Tatra (named after the Tatra mountains) is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and produced the first motor car in central Europe in 1897, the Präsident. One source claims that Tatra is the third oldest [car maker] in the world after Daimler Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot. Production of Tatra cars ceased in 1999 but the company still produces a successful range of primarily all-wheel-drive 4x4, 6x6, 8x8 10x10 and 12x12 trucks.

In 1934, fifty one OA vz 30 light armored cars based on the off-road T-72 chassis were delivered to the Czeoslovakian Army. Development started in 1929 and used an air-cooled 1910cc four cylinder engine. Armament was two BREN machine guns. It was used in 1938/39 against German and Hungarian separatists and in the Carpathian Ukraine against Hungarian troops. During WWII these vehicles served with Romania, Slovakia and the German Protectorate of Bohemia-Morovia. They were also utilized in Jugoslavia and Poland.

This is a fairly nicely done resin kit. Typical of the kits I've seen of armored cars in this scale, the body and part of the chassis are molded as a single block of resin. I did find a few glitches here and there, mostly in terms of some air holes in the tread of a tire or two and some small bits of resin on the body. Nothing difficult to fix and the quality is certainly quite good on the rest of the parts. The front fenders are nicely thin and well molded along with the other parts found on the wafer that is included for small bits. Some of them had broken free during shipping as there is considerable room inside the oversized box. However, none had been damaged during the trip.

The folks at HR Model have included a nice photo etch fret to handle some of the other detail parts. Rear fenders are in photo etch and a form is provided in resin for you to wrap your brass bits around to get the proper shape. Don't forget to anneal these to make bending easier. Also included are hatches, suspension detail, tow hooks and some other small bits, including a shovel and pick.

The instructions are a folded piece of paper with English on one side and Czech on the other. The Czech side has 6 construction drawings. One is an exploded view (of sorts) and the others are for placement of some of the detail bits. The drawings are fairly well done, and while not as professional as you may see elsewhere, do provide all the needed information. There are markings for four vehicles. One Czech, one Slovak, one Rumanian, and one German as used in Jugoslavia against partisan fighters. The Czech and Slovak vehicles are the most colorful in terms of camouflage as the Rumanian one is in Grey and the German in Panzer Yellow. The drawing for the multi-color camo scheme is small and somewhat indistinct. I've not found much of anything on the internet about this vehicle. The small decal sheet is printed by MPD and should work quite well.

Here we have yet another interesting 'between the wars' armored car. I've grown quite fond of these and find them interesting to build. This one will make an interesting addition to my small, but growing collection, and looks to be a perfect beginning kit for those who want to get involved in doing multimedia kits.

'The Internet'

August 2006

My Thanks tohttp://hobbyshop.cz for the review samples. Get yours on-line at the link to the left.

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