Modelkraks 1/72 Izorski-Fiat Armoured Car

The Imperial Russian Army was something of a pioneer when it came to the use of armoured cars during WW1. Already before the war they had made studies regarding the use of armoured cars, and when the war broke out, they were quick to employ them. All in all, the Imperial Russian Army fielded over 300 armoured cars during the war.

Quite a few of these were imported. It turned out, however, that the Russian made so many improvements modifications to these imports, that is soon became more rational to order the chassis only from abroad and then build the own bodies domestically. Beginning about 1916, the Italian Fiat company sold to Russia conventional touring car chassis with pneumatic tires, 60hp motor, doubled at the rear to carry the additional weight. Then, 6mm thick armor was fitted to them in the Izorski factory. The vehicles weighed some 5.2 tons, had a crew of 5, an armament of 2 MG:s and was capable of a speed of 60 km/h, 14 km/h in reverse. 

Approximately 74 of the Izorski-Fiat cars were built and they were used first by the Imperial forces, and then by the Soviet army through the 1920's. A number of these were captured by the Germans during WWI, mainly during the summer offensive in Galicia in 1917, and used by them in Panzerkraftwagen-Zug 8, and later after the war in the interal unrest in Germany proper. Several more found themselves into the armouries of the the Finnish Army (some were captured from the Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War in 1918) and Polish Army in the early 20-ies. (At least two Polish-captured Izorski-Fiats were used against the Russians in 1920.)

Click here to see detail photos of a surviving Isorzki-Fiat!

For more pictures, click on the thumnails below:

Contents of the kit:

Click on the picture above for an enlarged version! 

The assembly is pretty straight-forward, being guided by a simple plan. (Yes, the fenders for the back wheels should look like that: they are not broken: one of the fenders are shorter than the other because of the off-set turret.) Compared to the plans in the fine Russian book from TM on the Armoured Cars of the Russian Army, the the accuracy of the kit is very good - the maker of the master seems to have been working from these plans, so therre are no surprises there. 

It can be built pretty much Out-Of-The-Box, but there are some potential for conversion, as the Izorski-Fiat was built in three versions, the kit, I believe, represents the first. Later versions had turrets with slanted sides - see one of the thumbnails above. Also, you can build it either as it was used in the Imperial Russian Army, Red Army, German Army, German Freikorps, German Spartakist or the Finnish Army. (Some were captured from the Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War in 1918.) The actual camo & markings of these different vehicles will require some additional research, though. 

You can get this kit from Jadar Models in Poland.

The Polish firm of Modelkrak continues to defend their reputation as one of the very best resin kit makers. Their continued interest in WW1 also warms the heart of this reviewer. All in all, it's an excellent kit. Highly recommended!