Sovereign 2000 are a small company based out of Kent, England. They produce a growing range of WW2 subjects, mainly armoured cars and softskins. This is the only artillery piece in their range, and also the only 2-pdr kit in 1/35.
The 2-pdr anti tank gun was used by the BEF in France 1940 and also by troops in the initial battles in north Africa. it had slightly better penetrative ability than the German and US 37mm guns, but like its contemporaries it was almost obsolete by the time it entered service. After its replacement by the 6-pdr many were still used in the far east where the thin skinned Japanese tanks were still vulnerable to it.
The kit itself is cast in resin and white metal, with some fine brass wire included to make the sight with. A quick check of the parts reveals no warpage and only a few very small air bubbles visible on the resin parts, plus excellent flash-free metal parts. This is an improvement over the last Sovereign kit I built (Daimler mk1) which contained rather poor metal pieces.
First impressions are good, the kit is made up of 25 resin parts and 27 white metal parts. These parts are all very small and for the most part very delicate! A great deal of care will be needed during clean up and assembly.
Assembly starts with the carriage, which on the 2-pdr is a tripod arrangement. Modellers are given the option to build the gun either in firing role with wheels removed and legs lowered, or towing mode with wheels attached and front legs folded up. Construction at this stage mainly consists of making sure the resin legs are lined up straight, and adding lots of tiny metal detail parts.
Next is the turntable that the gun sits on, parts are added for the gunners controls, and here came the first problem. The strut type arm that the gunner's seat sits on had an internal air bubble in the worst possible place, where it joins to the turntable. This gave the join no strength whatsoever. I had to fill the hole with putty and when dry drill it out and pin it together.
The next few steps of adding the gun and its supports to the turntable were problem free, but the sight assembly that comes next is the most difficult part of the kit. The parts are very small and incredibly fragile. I broke the very small sextant shaped piece several times before it finally fitted together. Then comes the task of adding a small rectangle of the brass wire, to form the open sight. The instructions tell you to make a rectangle 3mm by 5mm, but in reality, you need to leave a gap of 1mm in the bottom of the rectangle to get it to fit to its mount properly.
This brings me to the worst aspect of this kit, the instructions. They are like most resin kit instructions, very vague in parts location and it is often difficult to see one part against another.
In conclusion this is a very good little kit of an unusual and interesting subject. A gun crew could be easily modified from any infantry figures, making for an interesting diorama. I would advise that only modelers experienced with resin kits should try this kit, due to the instructions and fragility of most parts.
I purchased my kit from www.panthermodels.co.uk, for around £25 and Sovereign's ammo set for the gun for around £6.
