Small Scale Military Headquarters

hallo all
i would like to know the opinion of the more exspert concerning the quality of the latest products of the FORCES OF VALOR 1/35 scale range
in particular the german tanks vehicles guns and various are this painted accurately in a correct colour scheme?
are the equipment ,numbering ,and markings historically correct?
do this vehicles represent a real tank or gun from ww2 or are only ficticious toys?
ithanks for schering your opinions it would help me to know your opinion
regards!
stefano

They are supposed to represent real vehicles. They don't say so on the box unfortunately, just give you a rough idea of where the tank saw service, so it's up to you to find out specifics. IMO the initial versions of these tanks are done by someone with access to the same reference materials as other armor modeling enthusiasts out there and therefore uses the same sources, such as the panzer colors series, as their inspiration.

In general, the schemes are accurate. There is a catch though. Just because the scheme is done correctly doesn't mean the tank is correct. Without going into rivet-counter details about inaccuracies, here are some examples:

1st issue Panther "332": Portrays a Normandy tank w/ tri-color camo, probably of the Panzer Lehr div (Maybe 12th SS H.J.). I haven't found a picture or plate of that particular tank so I cannot be certain. The tank lacks zimmerit however, a huge error!

1st issue Tiger "232": Portray's Kurt Kleber's tank of the 101 st S.S. s.pz.abt in Normandy. The tanks's coloration is generally right, w/ tri-color camo, and it has zimmerit. However, the tank they wanted to portray had the steel road wheels, as the FOV tank does not.

1st issue T-34/85: I am not an expert on Russian armor, but i know I have seen many models/pictures/paintings/plates of the scheme that FOV's first T-34/85 bears. So as far as I can tell the scheme for that is accurate. I cannot go into any detail beyond that however, as I know very little about any physical abnormalities their tank has compared to the real thing.

2nd issue Panther"215": This tank is supposed to be a tank of an unidentified unit on the Oder front in February 1945. Accurate scheme, but the inaccuracy lies in the fact that the numbers on the turret side were actually painted on track links that were attached to the turret side, not the actual turret itself. Also, the real tank had the chin mantlet as opposed to the rounded one FOV's tank has(which is upside down btw).

Hope this helps


-Kevin

To name a few more examples, the first series Matilda II accurately represents a tank from the British 7th Army "The desert rats" from the 1942-43 era. The S1 British Grant is accurate to a tank Montgomry used as well.

hallo kevin
thanks for your detailed and helpfull replay
i knew that diecast usually dont have the same accuracy of kits models
but i just wanted to have an expert opinion specifically about some german tanks and armour already in my collection like
TIGER 1 3 colour camo display a charging lancer on the turret
KING TIGER 3colours camouflage 132 normandy 1944
PANZER 4 grey e.front
PANZER 4 white camouflage e.front
what is the level of historical accuracy about this specific models in your opinion as you seem to have a lot more knowledge of some modeler i know i would appreciate your help if you can
regards
stefano