Bronco Models

1/35 CV3/33 Italian Tankette (Series II) Early Production

Kit Number: CB-35006

In-Box Review by  Bart Cusumano, IPMS# 31882

MSRP: $69.98 Review Kit Supplied by Stevens International: www.stevenshobby.com The current state of injection molded plastic model kits never ceases to amaze and delight me. Not only in the area of quality, but also of subjects currently being produced. This latest release by Bronco Models is a shining example of this. The CV3/33 Tankette (CV stood for Carro Veloce, or 'fast tank'; the 3 stood for '3-ton' and the 33 stood for the year of development) was a small, two-man Italian AFV designed and used for reconnaissance, security and infantry support in WWII and was based on the British Carden-Lloyd Mark VI's. Armament consisted of two tandem mounted Fiat or Breda machine guns. Bronco's kit of this Italian AFV not only appears accurate in it's lines, but is detailed down to the wing nuts on the engine deck hatches (all provided as individual parts). The kit comes packed in a sturdy 9 1/2" x 15" box. The box art features a couple of WWII era Italian CV3/33's on the move in what appears to be a North African landscape. Upon opening the box, you are greeted by five individually wrapped sprues of tan-colored plastic (three individual sprues B, D, & E and two of sprue A), one sprue of clear plastic (the two headlight lenses), a 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" brass photo-etched fret and a 1 1/2" x 2 1/8" decal sheet. The PE and decal sheet come in a small zip-lock bag. There are 10 PE parts (mostly for the interior) and the decal sheet provides markings for two CV3/33's, both WWII North African schemes. The quality of the tan plastic parts is excellent with just a small trace of light flash visible on less than 20 of the kit's 383 tan parts, with few 'problem' ejector pin marks. Mold seam lines are light and should not be a problem to clean.

The 15 page 8 1/4" x 11 1/2" instruction booklet is printed on a nice glossy paper stock and is stapled together at the center fold. Printing is predominantly black and white, with a sprinkling of color - except for the beautiful full-color decal and painting profile views on pages 14 and 15. An illustrated parts list calls out and diagrams all parts locations. Instructions are of the exploded view type with parts called out by number. Colors are called out according to the legend on page two which utilizes Gunze Sangyo, Hobby Color, Humbrol and Tamiya paints. The sequence of assembly is typical of most armor kits and is clear and easy to follow, beginning with the interior assembly.

It was while examining the instructions and familiarizing myself with the parts, that I became aware of the terrific quality of this kit. The parts are molded crisp and clean on a level comparable with Tamiya, Dragon and some resin manufacturers. But it's the level of 'smallness' that has to be seen to be believed in the detail of some of these parts. For instance, each and every track link of the link-and-length tracks features the manufacturer's name: 'ANSALDO'. This is not immediately evident to the naked eye and only upon seeing this pointed out in the instructions, did I even notice it! A pair of Opti-Visors clearly shows this crisp and clear detail. This attention to detail is evident throughout the rest of the kit to the point where you feel like you're looking at an actual miniaturized version of this AFV. Interior detail is is provided for the fighting compartment and engine compartment - which makes up the entire interior - and is plentiful enough to provide an excellent result from an out-of-the-box project, lacking only various wires, conduits and hoses that the intrepid modeler can easily add to bring the level of detail to an even higher level - if you can find the reference material for it.

Parts breakout, as previously mentioned, is typical of most armor kits. The main 'superstructure' is a nice one-piece molding. The rest of the hull is built up from side, front, rear and bottom plates - the bottom plate serving as the base for all interior work. The hatches are molded separately to allow viewing of interior detail. Even the bolt details on the end of the hatch hinges is provided as separate parts! No need for my Sub-Miniature punches and die tool here. But here is also where my one main quip with this kit lies: the interior surfaces of the crew hatches are conspicuously lacking in detail. With all of the rest of the attention to detail in this kit, I found this a bit odd, especially in light of the fact that the kit provides a full interior for which many modelers will obviously choose to leave the hatches open for full viewing. A minor complaint for sure, but one I feel that is worth mentioning.

The gun barrels are provided with hollowed-out business ends and look quite good. The suspension and drive train is nicely rendered. Leaf springs are actually provided with no ejector pin marks. Each bogie consists of 15 parts, with a total of four bogie assemblies.

As this is an inbox review, I can't really speak to the fit of parts, but having tinkered with a couple of other Bronco kits, I'd have to believe that parts fit should not be an issue here. Again, it appears that everything you need to build a detailed replica is in the box. Being a bit of the obsessive-compulsive detailer, even I could not find much to add that would really add that much to the final result, except for what I mentioned earlier. Care and patience (and a good Opti-Visor for us old dogs with failing sight) will be needed to deal with many of the smaller of the total 395 parts, but your efforts should be amply rewarded. As for the accuracy of the model, I was not able to come up with much in the way of good, on-hand reference material in my library as I would normally feel good with. But a quick Google search did yield a number of good WWII-era CV3/33 photos, and based on those, I'd have to say that this kit does accurately reproduce the look of this small, two-man Italian AFV. Speaking of the two-man crew, the actual CV3/33 was a small AFV (see 'tankette'). About the only real extra I would look to add to this in the way of after-market items would be a good figure. Royal Models has a nice selection of Italian WWII tank crew figures, any of which would add a nice touch of scale reference to this excellent model. The manufacturer's suggested retail price of this kit is $69.98, but I'm sure that it can be had for less. Personally, due to the level of detail and 'completeness' of this kit, I would be willing to plunk down the greenbacks for it and accordingly, can strongly recommend this kit to all AFV fans out there - especially for those fans of off-the-beaten-path WWII subjects. I'd like to give a big "Thank you" to Stevens International for providing this kit and to IPMS for the opportunity to do this review.

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