The Aircraft

The Vampire certainly qualifies as an “early jet”, being second oldest to the Meteor in RAF service. The Vampire’s twin-boom layout was a result of the low power of the early jet engines. The shorter the tail pipe, the more power the engine could deliver. The Vampire’s original mission was strictly as an interceptor, with only the 4x 20 mm Hispano cannon as armament.

History

With the German invasion of Russia in 1941, StuG.III crews experienced a very unnerving surprise when they discovered that their stubby KwK 37 L/24 75mm guns were no match for the numerous and heavily armored Soviet T-34 and KV tanks – except at uncomfortably short ranges.

The solution was to replace the short L/24 gun on the StuG.III Ausf.E platform with the longer barreled KwK 40 L/43 75mm gun. In doing so, the newly designated StuG.III Ausf.F became a truly effective dual-purpose infantry support and tank killing weapon.

First Look

Initially released in the early summer of 2009, this kit is the first in the Cyber-Hobby “Orange Box” series. The concept of this series is pretty simple: Package an older Dragon armor kit with a set of figures and one or two upgraded “add-on” items from their more recent releases and sell it at an affordable price, relative to the prices of new release kits.

History and Performance

The Jagdpanther was based on the Panther chassis, using the engine and drive train, and mounted the 8.8 cm Pak 43/3 (L/71). The end result was probably the best tank killer the Germans fielded during World War II. 392 of these vehicles were produced from January 1944 until March 1945. The Jagdpanther had a weight of 46 tons, could reach a road speed of 45 km/hr. The main armament had 57 rounds on board with 3,000 round for the bow mounted machinegun. A crew of five manned the vehicle. The majority of the Jagdpanthers served on the Eastern front, with the greatest number on the West Front serving in the Ardennes Offensive.

A Brief History

When first produced, the Vickers-Armstrong “6 ton” light tank could not find acceptance with the British Army because the 2 small turrets on the tank were fitted with machine guns only. The tank was later modified into the “B” version that had a 47mm gun and the turret was moved to the right side due to traffic in England being left-sided.

The Model

Upon opening the kit box, there are 12 sprue trees in a bag, some vinyl treads and a small decal sheet. The smaller parts trees are lettered with numbered parts. The largest tree is not lettered but the parts are numbered. There is no parts layout diagram. Marking options are for a Mk. F and B version in Bulgarian Army colors, 1938, in what looks like Panzer gray or a Mk. F version for a British Army training unit, 1939, in a dark earth color. There appears to be no decals for the British version but turret decals are provided for the Bulgarian version.

The Kit

The Orange Box Series from Dragon are basically previously released models that have been repackaged. This particular kit is a combo of the Dragon 6069 Schwerer Plattformwagen Typ SSY railcar flat top and the Dragon Kit # 9018 Pz Bef Wg III Ausf K

The sprues for this kit are an assortment from different kits needed to piece together a Ausf J Pz III

• A Upper Hull
• B x 2 Drive Sprocket and idler wheel
• b Add on armor and upper hull detail
• C Lower Hull
• D x 2 Road Wheels and Return Rollers
• E Turret parts
• F Misc parts
• g Star Antenna
• H x 2 More misc pars
• J Only 5 pieces out of a complete sprue
• K Add on armor and front deck
• L Single Antenna
• M Antenna base
• O Turret
• Stainless Steel Wire for Antenna (see sprue M)

There is nothing provided for tow cables.