Introduction

Modelcollect seems to specialize in two types of Braille scale vehicles: post-war Soviet-Russian wheeled and tracked vehicles, and the increasingly esoteric WWII German what-ifs, paper panzers and artillery (both rocket and guns). Some of those were actual plans, like the E series of tanks, but a lot of them are just pure fabrications, like the walker-type tanks, and the different modifications based on the E series. They also make a 1/72 scale P1000 Ratte.

The topic of this review is a fictional vehicle, albeit a fictional vehicle from the online game World of Tanks. There it was a game-breaking tank destroyer with a four (or six, depending on the gun used) autoloader. Eventually, it was removed as it was overpowered as heck, but I was really happy to see it in plastic form. It is essentially a 12,8 cm Kw.K. 44 L/55 gun mounted on an E-100 chassis in a large, open turret, and an autoloader. It is very interesting to see the effect of a massively popular game on the modelling world; I do hope even more models will follow. (Amusing Hobby seems to follow a similar pattern; they have issued the same model in 1/35.)

The instructions do have some sort of a history for the type, but as the type itself it is absolutely fictional, do not take it too seriously.

The Kit

The box is your typical Modelcollect box, with a nice painting of the tank destroyer on the front. The plastic is good quality, although there is flash around certain parts; especially the drive wheels needed a little cleanup. The detail is OK, and we do get some PE for the engine deck screens. We do not, however, get a metal barrel, which is a shame, especially considering that the massive gun needs to be glued together from two halves. It’s quite an old-school kit in this regards. (I really like Modelcollect’s Russian MTBs; they are true gems with all the PE and metal barrels provided; this model is more of a “bare-back” model compared to them.)

At first glance the part number is quite high, but this is somewhat deceptive. Since the model is made up by the parts of several other Modelcollect products, there will be a lot of leftovers after the construction.

The assembly is not very difficult; beginners will find no real challenge putting the model together. For some reason the roadwheels require you to glue little plastic rings between the wheels, similar to the 1/35 polycap style wheels, which is somewhat puzzling. (There are two caps fewer included than would be necessary, but they are not actually needed for the running gear’s assembly. The wheels can be glued to the swing arms without these little rings.)

The large gun-shield is an elaborate piece of plastic; due to the injection moulding process a few moulding lines will need to be sanded off. The bottom part however does not fit perfectly to the top; it’s not a huge issue, but I definitely needed to fiddle with it. After I painted the gun, and glued the shield together I had to use putty to fill in the line between the two parts of the shield assembly.

The tracks are the rubber type vinyl tracks, so installation is simple, although I do prefer the link-and-length option that is provided with other Modelcollect German superheavy tanks. (It is a personal preference, admittedly.)

Since the large gun shield covers quite a lot of visible details, I had to do most of the painting on the gun before final assembly. The build took about 2 hours, painting a bit more. I wanted to try the washable white paint by Mig, so I painted a basic -and quite sketchy three tone German camouflage, and then let loose with the white. After some weathering using oils, washes and pigments, it looks like a really battered veteran of a long, long winter. (We are talking about Westeros-long here.) All in all, a pleasant and quick project with quite a unique look.