Getting started in WW1 1/72 Military Modelling

Inspired by Charles Duckworths recommendations for Aero Modellers, here comes my own simple advice for those that are thinking about building 1/72-76 scale WW1 AFV Models.

Plastic Kits

There aren't that many Plastic WW1 AFV kits around, but the good news is that they are all pretty good!

• Airfix Mk 1 - Old but still OK, easy to correct, easy to obtain, cheap.
• Emhar Mk IV - Easy to build, pretty accurate.
• Emhar A7V - Easy to build, accurate.
• Emhar Whippet - Easy to build, accurate.
• RPM Ford TFC Armoured Car - Fun, fast kit. (But avoid RPM:s FT-17:s until you have the necessary skill: they are very tricky to build!)

Resin Kits

Let's face it: if you want to build WW1 AFV:s, then you pretty soon have to start building Resin kits. But I can't see that as a liability: Resin is Fun! And these are the best ones!

• Cromwell Mk V* - Accurate, easy to build: a Super kit!
• Cromwell Mk VIII - Se above!
• Cromwell LK II - Very good, very accurate, very easy to build
• JMGT:s S:t Chamond - The best resin WW1 AFV kit in this scale that money can buy. Hard to get though: you could also go for Fine Scale Factory´s kit

References

There isn't that many books to be had, at least not in print right now, but there still are some that you can get. And if you complement these with all the information you can find out there on the webb - see my Links - , then you have a pretty got start!

• "Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the World - Volume One: AFV World War One". Doncaster 1998. - A reprint of the long gone Profile Publication from 1970.
• Wolfgang Schneider & Rainer Strasheim: "German Tanks in World War I - The A7V and early Tank Development". West Chester 1990. - A booklet in the Schiffer Military History series.
• Jacek Solarz: "Czolgi Brytyjskie 1914-1918". Kraków-Warszawa 1996 - Polish text, English captions to the photos, line drawings of all the major Tank types.
• Christopher Chant: "World Encyclopedia of the Tank - An International History of the Armoured Fighting Machine". Sparkford 1994 - The parts on WW1 are very good, being graced with excellent line-drawings and sensible text.
• David Fletcher: "The British Tanks 1915-19". Ramsbury 2001 - Fine, up-to-date book written by THE expert. Get it!