Polish 1939 Armor?

I've built a few of the Mirage Vickers kits.  With aftermarket tracks and the Aber fender and full sets, they're actually not that bad, although some scratchbuilding is sometimes required to be more accurate.  

As for decals, on the tanks, that's not an issue, in September, 1939, the Polish tanks didn't carry any markings (they did in 1938 but were gone in every shot I've seen from the Blitzkreig period).

Here's one I have in progress now.

I've built a few of the Mirage Vickers kits.  With aftermarket tracks and the Aber fender and full sets, they're actually not that bad, although some scratchbuilding is sometimes required to be more accurate.  

As for decals, on the tanks, that's not an issue, in September, 1939, the Polish tanks didn't carry any markings (they did in 1938 but were gone in every shot I've seen from the Blitzkreig period).

I have the RPM tks. You can get an ABER PE set as well- they have one left at greatmodels it would appear. Looks like a pretty good update set. If I were planning on building it anytime soon I would've already bought the PE set. The RPM tks with interior comes with link and length tracks, which (while not particularly well detailed) are way better than the aweful rubber tracks in the mirage kits.

I am interested in this part of history too, I kind of have a rough idea for a diorama after the siege of Warsaw.  The polish did have vickers tanks called the 7tp.  They had both twin and single turret variants that Mirage has made.  I believe they had a handful of French R-35s which Hellar makes an older kit of.  It'd be nice if Tamiys world make some of the Tks and 7tps, who knows, they did come out with a Renault ue so they are capable of going a different path.

Here's the super set on eBay. It is the kit I have and recommend if you want to build a Polish tankette but aren't sure of which one. This is not my auction and have no connection to the seller. I just searched for Aero Plast under armor models.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PLAST-AERO-Tankietka-Super-Set-1-35-Scale-/330683996874?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cfe4d5aca 

Those RPM are very rough kits, but buildable. Many of them are mix and match, by that I mean they add bits & pieces from various kits to similar hulls. You'll get several different colors of sprues molded in different grays, white, off-white, tan and some sprues are marbled (where they mixed colors).

The parts are thick, about the scale thickness of a man's fist. Construction is mainly flat pieces that have to be aligned to form the lower hull. Same deal with the upper hull superstructures. The super set I have includes assembly instructions for just about every version of tankette based on this hull that they made a kit of.  The paint and markings for the kits are limited to a small view of the left side of each vehicle.

Aber makes a couple of PE sets, 35016 & 35017, for the TKS and TK-3 respectively. They are expensive and hard to find, but add greatly to the kits.

There has been a lot of mold swapping in Eastern Europe and each kit has appeared in various companies' boxes, so if you do see similar kits but from different manufacturers, most likely it is the same plastic inside. Just go for whichever is cheaper.

Some of the kits come with rudimentary interior sprues. Basically just big white boxes, seat and a steering yoke. Again, the part thicness will jump out if hatches and doors are posed in the open position; instead of inch thick armor, you'll see 6 inch thick armor.

The kits I have on hand are the RPM TKS and TKS with interior, and the RPM T-26T artillery tractor based off the British Vickers light tank (7TP/T-26). I also have the Aero Plast Tankieta Super Set (best value if you can find it) that gives you the option of building the TKS, TKS w/20mm, TK-3, TKW, TK-SD. It's the RPM complete set of mix and match parts all stuffed into one box. Best part was that I got it from Great Models a while back (2003) for $7.40. It didn't have the interior sprues though. The Aber set for it I ordered at the same time was $11.10.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you want a scan of the instruction sheet.

Hi, David:

Thanks a lot for the fast response! BTW, the 1/35 figure set I found in EBay, which is on the way, in the post from Poland to Philadelphia, is by "SModel," a Polish manufacturer.

It's called "Polish Tank Crew and Officers, September 1939." It has five figures in resin, 3 tankers in greenish coveralls and two officers in black. They're posed on the box cover on what seems to be an export version of a Vickers medium tank.

I really enjoy the more esoteric stuff, and the fact that Polish September 1939 stuff is so obscure, inspires me to build it!

I've read that the Mirage tankettes have decals, but no info included on where they go, unit info, etc. Would be an adventure trying to nail that down, an accurate paint scheme and markings! Best, Christian

I'm afraid those are the only companies that make polish armor.  I've done some mirage kits before, some of the molds are good, some are not.  I am just a beginner but with some patience mirage isn't all bad.  /forums/p/141275/1508639.aspx#1508639