Reviews of products for scale military vehicle models.

Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$18.00

The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG. III) was Germany’s most widely produced armored fighting vehicle of WWII. By the end of the war, over 10,500 vehicles, in a number of different versions, had been produced. Built on the chassis of the Panzer III, and originally designed as an infantry support vehicle intended to knock out strong points and hardened defenses, it really proved itself as a tank destroyer first on the Eastern front in Russia. First in Russia, the StuG III Ausf. F was armed with the longer 7.5cm StuK 40 L/43 gun and became a formidable opponent on the battlefield.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.99

Another nice PE set from Hauler which will find many uses for the Braille Scale modeler, especially when working with armor and dioramas.

The set includes wrenches, axes, shovels, picks and even a couple machetes. I am guessing for those jungle jobs. There are also a couple of different design tool boxes that you will have to fold.

The first thing I thought when I heard PE tools is how is that going to work with types, they will just look flat, right? Hauler has thought of this and the sledges and a mallet come with an couple extra pieces of PE to thicken the head. A couple of the picks and shovels are designed to be used with some plastic or metal rod to give a more 3-dimensional look.

Instructions are provided for the tool boxes and those tools that use more than one part. Just make sure you are careful when you cut these parts out and they will be sure to liven up that aircraft or tank maintenance scene.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$69.98

The Germans of WW2 were notorious for multi-tasking vehicles, and this one is a good example. In this case, they mounted an 81mm mortar in a standard light armored half-track. I’m old enough to remember the last time a plastic kit manufacturer took a shot at this particular make – a motorized version by Arii back in the early 1970’s. The older kit was pretty poor by even the standards of the day, although it did provide a nice ammunition trailer (to carry the batteries for the motor, of course). Otherwise, there wasn’t much to recommend it.

Dragon has filled the void with a new release which does a fine job of capturing this beastie, including “magic tracks” which eliminate the odious task of snipping some 200 track bits off of sprues.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$7.50

If you click the “About Us” tab on the Master Model website you'll read the following: Master Model was created in Poland with a passion for modeling. The company knows how important details are for you. We strive to give you the best possibility of making perfect models, which are a reflection of the originals. The most important thing for us is your satisfaction. By utilizing high product quality, great workmanship, and above all customers contentment, we will take care of you. To that end, there is even a proviso that should the need arise, you may contact the headman, Piotr Czerkasow, directly.

Rather lofty aspirations for a company that manufacturers brass aftermarket gun barrels and pitot tubes for aircraft, ships and armor models. An aspiration that the company has been living up to since its founding in 2008.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$37.99

The Italeri Bergepanther Kit # 285, originally released back in 1995, is still standing sentry duty as the only readily available injection-molded set of sprues for this Panther-based German tank recovery vehicle. The model has gone through a number of updates and improvements since, culminating in what you see reviewed here. After all this time, however, Italeri’s offering ‘still has it goin’ on’, sporting a relatively detailed engine, transmission, and winch/cable assembly, all housed in a decent Panther A chassis. One heck of a value, and still the only game in town.

Review Author
David Dodge
Published on
Company
Panda Hobby
Scale
1/35

Intro

Panda released this kit late last year and it competes with the Takom and Zvesda Armata Kits. The kit is molded in medium green plastic and the track components are molded in a dark tan plastic. There is one sprue of clear parts, a PE fret and decals. With a length of tow cable.

Background

The T14 Armata is Russia’s latest Main Battle Tank that first appeared in public practices for the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade. This was a shock to NATO and Western Forces as the advanced design was unknown at that time. The T14 is derived from the Armata Universal Combat Platform. The tank weighs 48 metric tons and is 11 feet wide and 11 feet tall and 29 feet long. This is a big tank.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.00

The set provides eight resin replacement wheels and tires, molded as one piece, for the Russian BTR-60 APC. The tires are slightly wider than the Trumpeter rubber tires. The Hauler wheels are a different style and much smaller than the Trumpeter wheels. The Hauler tires have a crisper tread pattern than the Trumpeter tires and are molded without a center seam. They do not have a flattened portion for the weight of the vehicle.

Each of the wheels is molded with their own casting block. The mounting hole for the wheel is much larger than the Trumpeter axle so it needs to be drilled out. Mounted on the vehicle, it becomes apparent that the Hauler wheels are smaller and the tires have a larger profile.

The profile and size of the Hauler wheels provide a good option to the Trumpeter kit wheels. The tire tread is much crisper, even at this small scale.

Thanks to Hauler for continuing to produce these nice add-on parts and providing review samples to IPMS.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$82.95

From Dragon Models USA website:

This M752 is understandably 100% newly tooled. Furthermore, it’s the only 1/35th scale full plastic kit of this US-manufactured tracked missile launcher currently available on the market.

The missile can be elevated up or down to represent firing or transport modes, respectively. The missile mount and associated elevation mechanism are sophisticated and strong enough to support an accurately detailed Lance missile.

This new kit captures the somber days of the Cold War, and so this Lance self-propelled missile launcher would make a fine addition to any modern warfare kit collection. The Lance system was used by the US Army, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, and UK, meaning that this new kit offers enterprising modelers a lot of versatility.

Review Author
Max Welliver
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$42.99

The next Cyber-Hobby Orange Box offering is a Red Army M4A2(76) tank. A total of 4,102 M4A2 medium tanks were sent to the U.S.S.R. under Lend-Lease during WWII. To make the kit more valuable, the kit includes a fine 1/35 scale Maxim machine gun as well!

Opening the Box

This thin, side-opening Dragon box is filled with a nice amount of parts. The sprues are molded in light grey plastic and have some really detailed cast textures and weld seams.

The kit includes:

  • Seven sprues
  • One clear sprue
  • One small cable
  • Two small sheets of PE
  • Two lengths of DS track
  • One gun mantlet cover made of the same DS material
  • One small decal sheet

They provide decals for two tanks:

Review Author
Tim Wilding
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$64.00

This kit is the first armor kit in the 1/35 Platz line from Dragon. They have taken the Panzer IV from their Girls Und Panzer line, re-boxed it and gave it new decals and instruction sheet. The molding is from 2012 and has about 175 parts, with DS tracks. This is quite a reduction in parts then from other Dragon kits. Slide molding technology allows Dragon to mold past subassemblies into one or two pieces. The box is overall white with just a black strip and one picture of the tank, no real box art like other Dragon kits.