In the box art above we see a Toldi in a three color camouflage scheme of tan, green and brown similar to that of Germany, Hungary’s ally. The Hungarian identity marking of a black box with a white cross is a late war marking of 1944 period. For a diorama or vignette, this vehicle is about the same size as a Panzer II.

There are about 50 cast resin parts not including about 40 individual track links to go around the sprockets and idlers. Molding quality is very good and, for comparison, my opinion is that quality of detail and casting is better than NRC and TP Models but not up to MARS quality, but close.

At upper left are the mufflers and below them are two air vent caps for the two circles on the engine deck; below them are the front fenders (mud guards). Right of the superstructure (upper hull) are two headlights, and the turret storage bin. Below the turret is the gun mantlet with the 40mm gun barrel at far right.

The lower hull (and the upper hull superstructure) both have a large pouring block that will need to be carefully cut and sanded off. The parts just right of the hull I am not positive about but I believe they are the final drive housing for the sprocket wheels (at far left). The roadwheels are in the center and appear accurate but also appear to need a lot of clean-up work to separate and sand down the pour block and to attach them together with a gap between them for the track teeth. Speaking about the tracks, they are in two long lengths at the bottom and three sets of individual links at far right. I am a little disappointed with the tracks as they have bubble-blob imperfections and have no track guide teeth. Near the upper right corner are three of the return rollers for the top track run.

The kit instructions below are well drawn two-dimensional line drawings but for me are not great for assembling the model; I would much more prefer a three dimensional exploded-view drawing such as found in Revell, Airfix and Italeri models. A parts diagram with the parts numbered on the assembly instructions and the parts diagram would help greatly. Reference books may be needed for some assembly. Note that on the instructions guide teeth are shown on the tracks, but they are not present on the actual kit parts.

There are no vehicle markings included with the Oliver Mark kit though both early and late Hungarian markings are available from several makers at your local hobby shop or at internet shops.

The kit is a very good model and I highly recommend it for intermediate and advanced modelers experienced with resin models. I believe that Oliver Mark has ceased production of their kits; it is no longer available at Tracks & Troops where I bought my model fir instance.

A challenging conversion project would be a Hungarian Marder-like tank destroyer mounting a German Pak 40 AT gun. My hopes are that someone would next produce a Hungarian Nimrod self-propelled Bofors AA gun built on a lengthened Toldi Hull.

 

References

Magyar Steel, Hungarian Armour In WW2, by Csaba Becze (2007). Mushroom Model Publications, UK. This about the best book on Hungarian AFVs and campaigns I have found; then again it’s the only one I found in English. But still good and I recommend it highly.

 

Epilogue

Though Oliver Mark Miniatures appears no longer available, if you are interested in a 1/72 scale Toldi and other Hungarian AFVs of WW2 please see these web links for Hunor Products.

http://www.onthewaymodels.com/kitlists/Hunorkits.htm

http://www.hunorproduct.com/

http://henk.fox3000.com/hunor.htm

Above is the box art for Hunor Product’s Toldi I light tank model in 1/72; this is the earlier model of the Toldi than Oliver Mark’s model and is a command version based on the circular antenna on the turret. The Hunor model also comes with water-slide decal markings and some have etched brass. I am curious if the Hunor Toldi kit is the same kit as that from Oliver Mark Miniatures which appears to not be in production anymore. When I receive my next model order I should find out and try and update this kit preview.