Plastic Soldier Company Ltd T-34 1/72nd scale

A long, long time ago the postman delivered to Kingsleypark Manor

Actually he delivered 3 of these boxes as they were the Russian Tank Brigade Deal that PSC offer the discerning gamer who is looking to build a horde of Russian tanks at comparatively low cost.

Each box contains 3 sprues, 1 tank per sprue

However, PSC rather helpfully include a turret option allowing you to build either the T-34/ 76 1943 version or the T-34/85. 

16 parts in all to build the basic tank with some additional fuel tanks, stowage boxes and track pieces, also there is the option to have a commander figure or you can have the tank "buttoned up" with closed hatches.

Fairly straightforward fit so far. Next come the tracks

Again, nothing too complicated, nice easy fit. Now the top part of the chassis

Hmm, a bit too much daylight can be seen through the chassis for my liking. I know the T-34 had a reputation for being hard to damage but that was more to do with it's oblique armour rather than the shells going through gaps....  So cutting up some bits of sprue and with a dash of glue

Issue solved!

Hull MG and engine grill added, next up the turrets

Normally I stick the turrets on to the model to avoid them falling off in transit/ mid battle, but being a frugal wargamer I thought it would make sense to keep these ones separate and then I could swap them over depending on what scenario I was playing. 

The difference in size is quite noticeable with T-34/85 turret having to make extra room for the massive barrel and loading mechanism

Finished! About 10 minutes work.

A quick spray of PSC's Russian Green Army Spray and a wee bit of detail

Verdict? Nice straightforward kits, easy to put together - they look like T-34's should look. Okay the issue of being able to see through the chassis is a bit of a blot on the copybook but it is easily remedied. The modellers out there will probably want more detail on their kits but I just want something that I can get on the table quickly and these kits do that. 

Two thumbs up!!

Painted 1/72nd Scale M4A1 Sherman by PSC

My review  here of the M4A1 Sherman by The Plastic Soldier Company Limited ("PSC") certainly generated a lot of interest going by the number of page hits and also on the TMP thread here, so much so that I note Will Townshend on that thread has admitted to some unfortunate errors for the M4A1 sprue which led to the parts that would allow the Alamein version of the M4A1 Sherman being omitted. This, however, has at least led him to look at options that will allow that version to be done in the future.

As I am not someone who knows his M4A1 from his M4A2 or any other type of Sherman for that matter (although I can probably tell a 105mm version from the size of the gun and I know my Firefly) I gather that from the posts made on the TMP thread  that at best what we are left with is a Sherman kit that can be used for the British 4th Armoured Brigade - "The Black Rats", who fought as part of the famous 7th Armoured Division - "The Desert Rats" in North Africa and latterly in North West Europe.

I had wanted to avoid painting up my vehicles as being from a specific formation as I had wanted to be able to use them for different campaigns and not be affected by the "Oh the so-so Division didn't fight in that particular battle" type of comment that some wargamers can be wont to make but as I wanted to build a 1/72nd scale British force for D-Day and beyond and the Black Rats were apparently the only British unit that used the M4A1 during that campaign, I felt I had no option but to paint the tank up as being from that Brigade.

So what we have is a vehicle that hopefully looks like it is from the British 4th Armoured Brigade, The Royal Scots Greys, A squadron. My "Black Rat" looks more like a demented Kangaroo but from 6ft away it doesn't look too bad.

I used Vallejo Game Colour 72067 "Cayman Green" for the vehicle which was then liberally washed with GordonY's gunk and then the Cayman Green was drybrushed over the surfaces and then the insignia added before giving the vehicle an anti-shine spray, then slapping some brown basetex from Coritani on the tracks and base which was then washed with the now out of production GW Devlan Mud and then static grass applied.

I know a lot of people out there take the time to "dress up" their vehicles with stowage, spare parts, crew kit and so on, which certainly adds a lot of character to the model but (a) I'm too lazy to make own gear for that and (b) if I did do that you would probably be seeing this model sometime in 2013 as it would take me that long to do it!

A brave Tommy from PSC's Late War British Infantry set, grateful for some armour support.

Sorry, but I only have the 1 PSC British Infantryman painted up!

But here is a Lance Corporal from Valiant Miniatures' Late War British Infantry set

The Valiant figure's size making it more difficult for him to hide his bulk behind the tank

Now all I have to do is try reproducing the Black Rat/ Demented Kangaroo on the other 2 vehicles from the kit..............

Plastic Soldier Company Ltd 1/72nd scale M4A1 Sherman

So the latest 1/72nd scale release from The Plastic Soldier Company Ltd arrived at Kingsleypark Manor today - the M4A1 Sherman.

As it states on the front of the box there are enough parts to build 3 models. On the back of the box you get a couple of pictures and a helpful painting colour guide

Unfortunately, the blurb on the back of the box is mis-leading. It states

For those of you optically challenged left click to enlarge the photograph.

It states that there are parts to build the 75mm or 76mm gun variant and also has US and British Commanders. Unfortunately this is incorrect. The sprue only contains parts for the 75mm version and only 1 Commander figure is included, a British Commander. I suspect the blurb has been lifted directly from the text used for the 15mm version of the kit. And of course, the picture of the 76mm version on the box isn't relevant for what is in the box.

Inside the box are 3 of these -

And 1 of these -

As with the rear of the box, the instruction sheet is slightly misleading as it shows firstly, the turret having the narrow 75mm mantlet. No such piece appears on the sprue, it is in fact the wide mantlet variant that is supplied. Secondly, the cast iron arches at the front of the picture (anyone know what the technical term is for these?) do not appear on the sprue.

Building the kit is for the most part pretty painless. The only part that requires a wee bit of care is the track assembly.

You have to make sure that the two parts of the track have the links of the track going in the same direction. They are moulded in such a way that some of the teeth on the track are missing so they go to the back of the track when fitting it together. And the sprocket wheel has a moulded plug that if put in the correct way the teeth of the sprocket are visible as opposed to being hidden by the track.

Finished track assembly for the left hand side of the model.

A couple of dollops of glue and the bottom of the hull and tracks are complete

The upper hull and the front of the tank are added next

As mentioned above the turret provided is the 75mm version with wide mantlet.

As can be seen, I've built the turret with the commander in place. It has to be said that if you want to omit the Commander and have the hatch doors closed they are going to have to be trimmed to fit the ring of the hatch. Certainly from the dry run I had they did not fit flush, so using the Commander is the eastiest option and in any event no self resepcting British Tank Commander would skulk inside his tank just because Jerry was about!

There is a .50cal Browning machine gun and mount that can be fitted to the turret but I have left this off, so it will mean a wee bit of filler will be required to fill in the hole provided for the machine gun mount. There are also optional side skirts provided. Hull mounted machine gun was added and viola, a finished model -

Not counting the time it took to cut the parts of the sprue, I'd say it took about 10 minutes to put together.  There are a couple of extra bits that can be stuck on as spare parts for the tank, for example, there is a some track, a bogie wheel and a jerry can. There are also these -

Any clues as to what they might be?

I thought initially they might be smoke dispensers but they look they wrong shape.

And then there is this piece -

Again, not sure what it is and where it is supposed to go.

Any suggestions as to where I should stick it? (Polite answers only please)

Here is a size comparison with an Armourfast Sherman and an Airfix Sherman -

The Armourfast kit is on the left. The smaller 1/76th scale Airfix model on the right.

Price of the kit direct from The Plastic Soldier Company is £12.95 plus postage of £1.30. Ignoring the postage cost that works out at £4.32 per model. The Armourfast kits retail at £7.99 for 2 models from Wonderland Models who are based in Edinburgh (they charge £3 for postage) so just under £4 per model.  According to the Hannants online store there are numerous different manufacturers of plastic Sherman kits at many different price ranges but none working out as cheap as either the Armourfast or Plastic Soldier version. A resin kit from Under the Bed Enterprises costs £4.95.

Althought the Armourfast model works out slightly cheaper than the Plastic Soldier version and despite the misleading blurb on the box, instruction sheet  and the mystery sprue items I do prefer the Plastic Soldier version. I thought the kit was detailed enough yet simple to put together.

According to the latest news release from The Plastic Soldier Company Ltd there are more 1/72nd scale goodies to come from them over the next months so it is encouraging to see that they are continuing to expand the range, so if 1/72nd scale/ 20mm WW2 is your thing then you should certainly consider checking them out.

I'll get the model painted up over the next few days and post some pictures up in due course.