MGM:s 1/72 Büssig A5P Armoured Car

MGM:s Büssig A5P Armoured Car
On the Real Thing
During the early months of WW1, most of the opponents of the German Army fielded Armoured Cars, and the OHL, reluctantly impressed, ordered the construction of similar vehicles. The order was given in a sort of competition to the three firms of Daimler, Ehrhardt and Büssig. The vehicle constructed by Büssig in 1915, the A5P, was quite a behemoth, some 9.5 meters long, and weighing 10.2 tons, but only equipped with a 6-cylinder motor, giving it a top speed of 35 km/h. It was equipped with 3 MG:s and manned by a crew of no less than nine. As the Ehrhradt was found to be superior no more than this single copy was built, but it was used on the Eastern Front, by the Panzerkraftwagen-MG-Zug 1, for example in Romania in 1916, and in the Ukraine in 1918.	Click on the thumbnails below, to see more:
On the kit
Contents of the kit: Click on the small picture above for an enlarged version!	The kit comes packed in a zip-lock back (with many of the smaller parts being packed in a smaller bag). It contains some 60+ parts, meny of which are quite small and delicate, but the main part being the massive hull. The moulding is very good, reproducing even very tiny details, like handles and electrical wires, and showing almost no air-holes, but some amounts of flash. All parts are still attched to the pouring stubs, or sprues, meaning that you will have to do some cleaning up, which will be tricky when it comes to the really small details. But still, that's nothing that a reasonably experienced modeller can't handle. But mind you: a number of these small parts broke for me, and had to be replaced. The assembly is pretty straight-forward, being guided by an excellent plan. (The many small details, like the hatches, steps and lights, will require some patience, though.) The rivet detail is for the most part good, and a clear improvement over the rather crude rivets that you could see on MGM:s Ehrhardt Armourred Car. And the wheels even have threads! As far as I can see, the accuracy of the kit is very good, and it really captures the heavy, brutish look of the original A5P. It can be built pretty much Out-Of-The-Box, perhaps replacing the turret MG with a 20mm gun, representing the Becker AA gun that was used on the A5P from 1916 on. There are a number of exterior details, like rails and big handles that I think you can treat as optional: if you study photos you can see them in place in some instances, and without them in other. The kit comes without decals, as is is standard in thses kinds of kits, but they can be scrounged from some WW1 Airplane kit, I'm sure, and the front Number Plate done on a standard Computer Printer. The kits of MGM can can be bought through through Smallscale.de, 7th Company or Blitzkrieg Models.
Verdict
MGM haven't perhaps had the best reputation before, but first their 30.5cm Mörser kit and now the kit of the A5P shows that they really have improved. It's a very nice kit, actually one of the best 1/72 scale WW1 Armoured Car kits around. Well done again, Michael Gohres! Highly recommended!

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