1:35 Pz.KPFW.38(T)Ausf.S m.Kraftstoffbeh Carson 776435 500776435

Despite the power of its panzer divisions, Germany still didn’t have the desired number of tanks at the start of WWII. To boost numbers, Germany adopted the Czech LT vz 38 tank after it had conquered Czechoslovakia. Production of this light tank continued until 1942, by which point some 1,400 vehicles had been manufactured. Indeed, the Czech design was superior to the Panzer I and II types that were so common at the beginning of the war. In German service it was known as the Pz.Kpfw.38(t), and it proved a very reliable design. This tank featured a 37mm Skoda A7 main gun in a two-man turret. One variant of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) was the Ausf.S, with the ‘S’ in the nomenclature representing Sweden. This neutral country had ordered 90 tanks in February 1940, but they were subsequently seized by Germany for its own use. The Ausf.S tanks were fitted with extra radios and could thus be used as command tanks. Some were in fact exported to the Slovak Free State. 

Dragon has issued a stunning new 1/35 scale plastic kit of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.S. The tank features brand new turret frontal armor, and furthermore the model has innumerable interior parts to allow modelers to show off the innards of their tank through open hatches. Or for the bold model-maker, the kit even allows a heavily battle-damaged tank to be depicted thanks to the superior level of interior detail. The kit’s further distinguished by coming with a complete single-axle trailer carrying a 200-liter fuel drum. This trailer is newly tooled, and it gives the tank a much-improved range of operation. The tank, towing its associated fuel trailer, will make for an extremely interesting early-war scene.