World War Toons
German Light Tank Panzer 38(t)

Meng Model

Reviewed by Brett Green

Summary

F i r s t L o o k

Meng Model launched their World War Toons series a few years ago. These are appealing "egg tanks" - recognisable caricatures of a range of WWII tanks.

The newest is this series is their Panzer 38(t). This is the first of the World War Toons models that I have seen close-up and personal.

The nature of these models means that they are not any partcular scale, but to give you an idea, the completed model is around 7.5cm in length.

The kit comprises 53 parts in dark grey plastic, two flexible bands for the tracks and decals for a single marking option.

The parts are contained on two sprues with the lower hull being supplied separately. Parts should be removed using a sprue cutter. Cleaning up some of the attachment points, particularly those connected via bevelled surfaces, will require some precise work with a hobby knife too, so small children may need some assistance here.

Glue is not required. All the parts feature a press fit.

Parts breakdown is quite conventional, with a one-piece lower hull, a base for the upper hull wit track guards moulded in place, and a multi-part superstructure on the upper hull.

Running gear is simple in the extreme. There are just two road wheels on each side plus a drive sprocket and idler wheel. These are held in place with splined pins, allowing all the wheels to rotate. The tracks are one-piece loops of a rubber-like material, so you can run the model along the kitchen table to your heart's content!

The turret is made up from an upper shell and a base. The turret can rotate and the gun is free to elevate.

Markings are supplied for a single vehicle.

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The raised surface detail on the Panzer 38(t) makes this an ideal subject for testing out some exaggerated weathering techniques on this cartoon subject.

C o n c l u s i o n

This will be a nice parent / child joint project (cleanup of parts might be a bit beyond a young child by themselves), or a guilt-free canvas for extreme weathering techniques.

I like the concept and built my sample as soon as I received it. You can see some photos of the completed model in Missing-Lynx's Gallery.

Thanks to Meng for the sample