A new release in Dragon’s Black series of modern armor the M48A3 Mod.B is a welcome option over the aged Tamiya M48A3 kit from decades ago. Hopefully the drawbacks and challenges of the old Tamiya M48A3 have been corrected with this new release.

Build Notes

Before starting, the Dragon kit has modest cast hull texture; so if a rougher cast texture is desired, glue the hull top & bottom together first adding parts A3, A4, D1 & D3. The mounting pad for D17 & D18 bumper will need to be built up to support the extended double bumper. You may also want to assemble the F13 & F20 Turret upper & lower along with F10, F11, & E1before adding casting texture. Proceed to add cast texture before starting Step 1.

Fine Molds has recently released two new-tool versions of the WWII Japanese Army Type 41 75mm Artillery. This boxing differ only slightly, and this review represents the slightly modified gun with a smaller shield and a crew of 4 figures in poses transporting (pulling) the weapon kit # FM39 Imperial Japanese Army Artillery Type 41 Mountain Gun “Infantry Regiment”. The smaller shield meant a lighter and more easily transported weapon – for the more mountainous terrain.

This is an all new effort by the folks at Fine Molds and is not the old tooling of the gun, which was done is white metal. The kit contains four total sprues molded in tan plastic: two for the gun, one containing the crew figures, and the final sprue contains the personal gear and weapons of the crew. There are also four strings which represent the tow lines, and a rather large decal sheet.

Dragon’s latest release of the T-34 is a little bit of a different take. This kit represents a Beutepanzer (captured tank in German service) T-34/76 STZ Model 1942. The Germans captured hundreds of Russian tanks but the actual number of T-34s in service appears to be very low. The Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two has this figure listed as 50 prior to May 31, 1943. Of the 50, only 17 were noted as serviceable.

This kit is largely based on Dragon/Cyber Hobby’s 6388 T-34/76 STZ Model 1942. It has the chiseled shaped mantle, angled turret cheeks, interlocked welded upper hull, and cast steel wheels. It also includes a PzIII turret stowage box.