Earlier this year Finescale had a reader poll on most desired model. As always I plugged for a 1/350 CV6 Enterprise as the most needed kit - which it is. For a tank, I asked Santa for a 1/35 Renault FT-17. The tanks was historic in design and in action. It is funky with lots of rivets and places to weather. What’s not to like? The good folk at Meng have delivered and I got my kit today via eBay and Korea for just over $50.
There’s a proper examination at Missing Lynx. Suffice it to say that the kit has 340 styrene parts, 68 plastic individual tracks (separated)a few PE pieces and some springs. The kit has a full interior/engine and if the hatches are left open everything will be visible. (A modeler that wanted to “button it up” would save a lot of time.) This is a small tank, so expect something about the same size as a Panzer I. Some of the parts are fiddly but attachments to the sprue appear very thin. There’s a fully workable track and suspension system here if things work out - I wouldn’t be surprised that if you wanted to dispense with that some more time would be saved. It can be armed with mgs or canon. Detail is crackerjack - this is a 2013 kit and it shows. And unlike kits from some companies we won’t mention that rhyme with Dragon, the instructions are 17 pages long, very clear and contain full color call outs for detail parts. There are four color schemes (three from early WWII for some reason) shown on a color plate. The color references are to Vallejo Model Air paints which should make it easier to convert to Tamiya etc than calls to Gunze. This looks like a winner.
Eric