COBI Panzer I Ausf.B Set 2660

COBI's Panzer I Ausf. B is a 1:28 model built from 654 blocks, 16 cm long, in the markings of the 1940 campaign in France, with a turret that rotates through 360 degrees, elevating machine guns, working tracks and an opening hatch. A German tank crewman figure and a collector's plaque are included. All markings are printed; the set contains no stickers.

Officially, it was a tractor

Germany was forbidden tanks by the Treaty of Versailles, so when development began in 1932 the vehicle was designated Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper — agricultural tractor. The paperwork described a farm machine. Everyone involved knew what it was.

The deception served a second purpose beyond hiding the programme from the Allies. The Panzer I genuinely was a training vehicle first: Germany had no tank crews, no tank doctrine and no experience, and needed several thousand cheap machines to teach an army how to use armour before it had any armour worth using.

The tanks were supposed to be replaced before any real war. They were not. A vehicle armed with two machine guns, unable to damage any enemy tank it met, took part in the Spanish Civil War, the invasion of Poland, the campaign in France, North Africa and the Eastern Front — and the campaigns it fought in were won, because what mattered turned out to be radios, tactics and concentration rather than armour thickness.

Specifications

Pieces: 654 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:28 · No stickers
Model dimensions: 16 × 8 × 7 cm (6.3 × 3.1 × 2.8 in)