When you think of WWII Italian Armour you generally think of the North African deserts with them fighting alongside Rommel’s Afrikakorps but the L6/40, whilst it did put in an appearance in the desert from 1941 onwards, was equally prevalent in the Balkans and on the Eastern Front fighting alongside the German forces there. It also saw service on the Italian mainland after the allied landings in Sicily and at Anzio, fighting first with its Italian owners and later sometimes wearing the German Balkenkreuz. It was also to be seen in the desert in the hands of Australian captors being used against its former owners.
This kit from Italeri consists of six dark yellow sprues, two of which are the same and comes in a large open ended box which to be honest I’m not a fan of. It’s a silly thing but I like the tray and lid boxes so I can use it to hold the kit parts while I work on it. You also get a small photo-etch fret, a sheet of decals, a large colour version of the box art on heavy card as well as a very useful photo refernce book. The moulds are very good, the detail is sharp and clean and clean-up consists of just the faint mould seams and a few light knock out marks.
The turret comes with some basic interior detail including the gun breech and co-axial machine gun. The rest of the interior consists of the handwheel and mechanism for turning the turret and the gunner’s seat. These can be seen through the open top and rear hatches if you want to position them open, however these hatches have no interior detail. The gun is fairly basic being made from two halves plus a separate flash hider. So care needs to be used when joining the barrel halves to make sure they align correctly. As the turet was intended to hold one crew member only it is a small turret and there isn’t much else to it.
The upper hull also includes a fairly good representation of the interior with a driver’s compartment, transmission and drive shaft. These allow you to position the transmission access hatch and driver’s vision block in the open position if you want, though again these have no interior detail on them. The exterior of the hull also has a good level of detail with well done rivet heads. No engine is included though you do get separate engine hatches. These also have no interior detail however and the cooling grilles are see through so will need blocking off underneath to prevent seeing through into the empty engine bay.
The chassis is made up of the floor with two sides and the rear plate added rather than the more usual single piece tub. The suspension is made up from several parts but still manages to look very simple and basic. The mouldings are good and comparing the reference photos nothing seems to be missing so I suspect this is more a case of the actual suspension on the real tank also looking somewhat simple and basic. They are missing the casting numbers and cast texture shown in the reference photos in the included booklet so a quick covering of Mr. Surfacer would be in order. The tracks are link and length moulded ones which look a lot better than the more usual vinyl single length tracks.
The painting and marking guide is on a perforated removable flap attached to colour artwork card. There are decal options for five vehicles – 31st Regiment Fanteria Carrista Co-operating with German Units, Balkans, September 1943 : 31st Regiment Fanteria Carrista ( pre armistice ), Balkans, June 1943 : Regio Esercito, 3rd Grouppo Corazatto “Lancieri di Novara”, North Africa 1942 : Regio Esercito, LXVII Battaglione Bersagleri, Russia 1942 : German Army Anti-Partisan Unit, Balkans 1944. These painting and marking profiles are repeated at the back of the included reference book.
The reference booklet that is included is a beauty, it contains several wartime photos including a sequence of photos of an L6/40 being loaded aboard a truck, exploded parts diagrams of the real tank as well as a series of full colour walkaround shots of a preserved L6/40 in the museum in Kubinka, Russia.
All up this is a good little kit that could be made even better with a little work and some fine detailing added. The inclusion of the interior parts is a good touch and the reference book is something I would happily see included with every kit. For something a little different this makes a great choice.
This kit is also available wearing the Tamiya Logo as Tamiya has recently started reboxing Italeri kits and releasing them with the Tamiya brand. As a rule if you can find the Italeri version it will be cheaper and is the exact same kit with the exception that Tamiya often adds figures.
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