Short History:

When WWII broke out in 1939, Germany relied heavily on the 3.7cm PaK 36 antitank gun. However, this puny weapon was no match for armored vehicles like the French Char B1 or British Matilda II. One solution was to mount the more powerful Skoda 4.7cm PaK(t) gun on the chassis of the Panzer I Ausf. B. This had a double advantage – a more capable antitank weapon was created, and it permitted an extended use of obsolete Panzer I tank chassis. Called the Panzerjäger I, this new vehicle was Germany’s first of many tank destroyer designs. Between March 1940 and February 1941, 202 such Panzerjäger I vehicles were converted in time for service in the Battle of France, in North Africa, and in the invasion of Russia. By the end of 1943, the Panzerjäger I had been phased out. The Skoda 4.7cm PaK(t) gun was mounted in an open-topped Panzer I fighting compartment with its original gun shield still affixed.

The kit – What’s in the Box

Inside the box there are in total twelve large spurs, three small and three transparent spurs, one photo-etched fret along with a small bag of PE rings for the road wheels, a bag of 'Magic Track', a separate hull and small decal sheet.

The kit is an Early Production version of the Panzerjäger I 4.7cm PaK(t). It depicts a vehicle built by Alkett in 1940, characterized by a five-sided armored shield.

There are no flash or ejector pin marks on any visible surfaces; the parts are perfectly molded.

The barrel of the main gun and muzzle brake are slide-molded one-piece parts; the breech and recuperator are all in halves.

There's no engine, but we are offered a fully detailed driver's compartment with transmission, driver's seat, controls, rear bulkhead and three ammo bins.

The engine deck has been correctly rearranged to reflect the configuration of an Early Production vehicle. The fighting compartment is created by Dragon using a brand- new three-directional slide mold. Not only does this molding allow full detail, but it also incorporates highly praised Razor Edge technology to induce a scale thickness to the armored shield. Photo-etched parts are included for elements like the exhaust muffler cover, while the tank destroyer includes finely detailed parts from previously released Panzer I kits.

Some Features:

• Newly tooled multi-piece upper hull and engine deck for authentic details
• Newly tooled one-piece fighting-compartment armor made by 3-directional slide-molds
• New fighting-compartment interior w/photo-etched parts
• Engine hatches can be assembled open/closed
• Realistic ammo box, gasmask container, radio and first-aid kit included
• Photo-etched engine deck stowage bracket
• Realistically reproduced brake cooling pipe w/fine detail
• MG bracket finely represented by photo-etched parts
• Fully detailed gun w/breech assembly
• Realistic elevation mechanism allows gun to elevate
• Driver's compartment interior includes details such as instrument panel, transmission, battery and driver's seat
• Ammo box including ammunition rounds can be shown open/closed
• Hollowed exhaust pipe w/photo-etched exhaust cover
• Realistically reproduced road wheels w/photo-etched rings
• And much more…

Getting Started

We start with the standard building of the idlers, drive sprockets and suspension system. It came with a nice set of PE brass rings for the wheels. Make sure you study the instructions here, the wheels have different hubs. You get the correct amount of rings but you also get extra wheels and each wheel takes two. The rear bulkhead plate, you need to study the instruction sheet to get it aligned correctly. I made the mistake of pushing it to far forward and had to cut and reposition it later. I would suggest you wait to glue it until later when you have the upper hull and engine deck ready to go.

Next came the driver's compartment with transmission, driver's seat and controls. Nice details here, but much of it will not be seen once you close the compartment. However this does give a lot of depth to the kit, about 30% can be seen from above and more with a light.

You can open the access hatches to the engine bay but Dragon didn’t provide and Engine. Go figure. It would have been nice to have an engine.

Construction of the main gun is next; it is extremely detailed, and consists of many small parts. The breech comes in two halves, but the main barrel is a one-piece slide-molded part. The parts fit nicely. I assembled the parts for the main gun and left off the breach and shield so I could paint them separately. I would recommend that you mount the base plate of the gun to the frame first then add the gun later. You may have to make some adjustments to get it in strait.

I decided to modify a little and added a ripcord to the firing handle. You will need to drill out the eyelet and run the cord through it.

Next, small details like the radio and other equipment.

I decided to modify the radio and added a power cable, antenna cable and headphones.

The Headphones were scratch build with scrap spur, copper wire and Mr. Surfacer 500.

I used copper and soldering wire for the cables. For the antenna I used a piece of scrap spur to make a platform. The base came from some left over parts I had from another kit and I used some wire for the antenna.

Most of the PE goes on easy, except for the rear fence. You will need some ninja skills to get it bent into the correct shape. I am no ninja, more like kung-fu panda. So I did my best…

Painting and Decals

The base coat was done with Tamiya XF-60, sprayed Model Masters gloss lacquer and washed with Winsor Newton burnt umber oil paint, some parts also washed with lamp black.

For the drivers compartment I used Model Masters 2104 for the interior color with a light wash of burnt umber. Used Humbrol 5078 green for the floor and transmission colors with a light wash of lamp black artist oil. Then dry brushed with a little more of the Humbrol 5078 green to bring out the highlights. Next a very light dry brush using Tamiya X11. The Seat was done with a base coat of Testors light enamel brown 1166, and then Tamiya XF-10 flat brown and washed with lamp black artist oil. The final coat was a light spray with Model Master flat lacquer.

The decals were made by Cartograf and went on very easy, the sheet comes with several choices. France 1940, Stalingrad and the Eastern Front.

I chose a desert variant and used the basic white insignias and unit numbers.

The sheet only comes with the number 20, so I cut the 2 off the extras to make number “220”.

Weathering and Detailing

I sprayed a gloss coat after the decals where done and then washed with a thin coat of burnt umber oil paint. Next a light spray of flat lacquer, then added chips and dings using Floquil Railroad Tie F110014 and Tamiya Hull Red XF-9.

The track washed with lamp black and dusted with grey brown and desert yellow pigments along with the rest of the hull.

Over all this was a very nice kit to build, lots of details and small parts to play with. The molded parts are topnotch and fall into place. I would recommend this kit for medium to advanced builders, only because of the small parts in the gun and the PE.

I had fun building it and you will too. I would like to thank Dragon Models USA and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to conduct this review.