Introduction

Lion Roar Has continued on its recent trend of photo-etch stencil releases, a useful tool for those of us who are going for the authentic painted-on look as opposed to dry transfers or decals. This particular set is for the Schwere Panzerabteilung Insignia, and is labelled "Part II", so there's a Part I out there somewhere!

Review

The kit contains one fret of photo-etch stencils for painting markings for 7 different heavy Panzer Battalions. Unfortunately, the directions are almost exclusively in Chinese and the only words I found in English was the following statement “For one kit use”. I am not sure if they are designed to be used only once or what. Seems kind of odd that they would be made out of metal and be used only once. Anyways they should last for quite some time as long as they are not lost. The stencils are held in place within the fret with adhesive tape on both sides, so care should be taken when removing them to avoid damage or loss. As stated before, due to the language of the directions, one must know the proper colors in which to paint the markings beforehand as they are of little help in this area. The following battalions are included in this set:

S.PZ.ABT 506 (6 part stencil).
S.PZ.ABT 507 (3)
S.PZ.ABT 508 (1)
S.PZ.ABT 509 (3)
S.PZ.ABT 510 (3)
S.JG.PZ.ABT 653 (9)
S.JG.PZ.ABT 654 (2)

The stencil sets are easy to use and when the sample was sprayed, the stencil prevented over-spray and presented a good clean edge. There are even template stencils provided to keep you on the same spot while painting each individual stencil as some of the insignia are complex and require the use of more than one stencil to achieve. They are pretty flexible but they will not work well on complex/steep curves or on zimmerit. The first one should not be an issue as most battalion marking I have seen are on flat surfaces but the zimmerit may pose a problem given the fact that zimmerit was widely used on vehicles with these units. Also raised details will pose an almost impossible problem to remedy. I used Tamiya acrylics for the sample stencils and I must say they produced good clean edges and look very good and are also easy to clean up. I would venture to say that anyone can use these as long as you are able to handle an airbrush and have a little bit of patience.

Conclusion

Over all I believe this to be a handy little addition to any ones stash of tools. They are easy to use clean up easily and can be used over and over. With one of the only setbacks not being able to use on zimmerit or curved surfaces these are none the less worth the price and you will no doubt get your money's worth after a few times.