This is a 1/72 scale resin kit of the British A.E.C.(Associated Equpment Company) Mk. III armored car. The Mk. I had a valentine Tank turret with the 2 pdr gun; the Mk. II had a modified turret carrying the 6 pdr gun. The Mk. III was armed with the 75mm gun, and entered service in mid-1944, operating mostly in the Northwestern European Campaign. The vehicle was used like a wheeled tank, principally in the Heavy Troops of AC Regiments. Top speed was 35mph, crew was four. The vehicle is rather tall and wide for an armored car (and has a rather toylike appearance).
The kit is made by TP Models from the Czech Republic. Casting quality is medium: some flash will need cleaning, detail is fair, and there were only a few small air holes. The kit is mostly complete with 20 parts; I added the antennae, rear view mirrors, decals, and some stowage. The instructions do not have assembly diagrams, but show five-view drawings of the completed vehicle and have suggested paint schemes; I followed the Light Olive with Green-Black Mickey Mouse pattern. I am actually quite satisfied with the end product, an interesting addition to the museum. This range is available from Mighty Military Miniatures.
This Polish wz29 armoured car is made by AHKETON and is distributed by Crusader Models. It is metal in 1/72 scale. It sports the 1936 three color camo scheme and is armed with three MGs and a 37mm gun. The casting required a bit of cleanup, but the model was relatively easy to assemble. The MGs are a bit oversized, which is not uncommon with metal kits.
The wz29s served in the reconnaissance squadrons of the horsed cavalry brigades, but were present in too few numbers to pose a threat to invading panzers.
RPM is a Polish manufacturer of 1/72 plastic AFVs. They offer a range of tanks based on the French FT17 light tank, and have recently started a range of kits featuring variants of the French AMD Panhard 178 Model 35 armored car.
This kit comes with painting schemes and decals for five different vehicles in the French Army, as well as several optional parts. The model depicted here represents a car serving with the 6e Cuirassiers in May 1940. The camouflage scheme is olive drab with dark brown stripes - the two color s are hard to differentiate in black and white pictures of this model, which is also true for historical B&W photos of this car. Noticable is the softer detailing of the turret - rivets are more shallow, and detail is missing on the rear hatch doors. Instructions are written only in Polish, but the illustrations are clear enough to follow. Some parts have a lot of attachment point to the sprue, and the fit of parts is not always as tight as I would like.
The Panhard was an important armoured car in WWII, used also by the German Army after the invasion of France (RPM makes several kits of vehicles in German service packaged separately). This version carries a 25mm gun and a co-axial 7.5 mm MG, could reach a maximum road speed of 45 mph, and actually could be driven backwards by the rear driver.
The T17E1 armoured car, also known as the Staghound I, was manufactured in the U.S. but was employed by British and Commonwealth forces in Europe. 2,844 were built; armament consisted of a 37mm gun and two mgs.
This metal kit is produced by the Canadian firm RAFM.
ARTUR models from Eastern Europe makes this rendition of the Soviet BA64 armored car in 1/72 scale resin. This simple kit contains 9 parts (including one extra wheel that is not used); casting quality was okay (one of the on-deck tools had a poorly-cast handle which I replaced) and there were a few air bubbles. The parts come on resin sheets and need to be separated and cleaned up. I added the MG and figure; the kit comes with a lot of illustrations of details and interior shots for the superdetailers out there. No actual assembly instructions; kit is easy enough though. Decals are not included.
These cars served in the reconnaisance and liason role from 1942 until the end of the war and thereafter. Road speed was 80 kph and range was 600 km. A crew of two operated the vehicle.
In 1915 an armored body made by the French firm Laffly was mounted atop a truck chassis from the American firm White. The resulting armored car served in both world wars, being brought up to date by the addition of pneumatic tires, headlights, and an electrical system. They served primarily in the Levant and North Africa, policing French colonies; most front line units had replaced their Laffly-Whites with Panhards by 1940. C.A. ATKINS produces this pewter model of the WWII version (which is also distributed by Crusader Models). The kit comes in 28 pieces (with two extra headlights) and instructions with a four-view drawing of the vehicle and an historical background. The parts fit together nicely; rivets are recreated by pinholes rather than elevations, so you will have to enhance them by a wash. There was a seam where the top and bottom halves of the main chassis were molded which remains visible (filing would have obscured to much detail).
I painted mine in a scheme similar to Panhard ACs in France of 1940, using a light olive green and an earth shade. These two colors were difficult to distinguish in B&W photos, so I selected colors with the same density to make them equally obscure in color pics. Decals were scrounged or hand-applied.
Questions? You can e-mail me at Contact the Curator.
Back to the AFV museum opening page.