Eduard has issued this nice photoetch set for IBG Model’s newly released Scammell Pioneer SV2S Heavy Breakdown Tractor. IBG’s kit has very good detail, and Eduard provides many additional details to improve the quality of the model.

The photoetch is up to Eduard’s high quality standard, but there are many very small parts to deal with. I could assemble all the photoetch using super glue, and did not find soldering to be necessary. The photoetch seems to be very thin, and several pieces broke when I tried to bend them. Experience working with photoetch is highly recommended for this set. The use of a bending device tool is also very helpful for this set.

To add PE to a model, I go through the kit instructions and mark those parts that are modified by the photoetch so it can be incorporated in the normal assembly sequence. The Eduard instructions are quite clear and use different colors to designate replacement PE parts, kit parts, or areas to be removed.

History

In February 1942, the German Army (Heer) started building forty Sturmpanzer (Assault Tank) on Panzer IV chassis in readiness for the Battle of Kursk. The vehicle carried a 15cm howitzer in a boxed fighting compartment. Another eighty were produced in late 1943. Finally, another 162 were built between May 1944 and March 1945. These were the late production models built on the Panzer IV Ausf. J chassis and this newly tooled kit represents this model.

The T-15 is a new vehicle designed for the Russian inventory as an infantry support vehicle, possibly as a replacement for the venerable BMP 2. The T-15 is concept based on the T-14 MBT tank hull. Due to the nature of the T-14 being designed to have multiple versions, the T-15 is the same hull that has a different automated turret installed. This turret is designed with infantry support in mind with a 2A42 30 mm auto-cannon, a 7.62 mm coaxial PKT and two sets of Kornet-EM anti-tank missiles. Panda Hobby’s new kit is the first attempt at this interesting new vehicle.

The Kit

When I saw that this kit was available for review, I just had to do it. It was the first model I ever built on my own. My grandfather bought it for me and I built it at his kitchen table with a tube of Ambroid glue that got all over everything, but I loved it. The model, not the glue. That tank saw many a battle on my bedroom floor and in the back yard for that matter. Can’t remember how it met its fate, but I think it just plain wore out and fell apart. But all that’s neither here nor there, so on to the review.

Dragon has recently re-released the diminutive Geschutzwagen 38 H sporting the relatively large sIG 33 field howitzer – a kit that has been improved upon over the twenty-plus years it’s been out. As expected, the molding, fit and engineering found in today’s kit is up to Dragon’s excellent standards. A tremendous amount of detail adorns the open-topped chassis, including a nice engine and transmission, along with MagicTrack and an aluminum barrel. A very impressive offering that builds into a model about the size of my fist!