To me, AFV Modeller is one of THE finest armor model magazines on the planet. Issue 54 continues their great tradition of providing the reader with well written articles of superbly built models and dioramas, beautifully photographed and printed on high quality paper, along with a nice sprinkling of informative reviews covering the latest books, kits and model accessories.

This month’s cover article is by Bruno Carsuzaa, detailing the construction and weathering of a Trumpeter 1/16^th scale T-34/76 Soviet tank. The kit is built as a knocked out example, one side having burned so that the rubber is missing from the road wheels. The back of the turret has been blown out, and the entire vehicle is beautifully weathered in rust, as part of a diorama depicting a German slit trench. Completing the scene are two German soldiers, by Verlinden and Stormtroopers.

History

The use of multiple rocket launchers by the German armed forces during WWII was quite extensive. The mobile version of a 150mm rocket launcher type 42 was mounted on a half track Sd Kfz 4 Maultier. It guaranteed a high mobility, especially in off-road conditions.

The Kit

The kit is made up of injection molded gray plastic parts. The details were in excellent condition, there was minimal flashing, and no defects. Some injection molded marks were visible.

Dragon has countered Academy’s recent M7 release with their own excellent release of a mid-production Priest with a combination of the early suspension and additional armor. Coming in the usually sized Dragon box, this kit only clocks in with 260 parts as there are no individual track links or many left-over parts.

Those of you used to many of Dragon’s German subject that fatten the spares box will be disappointed with only about 10 left over parts! An entire sprue utilizes common parts from the previously released 105mm gun. The moldings are crisp and flash free with fine detail. The DS tracks are also well detailed and really pop when painted and weathered. I really won’t have much to say about assembly except that it was straightforward with excellent fit of the parts.

I chose to replace the prominent weld beads with styrene rod to replace the weld details that I lost due to some ham handed sanding.

Let me begin this review as I did a previous one by stating that if you like 1/72 scale armor, you are going to love this kit, as Dragon has once again set the standard for others to follow. Included in this kit is not only a welded hull 251 Ausf.C half-track, but also a very well molded 3.7cm PaK 35/36 gun. The level of detail in the kit is right on par with their 1/35 scale kits, but will take up much less space on a shelf.

The German Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf.C was a personnel carrier developed in the mid-1930’s to support the quick delivery of troops and their equipment into battle. Early vehicles sported a riveted hull, which, were later welded to ease construction, as depicted in this kit. Powered by a Maybach 4 liter, six-cylinder engine, the 17,000-pound vehicle could move at speeds of up to 32.5 mph for as far as 186 miles. This particular variant carried two MG-34 machine guns mounted forward and aft for offensive and defensive armament.

The Voroshilovets tractor was produced at the beginning of WWII and was used by the Russians as their heavy artillery prime mover. It had a crew of 2 and could carry the gun crew on the bench seats in the cargo bed. The Germans captured and used a few of these vehicles.

The kit is molded in yellow plastic, with the tracks in brown. There is also a sprue of excellent clear parts for the cab windows, tarp windows and headlight lenses. Molding is very good with a minimum of ejection pin marks. I had no references at hand, but the model looks to be close to the proper dimensions based on pictures I found on line.

The instructions are clear and nicely illustrated with 15 steps in 12 pages, including a parts map. The decal sheet measures 1 ½ by 2 inches and includes 2 red triangles for the Russian version and 6 white markings for the German version. There is a separate painting and decaling sheet with full color 5 view drawings for each version.