Kit Review of EMHAR A7V

EMHAR:s 1/72 A7V "Sturmpanzer"

On the Real Thing

Several designs for cross-country armoured “landships” - both tracked and wheeled - were submitted to the German High Command both before the war and right up to the time the first British tanks went into action on 15 September 1916. The moral effect of this attack was out of all proportion to its tactical success, which was small, and led German Army commanders on the Western Front to press for a German equivalent. The High Command had already had some inkling of what was going on in England but now took action for the first time to promote the development of a German landship by appointing a committee composed of engineering experts from leading heavy engineering and automotive firms to study this question. The committee was known for security purposes as “Allegemeine Kriegsdepartement 7, Abteilung Verkehrswesen” or “General War Department 7, Traffic Section”.

A general specification was laid down and as a first step towards design the committee obtained a Holt tractor from Austria: this American-designed caterpillar tractor (built under licence in Budapest) was at that time the only suitable tracklaying vehicle available to Germany for experiment. It is interesting to note here that the Holt had also inspired Colonel Swinton's landship proposals put before the War Office in Britain and also formed the basis for the French heavy tanks.

After trials of the Holt tractor, a lengthened version of the chassis was designed by Josef Vollmer, powered by two Daimler engines of 100 h.p. each (the original proposals for one 80-100-h.p. engine being recognized as inadequate) and, fitted with a wooden mockup of an armoured hull, was first demonstrated in the Spring of 1917. There were some changes in the original requirements laid down for armour and armament because the protection was intended to be 30mm. thickness overall, but this was later altered, to reduce total weight, to 30mm at the front only, the remainder varying between 15 mm. and 20 mm. For the main armament, different guns were tested and the choice eventually fell on the 57mm Nordenfelt, a weapon taken from the Belgians, of which a small supply was available. However, only one gun was fitted (at the front) instead of the original intention of having a shell-firing weapon at both ends. In addition six water-cooled machineguns (MG08) were carried - two on each side and two at the rear.

The design was accepted and the tank (known as A7V from a contraction of the design committee's title) was put into series production, the contracts having already been awarded. One hundred vehicles were ordered, of which only twenty were finally completed as tanks, the first of these being ready in October 1917.

The first action in which the A7Vs took part was at St Quentin on 21 March 1918; the first tank versus tank action on 24 April. This encounter showed one fundamental advantage of the German tanks in that all were equipped with a gun, the British Tanks Mark IV, Female version, equipped with machine-guns only, being helpless against the 57mm gun of the A7V. The central placing of the A7V's main gun was also a better feature than the sponson mountings of the British tanks. The design of the A7V was better than that of the British vehicles in some of the details - sprung tracks for example and in some of the wider conceptions, such as thicker armour and a higher power/weight ratio. It's engine was also relatively powerful, making it almost twice as fast as corresponding British tanks (9 km/h), if moving on dry, flat and hard ground. And it's armour was thick: in places it was triple the maximum thickness found in tanks like the Schneider CA 1.

Overall, however, the A7V was far less successful as a battle vehicle. The most serious fault was in cross-country performance and trench-crossing ability which were poor because of the high centre of gravity and low tracks with the hull overhanging at front and rear. Also, due to the large transmission housing, the vehicle had a ground clearance of only 20cm (!), which meant that it could get stuck almost anywhere. And technically there were many weak points in the vehicle, and it broke down often. The Nordenfelt guns had a lower rate of fire than the British 6-pdrs. Early tanks had mechanical faults and the armour plate was badly fitted and in some cases of inferior quality. These faults were corrected later (some tanks had single large side plates instead of several sections, for example) but the basic design could not be altered. The Germans made as much use as possible of captured tanks and the A7V's successor was modelled on the layout of the British machines.

For more photos of the worlds only surviving A7V, click here!

The Kit

First Looks
The A7V has been relatively popular in the Cottage Industry, and there have been both White Metal and Resin kits to be found ther out on the market. However, the quality of these kits have ranged from Very Good - like Fine Scale Factorys - to Very Poor - like MGM:s. EMHARS kit is the first one in plastic. The kit is moulded in EMHARS usual dark grey plastic, which I myself find very easy to work with. The parts of the kit comes on two sprues: the first containing mainly the sides and the track assemblies, the second containing mainly the top, front and back of the body, plus the bottom of the chassis. The total sum of parts is 30.

The mouldings are sharp and crisp, first rate really, and there is no moulding flash to be seen at all. This is no short run kit! As could be expected with such a kit, it comes with a good set of plans, showing both the building step by step, and the camouflage and markings of the tank. Their are decals included for five different vehicles, well four really: "502", Early 506 "Mephisto", late 506 "Mephisto" - the only surviving A7V -, 505 "Baden 1" and 507 "Cyclop", but not Gretchen, as I hoped for. (As a further guide in painting, the back of the box also comes with a Colour Profile of one these vehicles, the "Mephisto".) The decals for these different tanks are quite adequate, although a little vague in printing - as in EMHAR:s earlier kits of the Mk IV, if you have seen them.

What variant?
Although only 20 A7V tanks were produced during WW1, there were many detail differences among these vehicles. It's actually hard to find two A7V:s that were completely alike. EMHAR:s kit portrays a vehicle with Single plate sides ("Röchling" armour), and Buck mounted Gun, a type of vehicle that belong to the earliest production run - something that of course can also be gleaned from the numbering: they are all in the 502-507 interval. (For more explanations of all this, see this excellent article by Gary Zimmer.) I think this is a very wise choice by EMHAR, from the modelling point of view at least. First of all: it is easier to convert a single plate side into a multi plate side, than the other way around. Secondly: although there were more tanks equipped with so called Socle guns than Buck mounts, it is pretty easy to convert the Buck mount into a Socle variant. Thirdly: choosing this variant made it possible to give no less than the above mentioned five different colouring and marking schemes.

Accuracy
The accuracy of the kit is high. I will soon update this article with exact measurements, checking the scale etc, but my first impression is that this is a very good A7V replica, that really captures the ugly, brutish look of the original. The detailing is very good, with rivets placed in the exact spot - for instance, the number of rivets around the MG ports, are exactly the right number for this variant - and the rivets also comes in different sizes!

The MG mounts, the Cupola, the Doors and the Escape Hatch, all tallies. But there are some small errors, none of which is really serious, or not easily rectified. Firstly, the kit comes with exhaust pipes, but none of these vehicles sported exhaust pipes! (It was just a hole in the hull sides for the fumes. See number 1 on the picture of the side above.). But this is easily fixed: just leave the pipes: there is a nice hole on the right spot on the sides. Secondly, below the side doors you can find two steps, wheras all my references show none. (Other variants had one or two steps. It seems that mid-productions vehicles had one step, the lower, while late production vehicles had two steps. And in the case of vehicles having two steps, they were attached the other way around, with the upper step - numbered 2 on the picture above - nearest to the center of the vehicle: not as in the kit, the other way around. The steps are also shown with attachment points above the step, while it was really the other way around. See, for example this photo, showing this particular detail on a Late Production A7V. But when I think about, hmm, big deal...) Simple solution: simply shave off both steps!

Tracks
There is a small problem with the track assemblies. EMHAR has choosen to make this a single unit: idlers, sprockets, roadwheels, track and all moulded as a single unit.

I know that some of you out there don't like this, but it doesn't bother me. I can find much more fun things to do, than to fiddle around with a myriad tiny tracks links. And as soo much of the track assemblies are hidden by the hull sides, this isn't really that problematic. What IS a bit problematic, is that these track assemblies lack a bit in detailing. For example: the outer/bottom sides of the tracks are good, and resemble the original well, while the upper/inner part is more devoid of features, and while the sprocket and idler is portrayed with round, pretty thin spokes, in reality they were flat. A REAL error - silly really -, albeit again pretty easily corrected, is that on these track assemblies there are two sprockets, but no idler! (Compare with the real thing, to see what I mean.) What to do? Simply remove all the teeth from the Front Sprocket, i.e. the one near the Gun: it should be smooth, as it was the idler.

Gun Mounting
The only real problem with this kit is the Gun Mounting. It's most noticable feature, the T-shaped aperture for the sight is in the kit shown as a single, bevelled I-shaped slot. I filled the I-slot and made a new T-shaped one, first by drilling a series of tiny holes, and then connecting them using equally tine cuts with a modelling knife. The process was slow and exasperating, as the plastic filler tended to crack again and again, at least until I "secured" it using superglue. And then we have the Instructions. On Step 1, you are instructed to mount the frame surrounding the mantlet backward, i.e. inside out! On step 3 this is corrected, and you can see it like it should be: the frame part out, closely framing the round mantlet. (Again see the photo, or just check out the box art, where both the mantlet frame and the sighting aperture is correct.) But this is an unnecessary error, tempting modellers to go in the wrong direction. (It sure fooled me...)

Below you can see a comparison - courtesy of James H Reeve - of the EMHAR A7V (Dark grey) and the FSF A7V. The different types of gun mountings shows clearly:

Bottom Line
My first impression is clear. Pros: Crisp, sharp detailing, very accurate on the whole. Finally we got a Plastic A7V! Cons: the Track assemblies, really, that purist probably want to improve, and the Gun Mounting, that is the only thing that really cries out for correction. This IS a EXCELLENT kit, lending itself to some easy conversions into some of the other A7V variants. Get it! No collection of 1/72 Scale AFV:s is complete without this Armoured Behemoth of Great War fame! (For a look of my finished model, click here!)

P.S. Anyone building the EMHAR A7V should not miss this excellent article by Gary Ian Zimmer. And Mark Hayward has also posted a very fine article, including an excellent bibliography on the A7V.