Dragon’s Sd.Kfz.234/3 is an excellent kit with crisp molding, full interior detail and while complicated, it goes together very well. This new Premium Edition is a reissue of Dragon’s 2007 kit #6257 including new fenders with photoetch storage bin covers & locks, and movable suspension that allows the wheels to be angled for turns.

Vehicle Background

The SdKfz 234/3 was the third in a series of heavy armored reconnaissance vehicles produced by Germany during WWII. It had an open-topped superstructure in which a short-barreled 7.5cm L/24 gun was installed. This gun, surplus from the upgrade of older Panzer IV tanks, was intended for use against "soft" targets. Eighty-eight of the 234/3s were produced by Buessing-Nag between June & December of 1944.

Dragon Models has re-released their 7.5cm PaK 40/4 auf RSO/03 ‘Smart Kit’, originally shipped in 2010. This time, however, they’ve included an all-weather canvas cover (‘Allwetterverdeck’). The kit is the fourth DML release of their RSO series, and contains their popular 75mm PaK 40 main weapon used in several of their other their kits. The exquisitely-detailed tarpaulin cover is molded is DS plastic and comes as a single, rigid part. Other new parts include the seats and a newly molded PaK pedestal/mount. The main cargo deck has been replaced with one sporting much more detail, including individual ammunition lockers (nine in all), with one locker providing an option to be modeled open or closed. The track is Dragon’s individual-link Magic Track.

History Brief

The F6F Hellcat, was a completely new design from Grumman for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The F6F Hellcat, a single-seat carrier-based fighter is credited with destroying a staggering 5,271 enemy aircraft. In all, some 4,402 F6F-3 carrier-borne fighters were produced up until April 1944 before it was replaced by the F6F-5. This type first flew on 3 October 1942 and it reached operational readiness the following February with VF-9 aboard USS Essex. The fighter’s standard armament was six .50-cal M2/AN Browning machine guns plus six High-Velocity Aircraft Rockets (HVAR) mounted under its wings , while later aircraft had three hard-point’s capable of carrying 900kg of bombs.