GB Modelli

FIAT 3000 Mod. 21 1a Serie

Historical backgroud:

You can find the relevant information in this article.

The kit:

As usual, GB Modelli ship their products in unprotected plastic bags, only backed up by a piece of thin cardboard.

Parts are finely cast in the typical cream-colored resin, with no short shots, pin holes or warps, but with some thin flash that will be easy to clean up, a bit excessive in some areas. Unfortunately, there is a good amount of very tiny microbubbles, which is something you expect when working with resin: some of them are visible and will need intervention.

There is a limited number of pieces inside the bag: the hull built in a single piece, 2 turrets (early version with SIA MGs and late version with FIAT mod. 14/35 MGs), the rear tail for large trench crossings (something which shows how much this tank derived from the FT-17), the tracks in 4 pieces, the entire left and right wheels and suspension meachanism in a single piece, a block containing both the idler and main wheels along with the typical "cap-like" commander's hatch, another 4 blocks with the smallest pieces (mufflers, tools, the two sets of rollers, towing hooks).

Some initial considerations: the accuracy is very high, with particular mention to the very accurate reproduction of the many bolts visible on the hull and turret. Speaking of accuracy, the 4 typical reinforcements on the bottom frames of the suspensions are present, which means that the kit reproduces a post-1935 tank, hence the 1a serie (1st serie) on the kit name is wrong (UPDATE: the 1a serie (1st serie) has been removed from the kit name by the producer). By 1935 all the turrets with the SIA MGs were meant to be replaced, however this never happened, so it is possible to build this kit with the earlier turret: in this case, the SIA MGs supplied with the kit are very finely reproduced, although they look slightly warped and must be cured in hot water (again, something you would expect when working with resin); moreover, the early turret lacks the oval plate with the FIAT logo, which must be scratched looking at photos of the real vehicle.

The instruction sheet is very simple, but, as you can see, assembling is rather easy and there will be no doubts about where to glue a specific piece. As usual in GBModelli kits, there is no decal sheet, and this is a real pity as every tank had its markings, which changed completely during the very long career of the FIAT 3000, as well as license plates: this will force the modeller to look in the spare decals box (for example, the decal sheet of the Italeri fast-build Italian tanks can help). Black Lion Decals produces a set dedicated to World War I Italian Armor & Trucks (72006) which has some decals for the FIAT 3000, but unfortunately most of them are more suitable for pre-1930 tanks, so that they can not be used with this kit.

Conclusion

This is indeed a 2nd post-1935 serie, and there is no doubt that the kit is a little gem, considering the difficulty of reproducing in 1/72nd scale such a tiny vehicle with all its details. Very few bits are left over for the modeller to add: apart from the plates on the turret, markings and license plate, most vehicles had a chain with square elements wrapped around the tail, which would add that extra finesse to an already outstanding kit, which lets you reproduce almost every MG-armed FIAT 3000 serving in any army from 1935 onwards.

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Article Last Updated: 27 May 2018