AFV Club AF 35178 British Infantry Tank Mk.III Valentine Mk.I

British Infantry Tank Mk.III
Valentine Mk.I
AFV Club 1:35 Kit No. AF 35178

Kit Preview

Introduction:

This is an updated preview based on the full production British Infantry Tank Mk.III Valentine Mk.I kit from AFV Club which should be available in the shops soon.

The kit consists of:
337 parts in light grey plastic on 10 sprues
15 clear plastic parts
29 etched brass parts
1 turned aluminium barrel
1 set of full length vinyl track
36 individual track links in white plastic
1 decal sheet
1 instruction booklet

The standard of moulding is quite high with very little if any flash on the parts and no pin marks that should be visible after assembly, the surface detail includes nicely done bolt and rivet detail, weld seams and subtle cast texturing on the turret walls as well as the mantlet and some suspension parts. The suspension parts are designed to articulate after assembly and while the engine deck is in multiple separate parts there is no internal engine/gearbox included, the only interior parts are the 2pdr gun breech and No.19 radio set in the turret.

The kit also includes a barrel tube in turned aluminium and full length vinyl track that includes excellent detail for this medium, there is also a single sprue from the new Valentine track set (kit #AF35197) to use as additional track storage. The individual links have quite a bit of fine flash on most links that will take time to remove but include cast number detail and are designed to clip together for fully working track if you wanted to upgrade the vinyl kit tracks?

The small decal sheet is nicely printed and has markings for three vehicles plus a selection of vehicle registration numbers to use as required. A full review of the kit will follow as a soon as time permits.

Metal parts
AFV Club