Mrs. SandWyrm pulled a fast one on me for Christmas. The Panzer III's that I had ordered from the Plastic Soldier Company finally arrived last Friday. But she secretly hid them from me and wrapped them up as a present. Then she made me guess what the present was before I could open it.
She's a sneaky and underhanded woman. I think I'll keep her. :)
Anyway, here's what I got for my $31.78 (shipping included), which about what you'd pay for 3 resin PzIII's from Battlefront.
That's 5 PzIII sprues, each of which has all of the parts needed to make a PzIII with either a 50mm or 75mm gun. The box says you can build the F, G, and H variants. But they're not much different looking than the L and N models that you use in the North Africa book. Big gun and little gun. That's all that really matters.
The instructions are nice (hint hint Battlefront), but why did they waste all that paper at the top and bottom?
The details are crisp and clear, and there's very little flash. But...
There is some slight warpage here and there (see left-front track shield) . Either PSC has some learning to do in designing it's moulds, or they're pushing the limit on what can be done with plastic surfaces this thin. Still, it's much less warpage than you would get with resin or metal. For the price, I can live with it.
Here's 3 assembled Panzers. My 2ic tank (left) has the smaller 50mm gun (L variant). While the other two have been assembled using the 75mm gun (N variant). Note that I had to use a bit of Liquid Green Stuff on the 75mm guns to cover up some mould dimples. But those were the only dimples in the whole kit.
I like how the commanders aren't pumpkin-headed.
In fact I liked it so much that I used a couple of them on my Tigers. I had to reposition the right arm a bit for the 1ic Tiger commander. But being plastic, it was pretty easy to do. slice at elbow... rotate... glue... and done.
Conclusion
It's all-win pretty much. There were just a couple of minor flaws in the casting. But you still get much crisper detail and workability than you would with resin/metal. While at the same time you get 5 tanks for the price of 3 Battlefront Panzers. Not bad at all I say!
Speaking of cheaper alternatives to Battlefront models, I've checked PSC, and haven't been able find any IS-2s or ISU-122/152s. PSC (through Zvezda) does have some cheaper Katyushas though, so I'll probably get mine from there.
ReplyDeleteI found Russian kits to be less common than the German and Allied ones.
ReplyDeleteI love the Panzer 3, one of the coolest tanks of the war, but shouldn't you be using the longer barrelled 50mm version if they're being fielded alongside a Tiger detachment?
They'd look sexier and extending the barrel with some brass rod would be an easy tweak too.
sorry for being noobish... but I assume these are for Flames of War?
ReplyDelete@korona
ReplyDeleteCrap. You're right. The 50mm gun on the L model should actually be longer than the 75mm on the N.
Damn fluff Nazis... ;)
@Oink
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're for Flames. Too small for 40k, and way too big for Epic.:)
You realise after playing for a few months you'll be spotting the different marks of Panzer by sight too?
ReplyDeleteMuahaha, one of us!
But, the 50mm barrels are completely straight so it's really easy to fix:
http://www.thomas-nielsen.com/wwii/news89.jpg
Those are 37mm pee shooters you have on those thanks. The longer barrel guns are only the short barrel 50mml/42. In short the kit is for early war/early mid war. Were largely phased out by the time Tigers appeared.
ReplyDeletePSC does have a PZ III M/N coming later this year.