ICM

1/72 3.7cm PaK 36

Kit Number: 72251

Reviewed by  Joachim Lotz, IPMS# 44170

MSRP: $16.99 Imported by Dragon Models USA www.dragonmodelsusa.com History The 3.7cm PaK 36 was the main anti-tank gun of the German army at the beginning of WW 2. But by 1940 it became painfully obvious that this gun was unable to defeat most of the tanks encountered on the western front. It soon earned itself the nickname of "Door Knocker" since the gun merely announced its presence by having its projectiles bounce of the enemy armor without penetrating it. The PaK 36 eventually began to be replaced in mid-1940 by the 5cm PaK 38. Some units on the Eastern Front still used the gun in 1942 with little chance of success. Eventually, the remaining guns were either mounted on half trucks or given to Germany's allies like Romania which proved disastrous during the Russian attack at Stalingrad in November 1942. The Kit The kit comes in an end-opening box that contains 1 dark grey sprue with 32 nicely detailed parts and the instruction sheet. Some of the parts are very small and intricate so caution in handling is advised. No decals are provided. On the front of the box is a nice image that shows a gun in winter camouflage while the back of the box has the painting instructions, in color, for Model Master paints. The instruction sheet is about 5.5" x 8", and is printed on both sides. One side has the 7-step building and painting instructions and the other side has a parts map, since no part numbers are on the sprue, along with the list of paints. The build instructions are highly detailed but very small, which makes it difficult at times to identify the right part location. The Build The build of the kit was quite a challenge; not so much because of difficulty but because of the small size of some of the parts. The largest part of the kit is the gun shield and it is smaller than a penny. The construction starts out in steps 1 and 2 with the attachment of the breach guard to the barrel and the attaching of the recoil spades and grab handles to the trail arms. Step 3 covers the assembly of the barrel in the gun mount and attachment of the gun mount and trail arms to the axle. The trail arms are supposed to be movable, but the locationg holes were not complete and so I ended up by gluing the arms in firing position. The wheels and gun sight are attached in step 4. Here I had a hard time identifying which way the gun sight is supposed to go due to the small size of the drawing and I ended up using the 1/35 Tamiya Pak 36 as reference. In step 5 and 6 the gun controls and gun shield are added. Step 7 shows the option of positioning the gun in either firing or towing position. A word of caution at the end: This is a very small and delicate kit, so it needs to be handled very careful though all steps. Painting and weathering I painted the gun in overall Tamiya German Grey. Next I added a light oil wash, followed by a coat of Model Master Flat. I finished up with a light dusting with Bragdon Powder. Conclusion This is not a kit for the faint-hearted, mainly due to its' small size and number of very small parts. I was surprised at the detail of this kit for its size. The instructions could be a little clearer but other than that it is a very nice replica of the 3.7cm PaK 36. I can only recommend this to anyone that either prefers Braille scale or is up for a little challenge I would like to thank Dragon Models USA and ICM for this review kit.