Emhar 1/72 scale A7V "Sturmpanzer"
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Introduction
While tanks became a very significant strategic and tactical weapon
during World War II, their roots as a war machine lie in World War One.
In hindsight these early tanks seem crude, almost clumsy. The German A7V
was one such step and though only about 20 were produced, they are easily
identified by even the most casual WWI historians.
In many ways, the A7V was not so much a tank as it was a mobile fort.
With a crew of 18 it bristled with 7.62 mm machine guns and had a large
cannon on one end. It suffered badly from a lack of ground clearance but
was nearly twice as fast as the British tanks and more powerful.
Modelers who favor 1/72 scale have coveted the Emhar's 1/35th scale
offerings of this tank. With the release of their 1/72 A7V, Emhar has
finally seen fit to fill this need.
The Kit
 The
kit comes as two sprues that provide 30 well-cast parts. My kit has no
flash and no apparent flaws in any of the parts. Some might balk at the
simple, single-part approach to each of the tracks but since most of this
mechanism is hidden by the armour plating, it doesn't pose as great a
problem as it might for more modern tanks. The one glaring error in these
parts, however, is that Emhar has cast drive wheels on both ends of the
tank when, in fact, they were only on the rear of the tank. The front
of the track was supported by an idler wheel. It should be fairly easy
to remove the visible gear teeth from the front wheel, however.
 Emhar
has produced a model of the A7Vs that had a buck-mounted Nordenfelt gun
(often referred to as the Bocklafette). These were actually a minority
as A7Vs go but the most famous of A7V, the Mephisto, had this gun implementation.
Decals are provided for 502, 505, 506 (Mephisto) and 507. One interesting
point here is that the kit includes an external exhaust pipe which was
not present on any of these tanks so in most cases it should be left off
the model. It's nice that it's been included, however, as 507 did have
this exhaust added in the fall of 1918.
Conclusion
 This
is a kit that has been long in coming. It fills a large gap in the 1/72
armor world and will be appreciated by the modeling community. The kit
provides few surprises, even for the most rank beginner. I'm looking forward
to building mine. [NOTE: Check out Dave
Manter's build elsewhere in this issue - RNP]
References
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Whitmore, Mark. (1989) Mephisto: A7V Sturmpanzerwagen 506. ISBN
0 7242 3388-1
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Hundleby, M. and R. Strasheim (1990) The German A7V Tank: and captured
British Mark IV tanks of World War One. ISBN 0-85429-788-X
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