Jadar Models/ARMO 1/35
Izorski Fiat Armored Car

Background

The Imperial Russian Army was something of a pioneer when it came to the use of armored cars during WWI. Already, before the war, they had made studies regarding the use of armored cars, and when the war broke out, they were quick to employ them. All in all, the Imperial Russian Army fielded over 300 armored cars during the war.

Quite a few of these were imported. It turned out, however, that the Russians made so many improvements and modifications to these imports, that it soon became more rational to order the chassis only from abroad and then build their own bodies domestically. Beginning about 1916, the Italian Fiat company sold to Russia a conventional touring car chassis with pneumatic tires. The 60 hp engine was doubled at the rear to carry the additional weight. Then, 6 mm thick armor was fitted to them in the Izorski factory. The vehicles weighed some 5.2 tons, had a crew of 5, an armament of 2 machine-guns and was capable of a speed of 60 km/h, 14 km/h in reverse.

Approximately 74 of the Izorski-Fiat armored cars were built and they were used first by the Imperial forces, and then by the Soviet Army through the 1920’s. A number of these were captured by the Germans during WWI, mainly during the summer offensive in Galicia in 1917, and used by them as the Panzerkraftwagen-Zug 8. Later in the war, they were used in the internal unrest in Germany proper. Several more found themselves in the use of the Finnish Army (some were captured from the Red Guards in the Finish Civil War in 1918) and the Polish Army in the early 20’s. At least 2 Polish-captured Izorski-Fiats were used against the Russians in 1920.

The Kit

This Izorski-Fiat kit is of resin and PE parts. It is produced in Warsaw, Poland by Jadar Models under the ARMO name. The firm makes a lot of 1/35th and 1/72nd scale resin AFV model kits.

This kit comes in a generic white box. It is a tray with a hinged lid that has tabs that lock it into the tray. The box art is a sticker that has been glued to the lid, with a photo in black and white of the model made up. Inside the box are two zip-locked cello bags holding resin parts. A third cello holds a brass PE fret that has a white sheet of cardboard next to it to protect it.

The resin parts consist of the upper body shell, the body’s floor piece, six spoked wheels (the vehicle had 4 in the rear, 2 in front),  leaf springs, drive shaft, rear axle, muffler, two turrets, 2 machine-guns, head light, tow hooks etc.

The brass PE fret holds the fenders, shields for the machine-guns and a multitude of small fittings.

I started to assemble this kit, but only super-glued the vehicle’s floor piece to the upper body shell and the machine-guns to the two turrets. I drilled two holes in the vehicle’s roof, with a pin vice, then inserted a length of a sawed off sewing needle into holes drilled in the center of the bottom of the turrets. The needle shafts work as pivots for the turrets now. I also glued the double rear wheels together.

The instructions consist of a single 8 ½” x 11” sheet, printed n both sides and folded over to fit the box.

The face side begins with a history of the Izorski-Fiat in Polish only. This is followed by an exploded drawing of the undercarriage assemblies. It says that the standard painting of the Izorski-Fiat is a single green color – Humbrol 150.

The reverse side has a very, very busy exploded drawing of how to assemble the upper-works of the model. Only the PE parts are called out by number, which is 95% of what you will be working with there.

There are a lot of tiny hood hinges and butterfly nuts on the PE fret to mess with. I suggest a pair of pointy tweezers and some sort of magnification device.

Conclusions

I recommend this kit to those modelers that have had experience with resin and PE, plus using super-glue. This will fill a nice niche in any collection of WWI subjects.

This kit is really salty looking and a welcome break from WWII stuff that floods the AFV model market.

I got my kit, years ago, in trade with a fellow in Warsaw. It can be ordered from Jadar on their website.