How cool is this? A teeny-tiny 9-piece German half-track in 1/100 scale – sweet! Now, I’m not an armor guy, but I do enjoy a good armor kit every now and then, and I sure do appreciate those life-like pieces of work that show up every month at club meetings and at contests. Frankly, they intimidate this aircraft modeler to some degree.

This little guy, however, is quite a different story. When I saw this was a snap kit and might be good for kids, I jumped at the chance to do this review with my 5-year old modeling “Mini Me,” Camden. As fate would have it, the night we planned to build it at a clubmate’s house, Camden and his junior clubmate buddy opted to assemble integrated air strike packages of plastic and diecast model planes, wreaking havoc on Lego ground forces, leaving my buddy Anthony and I to putz in the shop.

In less than 30 minutes of putzing, all 9 pieces were snapped together, tacked in place with some Tamiya cement, and a coat of Model Master Acryl Engine (Panzer) Gray was applied. Within another few minutes, modulating shades of Gunship and Dark Gull Gray were misted on. Detail painting and some drybrushing and washes were applied the following afternoon in a matter of 15 to 20 minutes. With an elapsed build time of roughly an hour, this diminutive replica of a Wehrmacht workhorse became an instant favorite in my collection!

Okay, so it doesn’t have all the exquisite detail of a larger-scale cousin. So what? The parts are crisply molded, look proportional in scale, and go together fairly well – although a bit of trimming and cement was needed to get the chassis (4), fenders (6), and crew tub (1) to all play nicely together. The amount of detail offered for the scale, in my opinion, is quite reasonable. Only disappointment was the absence of decals.

In the course of the evening, an interesting dynamic came into play. Anthony, also an aircraft guy, took note of how simple and straight-forward the assembly was. He also noted how fundamentally simple the painting techniques were. The ensuing conversation around how we could use these little gems during club meetings to teach basic finishing and weathering techniques lasted longer than the build itself!

As we dug a bit deeper into the Zvezda “Art of Tactic” series on the website referenced in the kit, we also found several other 1/100 pieces of armor, a couple 1/144 aircraft, and several 1/72 figure sets. Intended as war-gaming pieces, these kits also offer low-cost, quick-build opportunities for modelers – individually or corporately – to practice and share new techniques outside of established “comfort zones.” They’re also great for beginning modelers – few pieces, nice detail, and interesting subjects.

All-in-all, this was one of the most fun builds I’ve done in a long time. Fast, sharp, and just downright cool-looking! This kit is highly recommend to any modeler looking for something simple or a little (no pun intended) different and very relaxing!

Thanks to Dragon for providing the sample kit!