Air Czech's 1/76 Skoda PA-II "Zelva" Armoured Car

During the early 20-ies most armoured car when armoured cars were little more than what they had been during the Great War, i.e. standard truck chassis supplied with angular armoured plating, the Czech Skoda PA-II appeared as a really revolutionary design. First, it had a specially designed chassi, with all four wheels steerable, two drivers (one to the front, and one two the rear) and, most characteristically, a special armour designed for maximum ballistical protection, aimed at deflecting bullets. The first model, the PA-I, appeared already in august 1923, but it had problems, and the new model, the PA-II, was designed and accepted by the Czech Military, who ordered 12 of them. The first were delivered in december 1924. The new model was equipped with four Schwarzlose HMG:s (with a total of 6250 rounds), had a weight of some 7.3 tons, a crew of five and an armour of maximum 5.5mm. It had a 70hp motor, which gave it an impressive road speed of 70km/h, but the heavy weight of the vehicle menat that the cross-country performance was poor. But the performance on good roads menat that it could be used in a highly mobile role, for instance when nine of these vehicles 1933 were rushed to the German-Czech border, to quickly bolster the defences againt the nazis.

The PA-II, nicknamed "Zelva", "The Turtle" - for obvious reasons - was later gradually substituted for the new PA-III, and three of these now freed from service were sold to Austria, were they saw action during the aborted Nazi coup in 1934. (I don't know if they were used during the Civil War the same year, but that is highly probable.)

Many countries wanted to buy "The Turtle" but eventually the export to Austria was all that came to be. When WW2 started it was since a long time obsolete, and the Germans took control of some of these when the occupied Czechoslovakia, and used them themselves, at least one, and that one was modified by adding a large aerial - see the photo up to the left.

A tip: Anyone interested in this AFV, should get Minitracks no. 8, which contains an excellent article on the PA series.

Contents of the kit:

Click on the picture above for an enlarged version! 

The kit comes well packed in a small, frail, illustrated paper box, with all small parts carefully stowed in bubble-plastic. It is supplied with an excellent set of instructions, carefully showing the assembly step by step. (Not that it is that difficult to build, but still it is a nice touch, that many other Resin kit producers should note.) Also, the markings and camo of the vehicle is outlined on a set of special painting instructions, also very welcome. (It also contains some scale registration plates, that you can cut out and use. Simple but nice touch.)

The kit consists of some 30 parts, the combined chassi and body being the biggest one. The moulding is really first rate, sharp and crisp, with only small amounts of moulding flash, and some moulding stubs still in situ.

The extremely complex shape of this original vehicle is very well captured, and the detail work is first rate. The wheels are to be glued onto axles made by copper wires, which again shows the amount of tought that has gone into this kit. (One senses a fair degree of Love's labour here.)

This is the first kit I have seen from the firm of Air Czech, and I am most impressed. Superb mouldings, excellent detail, fine plans and a well-constructed kit. I find nothing to gripe about. (Except perhaps the lack of decals, but as practically no others supply decals with their resin kits, I can't see this as a problem.) I sure hope that Air Czech will make more AFV kits from this neglected era! Very highly recommended!