Steelwork's 1/72 Panzerauto Bilboa (1932) and Panzerwagen UNL-35
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Steelwork
This is a new company out of Germany.
Uwe Borchert produces resin kits of four different armored cars in 1:72
scale from the Spanish Civil War. He lists the following armored car kits
in production:
Kit #1 Bilbao 1932
Kit #2 UNL-35 Series 1
Kit #3 UNL-35 Series 2/3
Kit #4 UNL-35 Series 4
The sample review kits are very well package in a corrugated cardboard
box with a styrofoam insert to secure the parts from being damaged. There
is a nice photo of the actual armor car on the top of each box as well
as multiple color plates for model painting. Inside each box are multiple
zip-lock bags containing light creme colored resin parts. The two-page
instruction sheet is very well illustrated for easy assembly. I would
like to suggest to Steelwork adding multi-lingual translations to their
instruction sheet if they plan to export these kits. Vehicles of the Spanish
Civil War are much ignored. With all the vehicle books I have there is
very little information about these. I would like to know the vehicle
history from the instruction sheet but I don't read German. The color
plates are very nice and contain a Humbrol color reference. What impresses
me besides the packaging of these kits is the detail and quality of the
resin castings. Upon close examination I could not find any air bubbles
which can plague parts that are casted rather than injection molded. The
armor car hulls are nicely detailed especially the tool stowage and rivets.
The turrets are just as well detailed. The wheels are finely detailed
and fenders are thin to scale. Please note that these kits do not contain
decals or photo-etch.
The Panzerauto Bilboa (Model 1932)
  
The Panzerwagen UNL-35
  
Conclusion
Steelwork introduces Spanish Civil War armored cars to small-scale modelers
and it is a welcomed one. I am looking forward to doing build reviews
for both kits. Their quality and detail is very good. As far as resin
kits go I give these kits two thumbs-up. I look forward to seeing other
products from this company in Germany. I would like to thank Uwe
Borchert from Steelwork for the review kits.
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