For any of us that frequent the many scale modeling shows and contests, follow the abundant online forums, blogs, and websites, as well as read any of the numerous modeling technique publications it is very evident that WWII German armor is a niche that alive and well…and kit manufacturers and aftermarket producers are keeping this hunger well fed. A perfect complement to this appetite is a book brought to us from Osprey, “History of the Panzerwaffe Volume I: 1939-1942.” This book is extremely helpful for students of this genre (myself included) to understand the story behind the most recognized armored force in history.

This is an excellent kit, with extremely fine detail, great fit of the parts, and makes a highly realistic model. It’s not easy getting there however. Be prepared for small, delicate parts, microscopic locating pins, unclear instructions on some part locations, and many separate tiny parts where one would suffice without loss of detail. With a little patience an experienced modeler will enjoy a challenging build resulting in a great model.

Background

Gorkovskiy Avtomobilnij Zavod (GAZ) automobile company was a joint venture with the Ford Motor Company prior to WWII. The GAZ-05-194 Ambulance is one of several Soviet Army vehicles based on the Ford Model A truck, with an additional axle for a 2 ton truck. Captured vehicles were also used by Germany’s Wehrmacht.

Designed by Swedish aerospace company Saab, the S35E Draken is a reconnaissance version of the original fighter Draken. The Draken was manufactured by Saab between 1955 and 1974 it was built to replace the Saab J28 Tunnan and Saab 32 Lansen. However to this date Draken’s have been retired from military service.

There are roughly 117 parts in the kit totaling 9 sprues with very few parts not being used. The decals provided allow you to make your plane either the 11-02 or 11-16 version. Most decals provided are not used (decals 17-35). There is no armament with this kit. The fuselage comes in two halves (top and bottom), they fit together really nicely. The one thing I noticed immediately was the nice panel lines that this kit has. There are only 13 steps to this kit but that’s because two steps have a large amount of pieces to glue on.

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour”. These words, spoken by Winston Churchill on June 18, 1940, braced his island nation for the German aerial onslaught awaiting them just a few short miles across the English Channel. The outcome is, of course, well known as the Royal Air Force repelled the Luftwaffe, but at a terrible cost in lives, mainly from the German bombing campaign that the battle turned into. This same island would become the launching point for the allied bombing raids and the D-day invasion across that same channel four years later. 2015 marks the 75^th anniversary of this epic battle and Airfix has boxed some of the most famous aircraft involved in the battle to commemorate it.

One of the lessons that I’ve learned over my years of modeling is that it is wise to use the tool best suited for the job at hand. I have a number of high quality tools and many of them have the label, “Xuron” on the handle.

My latest acquisition is the Xuron Tk 3600 Photo Etch Took Kit. The Xuron webpage featuring the TK 3600 states that this kit was designed for scale model builders working with delicate photo-etch. Is there any other kind of PE? The kit contains three tools for cutting, bending and holding PE parts.

Model 9180ET Professional Photo-Etch Scissor cuts the PE, Model 450 TweezerNose™ Plier holds the PE, and the Model 575 Micro Bending Plier bends it.