Sprue A – 90 parts for the suspension, engine covers and firewall, front lights, fenders, instrument panel, etc.
Dragon has put its favorite slide molding routine through its paces in this kit, and even without it the effort is still rather impressive. The cooling gills on the bonnet halves have been molded through – and most other kits will require a PE set for this. Also, the pattern on the radiator is discernible even if you look through the delicately molded guard grille.
The heat shield for the muffler also has its cooling gills molded as the real deal, so your weathering efforts here will be worthwhile. Delicate suspension parts and mirror supports, as well as lightbulbs molded in the bottom of the headlamp reflectors really contribute to the feeling you’re dealing with first-rate kit.
Sprue A (blue)– 114 parts for the 2cm FlaK 30.
Base, turntable, carriage, seat, ammo clips, aim – all present. What you don’t see is the gun shield, which is constructed from PE parts show further down. There are 26 wingnuts that will help you create an even more realistic shield attachments.
Sprue B holds 71 parts for the engine, suspension, fuel tank, transmission, front wheels, suspension, and the front seats.
The engine does have a lot of the details molded on, which makes it look oversimplified.
Sprue D contains 58 parts for the rear hull wall and the fenders, as well as few tools.
The sprue has been borrowed from the SdKfz 10/5 kit, which was released almost a year before that.
Sprue D (blue)– 49 parts for the gun platform and more parts for the 10/5. The support frame for the platform has a lot of extra cross-braces which are actually molding aids. To save time and trouble check what is actually visible in the instructions/your references.
The frames of the mesh-screened platform sides are rather delicate – use sharp blade, or better yet – a motor tool to carefully remove them from the sprue.
Sprue E – another one donated by the 10/5 kit. Two identical sprues hold a total of 26 parts.
Sprue H – drive sprocket crowns from the SdKfz 250 kit. All ejector pin marks in the picture will not be seen after the sprockets are assembled.
Sprue V – transparencies. There are two options for the headlight glass covers – one of the molded with slits for a night-operations impression.
Sprue X – hull tub. As opposed to most prime movers that have an opened chassis the Sd Kfz 10 has an enclosed hull tub. In this kit it is a single casting (sans the aft wall) with all the strengthening ribs and plates, as well as draining holes and boltheads, present.
Sprue N – not an actual sprue really. This applies to the 96 Magic Track links, and 96 separate rubber pads (a total of 192 parts). The separate tracks look very well detailed on the outside, but inside there are 2 ejector pin marks, which is rather disappointing. A closer look reveals that the guiding teeth on the tracks are wrongly shaped. On the real vehicle they are symmetrcial if you look from the side, while here they are with a slanted/curved front, and almost vertical rear ridge.
The compozite image also shows sprue Z, which has the 10 ammo boxes, and some details of the gun parts.
There are 3 metal sheets included in the kit:
MA fret – mesh screens for the platform sides, ammo boxes mounting brackets and more – 89 parts total.
MB fret – an optional part for the ammo magazine receiver and 4 attachment strips (5 parts).
MD fret – 81 parts for the gun shield. About half of them are rivet/bolt heads to improve the shallow detail on the shield plates.
The decal sheet includes markings for three vehicles, all from unidentified units. All vehicles depicted are dark grey – one Army and two Luftwaffe. There are also generic numbers for depicting any vehicle in Heer, Luftwaffe or SS.
The sheet on the right has the pre-cut masks for the windshield.
Some detailed shots of the parts to give you a better impression of the kit quality.
Next – building the beast 🙂