After completing the camo pattern I found the colors were way too contrasting. The yellow was way too bright compared to the two saturated dark colors, so I sprayed a sandy acrylic mix, diluted with satin varnish. More layers were sprayed over the lower half of the vehicle to simulate the road dust.
As LSSAH was being reformed and reequipped from early April I kept weathering to a minimum apart from the bent front fenders, the dust, a few scratches and a slight bend on the side skirts.
A word of warning here – this kit is not something you would use for a quick build. I found that the hard way as you would find out below.
Due to the zimmerit being molded in the kit parts the hull is comprised of new parts. Whether the “smooth” Panthers fit OK I am unaware as of now, but this one certainly had issues with a bunch of shims required all around the front and back to make gaps go away. You can also see the large gap around the ball MG mount – still not filled here…
I got the kit in 2010 as a replacement for a lost package – I had won an “Achtung, Jabo!” pack with 4 figures, which never arrived for whatever reason.
Actually this was my first Dragon tank and I was eager to open the box and see what’s in. DML didn’t fail to impress. The number of parts is rather large due to sprue sharing with other Ausführungs and even with the Jagdpanther.
Onto the images (click to see larger images). You get sprue A, which is wheels and side armor screens.
Decals as per DML’s instructions. I used the 4 in the red circle and it’s a good think the Dragon boys and gals had included a spare. Decals were tamed using my favorite Mr. Mark Softer from Gunze, then covered with Vallejo matt varnish.
Since the tank has been painted with about 7 variations of green I used a bit less pigment powders (Agama Sand, Dust and a bit of white) than usual to weather it. A bit of black behind the exhausts, around machine guns and gun muzzle and again a coat of Vallejo flat.
Another Armorama review build. This was one of those rare occasions when I decided to strictly follow the instructions.
I started by test-fitting the turret top and bottom. The locating pins in the turret base detail are too thick, so a step step was formed – they were quickly removed.
Turret with its bottom end up – the step is rather evident…
Since two options were presented for the main turret armament (parts C3 and B7) I went with the longer one 🙂 The aft end of the detail required some sanding to fit in the turret mask. Next, the Besa machine gun was glued in the mask. After the assembly was glued to the turret base (C5), I added the top detail (C9) to close the turret.
I painted the entire composition with Revell enamels – 79 being the main color and 57 as well as mixes of the two used to vary the shades in different places. I also added the white rectangles on both the Horch and trailer fenders, but these almost disappeared under the dust I applied later.
Seats were brushed with Revell 381 and given a thin acrylic wash to accentuate the molded-on uneven surface (again a nice touch by Dragon). Tires were sprayed Revell 78 to simulate a bleached/dusty effect, and then added to the vehicle body and the trailer. The exhaust pipes and muffler were basecoated with Revell 37 to simulate rust and glued on the vehicle. I then proceeded to add some metal chips by drybrushing Tamiya’s X11.
Since I got the kit to build as a reviewer for Armorama I started almost immediately after taking the pics. Here’s how the build went through.
I started by adding the lower engine compartment/radiator face and the firewall to the vehicle body.
Horch front
Other than filling the seam line in the front wheel arches these fit fine.
Wheel arc seam
Next step was the suspension. After carefully studying reference images I glued parts B9 and B10 first, and then proceeded to add the suspension arms.
Frame and suspension
Please note that all 4 parts are labeled B7, but the parts intended for the rear axle have an extra pair of locating pins. With these fixed I glued the 8 springs (parts B8) to parts B10 and B11. So far fit has been very good. I cut off the representation of the rubber mudguards and replaced them with thick aluminum foil.
Well the DML people kinda got it wrong, because the box top says “Typ 40”, where the boxart and the parts depict the earlier version (Typ 1a). It has the spare wheels exposed on the vehicle body sides, while the Typ 40 has flat side walls, as the spare wheels are located inside the vehicle body.
The kit contains 91 parts, including
88 plastic parts
2 photoetched parts on 1 fret
1 clear part for the windshield
The Dragon team has simply included one of the vehicles found in the Horch 1+1 combo (kit 7378) and added a towed 20mm AA gun.
There are 54 parts used for the Horch “jeep”. 50 of those are located on sprue B.
As pointed out in the review below, building this kit has been a small hell. Truth be told I started building it twice, but only the second attempt is now finished. This has been the single most frustrating kit I’ve ever worked on – investing so much time and effort yielded an average-looking model – “Good from far, but far from good” as they say.
Closing the weapon bay doors, cutting out their inside frames to add supports for the doors and filling this whole mess flush was the single biggest filling-sanding challenge. I am totally not proud of my first attempt at the vertical stabilizers – ended up in different angles and gaps, with filler constantly cracking on me. Potholes down joining lines due to the plastic melting under regular Humbrol modelling glue. Two nose jobs on my second attempt due to the same reason. Sanding the **** out of the nose and arrestor hook cover. Rescribing multiple zones more than once due to lost panel lines. Landing gear unstable at best. Multiple strip-downs and resprays for various reasons and about 10 meters of Tamiya tape lost in the process.
One of the earlier kits of the mighty Raptor, Italeri’s offering has often been accused of representing the YF-22 which it totally isn’t. In case the Italian company made a scale model of the prototype this kit is NOT it – the fuselage shape shows well in the images below.
Sprue A has most of the smaller details, as well as the armament on it. Nothing spectacular here, but those separate weapon-bay doors are designed with them posed open in mind. And whether you pose the bays closed or not – use all the parts to increase the strength of the model – after all it’s some 23 cm long and you don’t want it twisted.
