Emhar 1/72 A7V “Sturmpanzer” German World War 1 Tank By Dave Manter

History

In November 1916 the German War Ministry authorized the development of the A7V, which finally rolled out of the factory in January 1918. The first combat that the new tank saw was in March 1918 at St. Quentin.
The first 5 tanks were armed with a 5.7cm Maxim-Nordenfeldt cannon, which had been produced several years earlier in Britain! 6 German MG 08 pattern heavy machine guns were also carried. The tank was powered by 2 Daimler 165-204 type 75 Kw petrol engines and had a top speed of 6 ½ mph with a range of 50 miles. The crew was 18 men but as many as 26 could be carried. There were 20 A7Vs produced.

Construction

The kit consists of 30 parts molded in a dark gray plastic. Detail is very nice with little, if any, flash. The instructions divide the vehicle into 9 easy to follow steps. Construction begins with the installation of the main cannon. The assembly of the 6 machine guns follows this. The next step is to install the one-piece running gear to the lower hull. The detail on the running gear is great and can be enhanced by careful painting. Step 6 is the most critical as it the main hull. Careful test fitting will make final assembly easier. My sample fit very nicely. Step 7 is the installation of the 6 machine guns and these can be snapped into place so that they can be moved. Step 8 is the installation of the top deck and commander's observation deck. The last step is to attach the exhaust pipes. I assembled this kit in just 1 very relaxing evening.

Painting

The kit comes with decals for 5 different tanks in 2 different color combinations. I choose tank # 506 as this had the smiling skull on the front. I base painted the entire tank with Tamiya Field Gray. I then added the camouflage pattern with Tamiya Red Brown. I then mixed a nice “dirt” color from Tamiya Flat Earth and Tamiya Desert Yellow in a 50/50 mix. This was applied to the running gear and lower hull. I also sprayed this lightly up the sides as well. After this had dried I applied a very thin wash of black over the entire tank. The next step was to apply a “pin wash” to all of the recessed and raised details.

The last step in the weathering process was a light dry brushing to accent all of the wonderful raised rivet details. I painted the machine guns black. I then sprayed several coats of Future in the areas where the decals would be applied. After drying over night, I applied the decals and found them to be thin and easy to use. A little Micro Set was used and after drying an over spray of Gunze Clear Flat was used to seal them in and to kill the gloss from the Future. The last step was to dry brush a metallic gray color on the tracks.

Conclusion

All in all this was a very enjoyable project. The kit fit well and the detail is superb. The decals allow you to do several different tanks with a couple of interesting paint schemes. I spent 3 evenings (about 6 hours, mainly on painting) on this tank and found it to be a nice change of pace, as I don’t normally work in 1/72nd scale. My thanks to Squadron Mail Order for the review sample.