Designed to replace dated World War I 18-pounders and 4.5-inch howitzers, the 25-pounder became an icon of Commonwealth artillery forces during World War II, serving as the primary field gun and howitzer. Versatility of ordnance types, mobility, and lethality, accompanied by a high rate of fire, made the 25-pdr an indispensible element of Allied field operations, and enabled the design to serve with Commonwealth and other armies into the latter half of the 20^th Century.

Accompanying the 25-pdr, in most cases, was the Type 27 ammunition limber, which carried 32 rounds of ammunition in 16 trays. The limber would be towed between the prime mover and the 25-pdr.

Dragon’s rendition of the Mk II variant of the 25-pdr and sidekick Type 27 limber is superbly executed. Molded in light grey styrene, detail is ample, crisp, and compares accurately against numerous online photographs. A fret of PE is tossed in to provide some of the finer details, and is ready to snip, bend, and tack into shape without any annealing. And, to round things out, the tires are well-molded in DS plastic. The only elements significantly lacking are detail painting and color guidance and the absence of ammunition. Although some color elements are called out in the instructions and are illustrated in the box cover art, many of the finer painting details have been omitted.

Assembly of gun and limber was straight-forward, with only 1 or 2 slight miscues in the Dragon instructions. Engineering and fit of parts was very good, with the exception of getting one side of limber to snug in against the top piece was a bit tricky, which resulted in a slight gap requiring a dab of putty. Otherwise, assembly was incident-free. The gun and limber can be configured to represent either in-transit or firing modes. The firing platform can be assembled in the retracted (in-transit) or deployed (firing) position, the breech may be positioned in the open or closed position, and the trailer doors and latches can be configured either open or closed.

Going with the North Africa motif, the review sample was primed/preshaded with Wal-Mart red oxide directly from the rattle can, then layered with Model Master Acryl Sand. Vallejo Light Brown and homebrew oil washes were applied to add depth and illusion of wear, followed by a filter of thinned Sand color to mute the overall effect.

Despite the sparse color references and a couple of instruction miscues, the kit really builds up into an eye-catching ensemble and provides a interesting compliment to any collection of tracked and wheeled military vehicles. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this kit to any intermediate to advanced skill-level modeler wanting to tackle an artillery piece for the first time or just looking to add to their collection of such types.

Thanks to Dragon USA for the review sample and for IPMS/USA for the opportunity to shell out this review.