Review: Battlefront R-2 Romanian Tank.

History - Panzerkampfwagen 35(t)

The 35t was a Czech made vehicle manufactured from steel plates riveted over angle iron. The tank was equipped with a coaxial and hull mounted machine gun. Iconically the machine guns were mounted such that most of the barrel protruded from the mount. The main weapon was a 37mm gun mounted in the turret. There was also a recoil cylinder on top of the barrel that gives the weapon a distinctive appearance.

As originally designed, the commander also had to load, aim and fire the gun. A busy man indeed!

Romania ordered 126 35ts in 1936 which were largely delivered in 1938 after some delays following design changes. They were named Skoda R-2. The tanks were used in operation Barbarossa and most were lost during the Soviet counter offensive at Stalingrad. By 1944, the Romanians moved the last vehicles into training roles.

The 35t and the 38t are some of my favorite tanks of WW2. The just love the shape of the boxy riveted hulls.

35t or R2 tanks awaiting shipment to Romania from the Skoda factory. Photo from www.wikipedia.com

Review:

I managed to pick up 3 old blisters (RO010) recently and I believe that the R2 Battlefront blister is now out of production. These are the old dark grey resin models with metal tracks.

The blisters container the hull, turret, 2 tracks, 2 machine guns, the main gun, a commander, a hatch and a dismounted crew figure. I haven't seen one of these dismounted figures in years. All old tanks blisters used to contain one of these.

Contents of RO010

Despite their age, the resin hulls were nicely cast. The metal tracks had a little flash but that was quickly cleaned up. All the parts went together well. The only challenge I faced was gluing the 2 machine guns in place. They are tiny and very fiddly. I found it best to glue these in before assembling anything else. 

Having put them together, I am reminded of how good the new plastics are by comparison. Despite taking care and dry fitting everything in place, the models don't sit evenly and the tracks area slightly angled. 

If you can manage to track down one of these older blisters, I highly recommend it. I give these a 9 out of 10. 

Use:

This will be the second unit of my new Romanian EW force. I will paint these shortly and share the pictures in another post. 

Pictures:

And here they are fully assembled.