Unimodel 1/72
Ammunition Carrier Mun. Schl. 38(t)

Background

After the surrender of Czechoslovakia to the German army many pieces of Czech armor fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht. In addition, the arms factories of Praga and Skoda were also captured and made to continue tank production for the Germans.

Two Czech tanks were of great interest to the German army. One was the LT vz.35 and the other was the LT vz.38. The Germans quickly realized that the LT vz.38 was superior in armament and firepower to their own Pz.Kpfw. I and II and in some cases also the new Pz.Kpfw. III. Skoda was forced to continue building the LT vz.38 for the Germans and it was now known as the 38(t).

102 ammunition carrier vehicles were built on converted 38(t) chassis, by removing the turret and adding a platform below that area for storage of ammo rounds for the sIG 33 “Grille”. The “Grille” was also built on the 38(t) chassis. Usually, vehicles that had been damaged in combat were the ones that were converted into the ammo carriers. Conversion to these began in January and May of 1944. With the turret and even the bow machine gun removed they weighed about 8 tons. The idea was to have 2 of these vehicles for every 6 “Grilles” in a unit.

The Kit

What’s in the box?:

The kit comes in an end-opening type box. The back of the box has one paint and marking scheme printed on it, in full color, a list of Humbrol brand paints to use and a brief history of the vehicle in Ukrainian, English and German.

The kit contains 4 trees of very light gray styrene parts, a fret of brass PE , the decal sheet, instructions and a customer comment card to mail to MMD with opinions about the kit.

Everything in the kit, except the instruction sheet, is in a zip-lock type cello bag.

The largest parts tree holds parts of the hull tub…which has to be assembled from several pieces, the fenders, some tools etc. I could not help but notice a lot of “pins” standing proud of the back side of some of these parts. These are left over from the molding process and are where styrene entered the molds. They will have to be removed and sanded down. Not difficult, but extra work.

The next size smaller tree is duplicated. These 2 identical trees hold the link and length type tracks, road wheels, return rollers, bogies with leaf springs, idler wheels etc.

The last tree holds a single part that is the canvas roof cover. I am rather disappointed that, if you do not use this cover, you see an empty crew compartment with absolutely no detail in it. You would think…given that this is supposed to be an ammo carrier with that area very visible now that the turret is off…that UM would have provided at least some ammo rounds. This is where some scratch building or extra after-market detailing will sorely be needed.

The decal sheet has 3 types of German national crosses on it, a red numeral 23, a white outlined numeral 24, 7 th Panzer Division mark (a white Y) and a white letter H. The 9 th SS Panzer Division used a letter H design…but it had a sword on top of the H..virtically. There is no sword on this mark on the decal sheet. Finally, there is 2 long white bars. What this last mark is I don’t know.

The brass PE fret holds parts for a perforated tool box that mounts on the fender and fender braces.

The instructions are on a single sheet that folds out into 4 pages. Page one begins with the short history of the vehicle in Ukrainian, English and German. This is followed by the parts tree drawings and a international assembly symbols explanations. The parts tree drawings indicate, by shading, that some parts are excess and not needed to complete the kit.

Page 2 begins with READ BEFORE ASSEMBLY general instructions, in the same 3 languages. This is followed by the first 5 assembly steps and a listing of Humbrol hobby paints suggested to complete the kit.

Page 3 has the balance of a total of 10 assembly steps.

Page 4 has three 3-view drawings of different paint schemes and markings for the vehicle.

These are for the 7 th Panzer, the 9 th SS Panzer and a unknown Panzer division that sports the long white bars down each side. There are no figures in the kit.

Outside of the lack of any interior stuff for the fighting compartment and the extra work of removing molding pins from hull parts, I highly recommend this kit. I found no flash anywhere and detail seems decent for a kit of this small scale.

Conclusion

Detail looks good and crisp and no flash is evident. Highly recommended. You can see for yourself at your local hobby establishment or you can find this kit online at Squadron Mail Order.

My sincere thanks to Squadron Mail Order for this review sample!