Initial assessment
It’s important to say at the outset that this isn’t a new kit, or one original to Revell, but ICM. Now that’s no bad thing at all, because what we have here is an impressively tooled model that has new decals added – so a partial new package is on offer this time.
There are several other reviews of 1:35 Revell armour subjects in the Armour section of Here Now like the Marder I A5, Panther Ausf D, GTK Boxer GTFz and German Half Track L4500R, Maultier? These are all really impressive kits in this scale and this Bergepanther is no different.
Moulding quality is to a high standard with very fine levels of detail across the board. The attached images should speak for themselves and you can decide what you think, especially as armour is probably your area. So I offer a basic insight into this Revell kit that’s widely available and this will be good news to all of you that are interested in armour modelling in this scale.
The package
3 main sprues moulded in brown plastic form the basis of the model plus multiple sprues for the separate track links. A set of instructions and small decal sheet make up the package.
Sprue trees
You can see that the chassis and wooden deck cover is very clean and crisp, as is just about everything else. The detail is cleanly and accurately moulded onto the parts. The moulded detail throughout is good and although I can’t give an opinion on accuracy, what you get certainly looks consistent with some of the images I have seen in the references that accompany this review and elsewhere.
There are some nicely moulded tools and the obligatory tow rope and these will look great when added to your vehicle.
Other highlights include
A strength of this kit has to be the very subject itself and from what I can see it looks pretty complete and creates many opportunities for placing you model in or on a realistic diorama or base. There are some ejector pin mould-release circles left during the making of the kit, but these are well placed in out of the way or hidden locations – nice touch.
There’s no flash or excess plastic on any of the parts, so this will help build time greatly.
The upper deck and lifting gear is a focal point for the model and features finely details parts like hook and winch as well as other small parts – check out the gallery grid images for a close look at what’s on offer.
This is a pretty straightforward build looking at what’s in the box and looks like it will build up easily to create something a little different.
Decals
There’s a small sheet with the respective unit badges for the German options contained in the kit. The quality looks good overall with decals in register, good colour saturation and minimal carrier film.
Versions are:
- Bergepanther der s.Pz. Abt 505, Russland 1944
- Bergepanther der s.Pz. Jäg. Abt 654, Ruhr Kessel 1945
Instructions
These follow the usual Revell format with Revel colour references, parts and sprue layout diagrams followed by a 50-Stage build and finishing sequence. The sequence looks to be logical to me but of course you may want to leave off some of the small delicate parts until near the end of the build to avoid damage.
To sum up
This is a nice kit, perhaps ideal for someone new to 1:35 armour modelling or wanting to have a crack at separate track links? Whatever your reason for purchase, I’m sure that you’ll be made up if 1:35 armour modelling is your area of interest, not least because this may have been quite a hard kit to come by in recent times. Levels of detail are excellent for the scale and fit looks to be clean and pretty trouble-free. This kit is fairly priced for what you get, so you can’t go wrong really now can you?
Quick summary SMN Star Rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Decals | **** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |