Some Panzer 38(t)s for Memoir 40

The German armour for my Memoir 40 game is rounded out with three Panzer 38(t)s from 20mm Zone. Unlike yesterday's Panzer 2s (which were great models), these were only so-so. The metal treads are two sided (so any tread can go on either side). This sounds like an elegant manufacturing solution.

The problem with this is that it reduces the area available for gluing and also forces you to eyeball position. And the top of the treads were misaligned (creating a slope from side-to-side across the width of the treads) which meant one tread would sit higher than the other unless you carved off a lot of detail to level them out.

The bow machine gun is quite pronounced. There is a hole in the hull for positioning, but none of my MGs had the reciprocating pin (making the join tricky and prone to breakage). There was a nice set of extras (three commanders, bogeys, gas cans and treads). Unfortunately the bogeys and the treads are for a different tank (maybe a Panzer 3 or maybe the Panzer 35?).

There was also no hatch available for the command figures and fitting them in would have required drilling out the existing hatch and then fabricating a replacement hatch. Not exactly consistent with a quick build. Then there is the nasty mold line that I see I missed on the side of the turret. That would have been a bitch to scrape down with the rivets on the front plate.

All told, these were disappointing models and I wish I had gone with the Panzer 3s. If I need more armour, I'm going to try some of the the fast-build plastics that Pegasus and Armourfast have out.