COBI Renault R35 - Valentine IX - Panzer I Set 2740

COBI's Renault R35 / Valentine IX / Panzer I set builds three tanks from 595 blocks, all at 1:48 so they stand correctly beside each other. Each has working tracks, movable wheels and a turret that rotates fully, with printed markings.

Three tanks, three museums

Each of these vehicles was modelled from a specific exhibit, and the three come from the three great armour collections of Europe: the Valentine IX from The Tank Museum at Bovington, the Panzer I from the Deutsches Panzermuseum at Munster, and the Renault R35 from the Musée des Blindés at Saumur.

Three answers to the same question

All three were designed in the 1930s to solve the problem of what a light tank is for, and each country answered differently.

France built the R35 to walk with infantry: thick armour, a tiny gun, a one-man turret, and no speed worth mentioning. Germany built the Panzer I as a training vehicle with two machine guns and almost no armour, intending to replace it before any real war. Britain built the Valentine as an infantry tank too, but on a commercial chassis a private firm had designed at its own expense — which is why it was reliable when almost nothing else British was.

By 1942 all three were obsolete. Between them they cover the September campaign, the fall of France, the Western Desert and Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union.

Specifications

Pieces: 595 · Scale: 1:48 · Three complete tanks
Model lengths: Valentine 14.5 cm, R35 9 cm, Panzer I 8.5 cm