PzKpfw I Ausf. A Ambulance

Preview by Rob Haelterman - heman_148(at)hotmail(dot)com

Some time ago Attack started to bring kits to the market that were a far cry from their earlier releases. Not yet up to the standards of the top players, but very decent kits in their own right.
One series covered the short-base Panzer I Ausf. A and its variants. This is one of them and covers the ambulance version. Many ambulance versions existed on the Panzer I chassis. Most that I have seen were based on the Panzerbefehlswagen (with roomier superstructure), and while I can't remember having seen this exact version, it has been done in 1/35 and it seems quite plausible. Perhaps a second look through my library will unearth a picture of it.

Patrick Mondria has done me a huge favor by previously previewing the Special Edition of the Panzerkampfwagen version (kit 72SE06). This is because all kits contain mostly all parts to build either variant, and as I agree with his comments there is basically not much to add.
The commonality goes as far as even providing (most of) the resin parts for the turret and, actually, the only difference in parts compared to the "battle tank" (well, you know what I mean) is that in this kit you get a resin piece for the first aid station, instead of the full turret interior.

As Attack has taken the habit of releasing its newer kits in a "basic" and special edition version, this means that this kit is basically the same as kit 72871, but with those extra resin bits to fill out the interior. These are meant for the first aid station and driving compartment and the engine. Some hatches that are molded shut have to be opened up and replaced by their resin counterparts. The only hatches that can be opened without surgery are the lateral hull hatches.
I've been doing some thinking, and you could actually split those parts and use one half to update a "regular kit". (For instance having one kit with the engine compartment open, the other with the fighting compartment.)

Decals in this kit are limited to red crosses of various sizes, but they are plentiful.

It seems like a simple, well-engineered and well-detailed kit, which earns it a place at the top of my stash.