, Slovak 1938
• Czech Army Unknown Unit, 1937
• German 6th Panzer Division, Russian Front, 1941

The decals are well printed, and all look to be in register.

The instructions are printed in color and include 30 steps across a 22 page booklet. The assembly steps look to be very well laid out, with only a couple of busy assemblies, ie bogeys. Paint callouts are included for some areas with references to Humbrol, Mr. Hobby, Hobby Color, and Tamiya paints.

Conclusion

Overall this is a great kit of the Panzerkampfwagen 35(t) from Bronco Models. The molding is very well done, and has fine detail on the surface and fine parts. The only real drawbacks I see are some of the parts are really fine and care will be needed to remove them, as well the inclusion of required photo-etched as part of the assemblies may scare off novice modellers or those not comfortable with it. From the looks of the kit, it should build a great looking model of the Panzer 35(t), and for that I would highly recommend this kit.