Tatra T-87

Name	Tatra T-87 (Item No.72809)
Producer	Attack Hobby Kits, Czech Republic
Packing	carton box with picture on the top
	A) Selection of a type An important type of a car the production of which started in 1936. It was one of the world's first serially produced aerodynamically styled automobile. The car remained in production until 1950, giving the total of 3056 copies sold. The classical handwrite of the ingenious constructor Hans Ledwinka is typical for TATRA T-87 (backbone frame, air-cooled rear-mounted engine); it has remained preserved in all passenger cars TATRA until the present times. B) Shape fidelity, in-scale accordance I have not checked the dimensions; it seems from the first look that the kit represents the typical lines of the car faithfully. C) The kit Model includes 25 parts from grey styrene and 7 clear parts (windows, headlights). The parts are injected clearly, with no flesh and/or recessions. With regards to the smooth aerodynamic silhouette of the original car it seems inevitable to fill and sand the body of the model after construction. Instructions are clear, the sheet includes a partial cutaway view of TATRA T-87, revealing the internal layout; location and numbering of parts on the sprues, assembly instructions in eight steps, incl. the colours used in the interior and two camo schemes with codes for paints Humbrol, Tamiya and Agama (Czech producer of enamels and paints). Thin, fine and well-printed decals by Extratech provide three versions of the car – a ”trophy” car used by Lt. Flemming form R.A.F. in Germany in 1945, a personal limousine of Lt.General Kühne during the occupation of Norway in 1942 or a car in which Jiří Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund, of their days extremely popular Czech travelers toured the world in the late 40’s. Although the instructions do not include the colour scheme of the travelers’ car, it is very simple – the car was completely sprayed in silver metallic paint, usually with a thick cover of dry mud and dust. The ideal reference material for construction of this version – unfortunately, perhaps for Czech modellers only – are the travelogues by Mr. Hanzelka and Mr. Zikmund, e.g. ”Africa of Dreams and Reality” in three volumes, including also coloured photographs of the vehicle. This reminds me of a new item by HäT – the set “Jungle Adventure”, containing figures of African natives, ideal for a construction of a small ”civil” diorama. Petr Vaněk P.S. We would like to thank to Attack Hobby Kits company for the kit you can see on the pictures sent us free of charge for our preview. . Sand & Over