
Tatra OA vz. 30 1/72 Planet Models
OA vz. 30 was a Czechoslovak armored car manufactured in 1933 and 1934 in the Tatra Kopřivnice. And it was our best interwar armored car.
The armored vehicle was built on the chassis of a light military truck Tatra 72, which was the successor to the older Tatra 26 (which was used in the prototype predecessor OA vz. 29). A total of 51 pieces of vz. 30 specifications were produced. The car weighed 2.78 tons and was able to drive up to 60 km/h on the road, and up to 20 km/h in unspecified terrain. It was armored relatively weakly (up to 6 mm), armed with two light machine guns ZB vz. 26 of 7.92 mm caliber, one in the movable turret, which was operated by the commander of the car (unfortunately, they were of the infantry version with magazines for only 20 rounds, instead of adjustment for the ammunition belt). The crew consisted of three men: commander, driver, and gunner. In 1938, a number of troops with these vehicles were sent to the Sudetenland to help suppress the German uprising, and against the troops of the most lightly armed Freikorps, the cars were successful – despite their shortcomings. Most of the cars remained at the borderlands even after the withdrawal of the mobilization, some were sent to Slovakia to help against the Hungarian invasion. After the occupation of the rest of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Wehrmacht acquired almost half of all cars that were produced (they used the operational ones mainly for propaganda purposes), and the rest stayed in Slovakia. The Slovak army then deployed them to fight in Poland and the USSR. The Tatra OA vz. 30 also reached Ukraine and Romania. You can find a relatively complex and interesting reading, including nice photos online at idnes.cz, and also the Jakab publication offers even more.
Until 2022 when a brand new plastic kit from First to Fight was released (more on this in another article), only one kit was available in 1/72 scale, a casted resin kit from Planet Models produced in two variants – Czechoslovakian and captured German. In the past, the model of this armored car was produced as a resin kit with etched parts by Kora Models and HR model, but I did not look for them nowadays. The simple Planet Models kit contains 20 nice resin castings and a small sheet of decals. From some wire, we need to create hooks to the rear and some “railing” for the “roof” of the car. The construction is straightforward and very simple, we are only bothered by the putty and sand work on the fenders, and minor complications are caused by a slightly twisted casting of the central support tube and chassis axles. The three-color camouflage composed of relatively complex shapes is the most interesting on this vehicle – and the most challenging thing during our build. The instructions are very spartan regarding the colors (they just say: reddish-brown, ocher, dark green). So I mixed my own shades from AK 3rd Generation paints according to Peewit colors. I also painted the whole chassis and rear side of the wheels all black, like was the Tatra army style. As I decided to airbrush the camouflage, I masked the individual patterns with Mr. Masking Sol Neo applied with a sharpened paper shaft from a cotton swab. Doing so, I couldn’t scratch the base and I was able to adjust the shape of the applying tip as I needed to. Kit was patinated with Tamiya Panel Liners, oil colors, and some CMK pigments. The model is quite small because the original car itself was only 4 meters long, about 1.5 meters wide, and was only 2 meters high! Despite this fact – it won’t get lost in your display case even in this small scale…
Very well done ! .. In particular, the 3 color camouflage pattern is expertly rendered.