Introduction

ICM has re-released their offering of the Panhard 178 and packaged it with the French Armoured crew that was also available separately from ICM. Due to there being full reviews of these products already available I will only be looking at the quality of the mouldings and how they are holding up. I will also provide links to the previously released reviews.

Review

This offering from ICM is provided in their very cardboard flip top box with a separate card lid with the printed artwork, I always say it and again this is the best quality packaging that is consistently used. It has even held up to postage to the US without further protection other than brown paper, quite impressive. Inside of this there are two re-sealable plastic bags containing the sprues, an instruction booklet, an instruction sheet and a decal sheet. The placement of the sprues that make up the Panhard in a single bag has caused some bowing of the sprues, but this does not appear to have affected the mouldings. Packaged with the sprues for the Panhard is another re-sealable bag containing the four vinyl rubber tyres. The other plastic bag contains a single sprue with the figure parts inside.

The moulds for the Panhard look to be holding up very well and ICM has done the usual good quality job with the contents. The moulding detail is good both inside and out, but there are a number of ejector pin marks that will need to be addressed for the best presentation of the model. The ejector pin marks are restricted to the interior and the underside of the mudguards. This kit has quite a nice interior included and that includes an engine and so with all of the doors and hatches that can be opened some added details in the form of wires will be a plus at the finish. I did like that the ammunition stowage rack is not depicted full especially as two of the included figures are shown refilling the ammunition; a couple of wine bottles would also look good in there.

The four man crew supplied with this offering are a great addition for telling a story as is or with a little work the story could be changed. You are supplied with two figures replenishing the ammunition. Another doing some fine tuning on the engine (usually with a hammer) and an officer doing what they do best, supervising (also known as not a lot). The mouldings are very good and will only require the minimum of clean up if used as is.

Links

Panhard 178 Build Review by Steve Brodie
ICM French Armoured Vehicle Crew (1940) review by Adie Roberts