This is a re-boxing of the very good Dragon kit with addition parts and new decals for five different markings. Included in the kit is a very nice instruction manual by Das Werk. The kit can be built in to one of two different versions – the 10.5cm StuH42 or the 7.5cm StuG III Ausf.G.

The kit contains

• 13 sprues molded in light grey styrene
• 1 Lower hull in light grey
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 Photo Etch sheets
• 2 metal cables
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet.

Construction

The kit is includes a lot of unrequired parts as these are for the other StuG versions that Dragon does. The instruction booklet is great and very detailed to assist in the build. There were a couple of minor errors that I list below that I found during the build.

You should decide at this point which version you are going to build, I decided on the StuH of Abteilung 261 (third version shown at the back of the instructuons)

Step 1, 2 & 3 assembles the road wheels, drive wheel, lower hull and suspension. There were no issues found and it went together very well.

Step 5 Finishes the lower hull, I did find that the part B15 was slightly too long and needed a trim to fit correctly. Also, when assembling the subassembly from stage 3 ensure that the parts A5 and A6 line up correctly with the lower hull.

Step 6 is the assembly of the two side track covers with the tools etc. This was all very simple to complete. The only thing you need to be careful of is the stated length for the two tow cables as the sizes given are too long, I suggest routing them yourself and sizing the length that way. The other thing is to not that the PE part numbers MA5 and MA6 should be switched.

Step 7 is the commanders hatch, and this is easy with only one point to note and that is it states 6x part number J1 when in fact it is x7 needed.

Step 8 is adding details to the upper forward hull and there were no issues during this step.

Step 9 and 10 is more details of the upper forward hull assembly with no issues.

Step 11, 12 and 13 are details on the engine deck which once again had no issues.

Step 15, 16 and 17 is the interior and gun assembly. This was all very easy. The only point I had here was that the gun did not have a basket for the empty shell casing.

Step 18 assembled the upper hull sections.

Step 19 was the track assembly which I found very easy for a link and length type.

Step 20 was the final upper and lower hull join; this was a little more tricky than I expected and you have to be very careful bring the halves together.

Then on to painting and decals of which there are very few.

Overall I found this kit enjoyable and build into an impressive representation of the StuG/H a tank I have always liked a lot. This is very well detailed and builds into a great model!

Thanks go to Das Werk and MBK for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.