Military Scales 1/72 Peugeot 1918
By Matt Bittner
Overview
Unless it's Russian, there aren't many WWI-era armored car models in 1/72. When I first learned about the model company Military Scales, I was excited to see they released this kit of the "Peugeot 1918" armored car. Why the quotes? Because looking over the definitive book of French WWI armored cars - Le grand album des automitrailleuses de la Victoire, from Historie & Collections - this particular armored car is listed as the Peugeot 18 HP Type 146. But nomenclature aside, the Peugeot from Military Scales is very nicely printed.
The Kit
The Military Scales 1/72 Peugeot 1918 consists of nine pieces of 3D printed resin: the one-piece main body; the one-piece chassis; the one piece gun and shield "turret"; and six wheels (three front, three back, an extra of each position "just in case", or to be used as a carried-"spare"). There are no markings, no decals, and no instructions. But with so few parts, and everything being obvious, instructions aren't needed.
Take your time removing parts from their supports because they are attached to the finest of details. There are supports for the molded-on rear view mirrors; supports attached to the chassis leaf springs; even a support attached to the differential U-joint. Yes, you read that correctly. The model has an actual molded U-joint and if you're not careful with support removal, you could remove one "arm" of that U-joint. Trust me on this.
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The level of detail is stunning. Military Scales printed an entire driver's compartment with gear shift, steering wheel, seat, etc. How to get in there to paint, though, is an entire other matter. The back of the body looks good, but based on the above mentioned book there could be more added to it. To be fair to Military Scales, though, unless you have access to this book, you probably wouldn't know that. But still, even with what the book provides Military Scales has done an excellent job of rendering the Peugeot.
Take a look at the images at the bottom of this review and you can see the level of detail provided. The spoked wheels are phenomenal and will really look great once the kit is completely assembled and painted.
Another advantage to picking up the book are the unique camouflage the French armored cars wore. On one, an entire "forest scene" was painted on the armored car's side. Sure, while the cars were delivered in gray, the front line troops put their own flare on the cars. If you want to opt for an all-gray scheme then Black Lion Decals has one Peugeot on its "WW-1 French trucks and armoured cars" sheet.
Conclusion
This is a stunning 3D print and I have already started cutting the supports away. You do need to be careful, though, because of the items printed into the body; unfortunately I have already snapped off one of the side-view mirrors. Take your time when cutting the supports away.
Huge thanks to Military Scales for supplying the review kit.
